Arunav Konwar

Software Engineer

Email / Website / LinkedIn / GitHub / Twitter

👩🏼‍💻 Technical Experience

Research Developer/Affiliate @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) (Nov 2018 - Present)

  • I develop web tools and infrastructure at the MIT Media Lab to enable scientific research at scale.

  • Built the Metafluidics platform and the web app that enables researchers and enthusiasts to share their microfluidic projects.

  • Ownership of documentation and the blog

  • Technologies used: Python, Javascript, Node.js, React, PHP, GraphQL, REST, Jest, CircleCI.

  • Selected open-source work:

Fellow/Software Engineer @ International Innovation Corps (IIC), University of Chicago (Oct 2020 - Present)

  • Collaborating with research partner WadhwaniAI to prototype, test and deploy AI-powered applications at the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India with the goal of building a strong and equitable AI ecosystem around public healthcare in India.

  • Architected and implemented the beneficiary registration deduplication module on the Indian COVID-19 vaccine beneficiary registration, tracking and certifying platform Co-WIN.

  • Technologies used: Python, Javascript, Node.js, Elasticsearch, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Software Engineer @ Technical University of Munich (TUM) (Jan 2019 - Mar 2019)

  • Worked in a cross-functional, agile team and developed intuitive digital tools by applying design thinking methods and developed competency in agile product development techniques, as part of Digital Product School, a program by UnternehmerTUM.

  • Architected and deployed an AI-powered Chrome Browser extension which enabled users to discover relevant resources online for their presentations and documents at the comfort of their current browser tab.

  • Technologies used: JavaScript ES6, React, TypeScript, Redux, REST, Google Cloud Platform, TravisCI.

Machine Learning Intern @ INRIA, France (Mar 2018 - Aug 2018)

  • Ownership of team’s machine learning pipeline development

  • Developed Deep Learning techniques for robotic camera pose estimation problems, building upon previous work by PhDs, while working alongside Prof. Eric Marchand in the RAINBOW team

  • Implemented custom-built neural net architectures for pose regression problems in robotics and improved accuracy by more than 15 % over previous results. Wrote wrapper code in C++ to enable communication with the Python ML backend

  • Technologies used: Python, Tensorflow, C++, React, Node.js, GraphQL, REST.

Software Engineering Intern @ IIIT Hyderabad (Jul 2017 - Nov 2017)

  • Developed a web application which enabled collection and annotation of large numbers of images for computer vision research at the Center for Visual Information Technology (CVIT), working alongside Prof CV Jawahar

  • ​Improved server performance by using MEAN stack and reduced site latency by over 50%.

  • Technologies used: Node.js, Javascript, Express.js, Pug, MongoDB, REST.

Open Source

Fullstack code contributor @ Deep Learning Indaba (Jan 2019 - Present) Strengthening the African Machine Learning community

  • Code and documentation contributor for Deep Learning Indaba, specifically the Baobab conference application.

  • Built frontend features with React, and backend APIs with Python and Flask.

  • Worked with a cross-functional agile team located in different timezones.

  • Technologies used: Python, React, Flask, Javascript, postgreSQL, SQLAlchemy, REST.

🗞 Writing

Check out some of my posts here

🎤 Speaking

Invited Speaker @ Digital Product School (June 2020) Talk on bias and ethics in modern Artificial Intelligence systems, and how to create an equitable future.

Workshop Co-Lead @ MIT Media Lab (Oct 2018) Led a workshop which introduced participants to machine learning concepts with hands-on exercises on identifying issues with datasets.

🌐 On The Side

Co-Organizer @ Biosummit (Jun 2018 - Present) A global meetup of scientists, hackers, community organizers around the idea of democratizing science for the betterment of the society. People congregrate at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA, USA every October for the in-person conference.

  • Selecting speakers and scheduling events
  • Fostering an inclusive community and enforcing the code of conduct
  • Setting up and managing the website for the event.

🏆 Other Accomplishments

Recipient @ Linux Foundation LiFT scholarship (currently undergoing Kubernetes certification training) (2020)

Winner @ Siemens Sustainability AI Hackathon 2020, Munich, Germany (Virtual) (2020)

Global top 40 @ Facebook F8 Hackathon 2019, San Jose, CA, USA (2019)

Winner @ Zeiss Hackathon 2019, Munich, Germany (2019)

Winner @ TechCrunch Paris Hackathon 2018 | Microsoft AI Challenge (2018)

👩🏼‍🎓 Education

Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS)​, Pilani, India B.E (Hons.) Electronics Engineering ​&​ M.Sc (Hons.) Biological Sciences (2013-2018)