About me

I'm a data scientist working on distributed systems and reproducible machine learning. I study why research infrastructure and ML systems struggle to stay reliable and reproducible from edge devices to production, and build tooling to close that gap — including FORRT-Guider, a conversational interface for open science discovery. I'm completing my M.Sc. in Data Science at the University of Messina, and currently researching communication-efficient federated learning for large language models and exploring scalable retrieval-augmented generation with sharded FAISS indexes.

Research Interests

  • Distributed Systems

  • Edge-Cloud Computing

  • Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence

  • Research Software Engineering (RSE)

  • Open Science

  • Reproducible Research

Recent Updates

See All

Thoughts, notes, and articles on my journey and the things I’m currently learning.

Languages

  • English

    Fluent

  • French

    Fluent

  • Swahili

    Native

  • Italian

    Basic

Favorite Quotes

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence.
– Albert Einstein
The unexamined life is not worth living.
– Socrates
If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
– Isaac Newton
Intelligence is the ability to accomplish complex goals.
– Max Tegmark
Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task.
– Cal Newport
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
– James Clear
Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good.
– Malcolm Gladwell
The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.
– Robert Greene
If you want something you've never had, you must be willing to do something you've never done.
– Thomas Jefferson
Open Science is just science done right.
– Jon Tennant A core philosophy often cited by FORRT
Reproducibility is like brushing your teeth. It’s good for you, it takes time and effort, and you should do it every day.
– Lorena A. Barba
Scholarship is not just about the results; it’s about the process and the community that builds upon it.
– FORRT Community Principle
For more, feel free to explore my LinkedIn, Medium, and GitHub profiles.

Resume

Education

  1. Univerza na Primorskem, Koper, Slovenia

    Oct 2025 — Feb 2026

    Erasmus+ Exchange (M.Sc. Data Science)
    Selected for international academic mobility focusing on advanced data science methodologies.

  2. University of Messina, Italy

    Sep 2024 — Present

    M.Sc. in Data Science
    Multidisciplinary program integrating statistical analysis, machine learning, and data engineering. Focus: Research Software Engineering and AI applications for real-world problem solving.

  3. Bugema University, Kampala, Uganda

    Aug 2018 — Nov 2022

    B.Sc. in Business Information Systems — GPA 4.08/5.0
    First Class Honours. Thesis: "Class Attendance by Facial Recognition for the School of Sciences and Technology." Coursework: System Analysis & Design, Project Management, Object-Oriented Programming.

Open Source Contributions & Community Leadership

  1. Maintainer-Equivalent — Lead, Website Team FORRT

    Dec 2023 — Present

    Leading the website/tooling team as a maintainer: reviewing pull requests, triaging issues, and maintaining CI/CD-backed documentation and deployment pipelines. Contributed to fred_preprint_bot, a Python automation tool that verifies preprint references at scale.

  2. Secretary — RSE Asia Australia Unconference

    Mar 2024 — Mar 2025

    Coordinated committee operations, cross-repo event documentation, and scholarship administration for the international Research Software Engineering community, collaborating asynchronously across time zones.

  3. Cohort Facilitator / Project Lead — Open Life Science (OLS)

    Aug 2023 — 2024

    Mentored a cohort of open-source/open-science newcomers through a structured facilitation program, and led an OLS-7 project applying open-source community-building practices.

  4. GDSC Lead / GDG Organiser / Explore ML Facilitator — Google Developer Communities

    Aug 2021 — Nov 2024

    Acted as community moderator and organiser across three Google developer programs, running workshops and ML study groups that onboarded new contributors to open-source tooling.

  5. Volunteer — Volunteer For Peace (VPeace)

    Jun 2023 — Jun 2025

    Mentored refugee youth and women through entrepreneurship, education, and community dialogues.

  6. Deputy Speaker — Bugema University Students Guild

    Feb 2021 — Feb 2022

    Led Students Parliament business committee, and represented student interests.

  7. Co-Founder & IT Support Lead — Bluebird Soccer Academy

    2021 — Present

    Co-founded a youth soccer academy promoting sports, discipline, and community development.

Professional Experience

  1. External Consultant (Research Software) — Talarify

    Jun 2024 — Dec 2024

    Contributed to RSSE Africa operations by organizing international events, newsletters, and community meetups.

  2. Fellow — BTrust Builders

    Jan 2024 — Apr 2024

    Completed a fellowship focused on Bitcoin protocol development; built a banking backend and transaction builder using Rust.

  3. Open Source Developer

    2021 — Present

    Active contributor to FORRT, The Turing Way, and other open-source projects; maintaining documentation and implementing features.

  4. IT Program Manager — MEGATRUST

    Oct 2024 — Mar 2025

    Directed end-to-end technical program lifecycles using Agile-style, cross-functional coordination to align regional IT initiatives with business strategy. Modernized infrastructure and cross-border technology integration, strengthening operational resilience and data governance for remote, multi-site operations.

  5. Student Intern Organiser / Python Developer — WEHI Research Computing Platform

    2024

    Built and deployed Python web applications end-to-end for the Research Software Engineer (RSE) Internship program, streamlining onboarding and reporting workflows.

