Zhyrgalbek Kalykov

Building the future,
one project at a time.

Projects

Machine Learning

WaterPump Intelligence - ML on Tanzanian Water Pumps

WaterPump Intelligence - ML on Tanzanian Water Pumps

Team ML project on the DrivenData 'Pump it Up' competition: predicting whether 59,400 Tanzanian water pumps are functional, need repair, or broken. Built the full pipeline — regional GPS and population imputation, MinMax normalization, Random Forest vs Decision Tree with multi-class ROC/AUC, and KMeans + PCA clustering — targeting 83%+ accuracy.

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Fraud Detection on PaySim - Research Report

Fraud Detection on PaySim - Research Report

'Achieving Optimal Fraud Detection with PaySim: A Comparative Study of Random Forest and Decision Tree' — trained classifiers on the 6.3M-transaction PaySim dataset, handling extreme class imbalance. Includes the full research report (PDF).

Generative AI

LetsCheat - Screen & Audio-Aware AI Assistant

LetsCheat - Screen & Audio-Aware AI Assistant

A screen- and audio-aware AI assistant: an invisible always-on-top desktop overlay (hidden from screen shares) plus a local browser app with real-time answers, live meeting notes, and history. Powered by Claude.

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Akira: AI Website Builder

Akira: AI Website Builder

An advanced AI website builder landing page. Describe your vision, and watch it come to life in seconds with one-prompt creation, AI-generated copy, SEO optimization, and a custom design system.

Pretalk: Multi-Modal AI Voice Assistant

Pretalk: Multi-Modal AI Voice Assistant

A multi-modal AI voice assistant that enhances voice models with speaker diarization, background noise detection, speech-to-text via OpenAI Whisper, and text-to-speech synthesis. Includes RAG-based retrieval for intelligent responses and context-aware embeddings.

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UNIVERSITY AI - AskNAU

UNIVERSITY AI - AskNAU

Developed an AI Q&A model using NLP and machine learning with Python, helping students at North American University get real-time answers to queries. Built the front-end using React and styled with Tailwind CSS for seamless user interaction. Optimized the model with NAU-specific data to improve response accuracy and relevance.

SuperPod - AI-Powered Podcast Analyzer

SuperPod - AI-Powered Podcast Analyzer

Built an AI podcast analyzer at the Llama 4 Hackathon in Seattle with a team. SuperPod uses the Llama-4-Maverick-17B-128E-Instruct-FP8 model to transcribe audio, perform semantic search with ChromaDB, and let users jump to specific parts of podcasts using natural language.

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Productivity Tools

CouchPilot - Your Mac from the Couch

CouchPilot - Your Mac from the Couch

Run your Mac from the couch: a real terminal plus full screen, mouse, and keyboard control served to your phone's browser over the local network. QR-code pairing, HTTPS on LAN, no cloud, no accounts.

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Canvas Dashboard - Unified View of Canvas

Canvas Dashboard - Unified View of Canvas

A unified, enhanced view for Canvas LMS with a modern and intuitive UI. Combines functionality with an exceptional user experience to make navigating coursework seamless.

Canvas Reminder Bot

Canvas Reminder Bot

A Telegram bot that helps students track their Canvas LMS assignments with smart deadline reminders. Features enterprise-grade security using Google Cloud KMS for token encryption, Firestore for storage, and automated notifications at 24h, 12h, 6h, and 1h before deadlines. Deployed on Google Cloud Run.

Hackathons

NexHacks @ Carnegie Mellon University - image 1NexHacks @ Carnegie Mellon University - image 2NexHacks @ Carnegie Mellon University - image 3NexHacks @ Carnegie Mellon University - image 4

NexHacks @ Carnegie Mellon University

Built Polywatcher, a data analyzer for Polymarket. Selected as a Top 10 finalist! Team: Asel Torogulova, Spencer Chin, and Sergei Ivanov.

Llama 4 Hackathon in Seattle - image 1

Llama 4 Hackathon in Seattle

Built a tool that integrates AI into podcasts for real-time analysis and insights. Worked with an amazing team — Nand Dave, Vishal Shah, and Saptak Sen. Big thanks to Meta for Developers and Cerebral Valley!

Work Experience

Data Engineer Intern @AiKYNETIX

Feb 2024 – Dec 2024 · Houston, Texas

Built a computer vision model to detect and count human jumps using PyTorch, OpenCV, ViTPose, and MediaPipe. Developed an AI-powered recommendation system leveraging NLP and deep learning APIs to enhance user engagement. Increased foot movement model accuracy by 70% through optimized preprocessing. Processed over 10GB of structured data for internal tooling and business insights. Debugged video-based model failures by analyzing edge cases. Collaborated with engineers and data scientists to improve real-time AI applications.

PyTorchOpenCVViTPoseMediaPipeNLPDeep LearningData Engineering

Education

North American University

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Studying core topics in Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Data Structures. Actively involved in AI projects and hackathons.

2022 – 2026Houston, TX, USA

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