New York, NY
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Abdul Samad
Zaheer Khan

Founding Engineer at Starboard · MS Computer Engineering, NYU

01About

I’m a founding engineer with an MS in Computer Engineering from NYU, specializing in AI systems, multi-agent architectures, and applied machine learning. I build production-grade AI — from fine-tuning LLMs to deploying autonomous agent systems that handle real-world logistics and data-processing problems.

Away from the keyboard: competitive contract bridge and poker, and an interest in strategy games.

02Education
New York University · MS, Computer Engineering

Coursework — Quantum Computing, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Computer System Architecture, Network Security, Mathematics, Physics, Finance.

2023 – 2025
GPA 3.80 / 4.00
The National Institute of Engineering · BE, Computer Science

Coursework — Advanced Mathematics & Statistics, Advanced Algorithms, Parallel Programming, Formal Language & Automata Theory, Computer Networks.

2017 – 2021
GPA 9.00 / 10.00
03Experience
Founding Engineer · Starboard

Multi-agent systems with tool use that autonomously process shipment tracking, monitor carrier portals, and reconcile data across logistics platforms. Fine-tuned open-source LLMs for document parsing.

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Oct 2025 – Present
Remote · New York
Research Intern · NYU, Center for Quantum Information Physics

Hybrid quantum–classical neural network estimating six-year lung-cancer risk from a single low-dose CT scan.

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Jan – May 2025
New York
Software Development Intern · Tiny Archives

Built and scaled backend archival systems for organizations and individuals with Python, Django, and PostgreSQL.

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Sept – Dec 2024
New York
Software Development Engineer I · Finflux

Built ELMS, an exposure and limit-management engine covering 35M+ customers, and resolved production issues in the core Loan Management System.

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Nov 2022 – July 2023
Bangalore
04Projects
TicTacPro RLPersonal · 2026

A Dueling Double DQN trained with a curriculum of rule-based opponents, plus an exact alpha-beta solve proving the game is a first-player win from all 27 openings.

PyTorch · DQN · Alpha-Beta
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Multi-Step Tool AttacksKaggle · 2026

A red-teaming entry that searches tool-using LLM agents (gpt-oss, gemma) for exfiltration chains — a 73.88 public score on Kaggle’s AI Agent Security challenge.

Python · llama.cpp · LLM Red-Teaming
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OpenSigmoidPersonal · 2025–

Decentralized, end-to-end encrypted Web3 messaging with token-gated communities and in-chat crypto payments.

Go · React · PostgreSQL · WebSockets
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chromeControlHackathon · 2025

An MCP-compliant Chrome sidebar that stays open across tabs and answers questions about the page you’re on.

TypeScript · React · MCP
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Quantum–Classical NNNYU · 2025

Hybrid quantum–classical network estimating six-year lung-cancer risk from a single low-dose CT scan.

Qiskit · PyTorch · CT Imaging
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SquarisReddit Devvit · 2025

Three procedurally generated polycube packing puzzles: 2D tiling, 3D lattice, and a Tetris-style mode.

React · TypeScript · Three.js
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QubitQueryPersonal · 2025

Self-contained RAG assistant over lecture notes to make professors’ office hours more productive.

LangChain · FAISS · OpenAI
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ELMSFinflux · 2023

Calculates exposure across products for 35M+ customers and flags breaches to the lending system.

Java 17 · Spring Boot · MySQL
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Stock Direction PredictionNYU · 2024

FinBERT and Llama read Reddit sentiment; a Random Forest on top forecasts GameStop’s price direction (accuracy 0.59).

FinBERT · Llama · Random Forest
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05Writing
2026 · Independent

Coin-Flip Pricing in a Tournament-Winner Market

A paired-contract trade on the 2026 IPL champion.

The market priced the two top seeds like a coin flip (0.75 combined) while the base rate for a top-two seed winning sat at 93.3%. A paired RCB + GT position on Kalshi captured the gap — positive expected value, returning ~27.7%.

Prediction Markets · Probability · Bayesian Inference · Expected Value
Read the paper (PDF) · View abstract
2026 · Independent

TicTacPro: Exactly Solving a Combinatorial Piece-Placement Game and Stress-Testing Deep Q-Learning Against It

Exact game solving meets deep reinforcement learning.

An exhaustive alpha-beta solver proves TicTacPro is a first-player win from every one of its 27 openings (700M nodes, 246s) — refuting the opposite conclusion that time-limited minimax self-play had confidently converged on. A Dueling Double DQN (792K parameters) trained with a curriculum of rule-based opponents reaches 100% against random and bullseye opponents, with training-pipeline pitfalls reported as negative results.

Game Solving · Alpha-Beta Search · Deep RL · DQN
Read the paper (PDF) · View abstract
06Hackathons
AI Agent Security — Multi-Step Tool Attacks

A Kaggle red-teaming competition; searched tool-using LLM agents for exfiltration chains, reaching a 73.88 public score.

HackNYU

An Acorns alternative with far more control over risk appetite and investment types.

Kiro Hackathon

chromeControl, an MCP-compliant Chrome AI assistant (see Projects).

Reddit Devvit

Squaris, a spatial packing puzzle game.

YQuantum

Attempted the BlueQubit problem of Peaked Circuits.

IMC Prosperity 3

Financial modeling for max profit — algorithmic and manual trading tracks.

Hackfinity

A RAG/LangChain chatbot helping students grasp hard-to-find topics.

07Beyond work

Bridge  Represented NYU in contract bridge — intercollegiate tournaments, scrimmages, and the North American Bridge Championships (Philadelphia, 2025).

Poker  Represented NYU at the Intercollegiate Poker Association annual tournament, 2025.

Clubs  Bridge & Spades, SASE, IEEE, soccer intramurals (5v5, 9v9).