  6. Founder & Mentor — Thinkpro Tech

    Sep 2023 — Present

    Founded a tech mentorship initiative guiding aspiring developers in clean-code practices, open source contribution workflows, and modern AI-assisted development — combining hands-on code review with technical-writing mentorship.

  7. Information Technology Support — Bugema University

    Aug 2019 — Mar 2022

    Administered lab infrastructure and resolved hardware/network issues, building a systems-administration foundation applicable to enterprise IT operations.

  8. Hackathon Judge — Learn for cause Women of Code Hackathon (India)

    Feb 2022 — Mar 2022

    Judged tech solutions during the WOCODE Hackathon.

  9. Data Entry Part-time — 4africa

    Jul 2022 — Aug 2022

    Managed and digitized organizational data with high accuracy to support digital transformation.

Technical Skills

  1. Software Engineering

    Code Review & Issue Triage, Modular Architecture & API Design, Git-Based Workflows (branching, PRs), CI/CD Pipelines (GitHub Actions), Technical Documentation.

  2. Data Science / ML

    Python (pandas, scikit-learn, TensorFlow/Keras), Time-Series Analysis, Regression & Neural Networks, Computer Vision (OpenCV), Predictive Modeling, SQL.

  3. Cloud & DevOps

    Docker, Git/GitHub/GitLab, PostgreSQL, Linux, Gitpod.

  4. Languages

    Python, SQL, Rust, TypeScript, JavaScript, Solidity, PHP, HTML5/CSS3.

  5. Frameworks

    Django, Flask, Keras, TensorFlow, Bootstrap, HugoBlox.

  6. Actively Developing

    Generative AI & LLM Integration, Apache Spark, Cloud Platforms (AWS/Azure) & Kubernetes, MLOps / End-to-End Model Deployment.

Training & Certifications

  1. Hack4Future Sicily 2025 — Open Data Playground

    May 2025

  2. Make Replication Count Hackathon 2025 — University of Münster, Germany

    Oct 21 – 26, 2025

  3. Bitcoin Protocol Development — Qala-Africa

    May — June 2023

  4. Cyber Stars Hackathon — Uganda Communications Commission

    June 2022

  5. Cyber Operations Security (Cyber Ops) — Bugema University

    Feb — Mar 2022

  6. Cisco Networking Academy — IT Essentials & Networking

    Oct — Dec 2021

References

Available upon request.

Publications

For more, feel free to explore my LinkedIn, Medium, and GitHub profiles.

Bookshelf

The Mental Stack

Explore the books shaping my perspective—spanning the philosophy of great minds, the frontiers of AI, and the rigor of open science. Hover over a cover to see the "Quick Take" on each.
Python for Data Science and AI: An African Perspective In Progress Data Science

Python for Data Science and AI: An African Perspective
Wesley Kambale
Einstein by Walter Isaacson Queue Biography

Quick Take: Breakthroughs come from questioning basic assumptions.

Einstein: His Life and Universe
Walter Isaacson
Isaac Newton by James Gleick Queue Biography

Quick Take: The sheer power of focused observation and measurement.

Isaac Newton
James Gleick
The Trial and Death of Socrates In Progress Philosophy

Quick Take: The 'Socratic Method' as the ultimate debugging tool for inquiry and logic.

Trial & Death of Socrates
Plato
Life 3.0 by Max Tegmark Queue AI/Ethics

Quick Take: Fascinating look at life designing its own hardware. It forces critical thinking on model ethics.

Life 3.0
Max Tegmark
The Hundred-Page Machine Learning Book Finished Tech

Quick Take: Distilling complex ML concepts into clear, mathematical foundations.

The Hundred-Page ML Book
Andriy Burkov
Hands-On Machine Learning In Progress Tech

Quick Take: Bridging the gap between theory and production-ready code.

Hands-On Machine Learning
Aurélien Géron
Research Software Engineering Finished RSE

Quick Take: The vital bridge between academic research and professional software dev.

Research Software Engineering
Matthias Bannert
The Turing Way Queue Open Science

Quick Take: My 'North Star' for reproducible and open research frameworks.

The Turing Way
Alan Turing Institute
Clean Code Finished Tech

Quick Take: Writing sustainable, readable, and maintainable research code.

Clean Code
Robert C. Martin
Open Science: The Very Idea Queue Open Science

Quick Take: Making scientific knowledge a public good, not a closed resource.

Open Science: The Very Idea
Frank Miedema
Deep Work by Cal Newport Queue

Quick Take: Concentration is a "muscle" that must be trained through deliberate practice and by systematically embracing boredom rather than fleeing it with a smartphone.

Deep Work
Cal Newport
The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene Finished

Quick Take: Master the social game.

The Laws of Human Nature
Robert Greene
The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell Finished

Quick Take: What makes high-achievers different? The 10,000-Hour Rule

The Outliers
Malcolm Gladwell
Atomic Habits Queue

Quick Take: Tiny changes, remarkable results.

Atomic Habits
James Clear
Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins Queue Self-Help

Quick Take: Embrace the power of letting go.

Let Them Theory
Mel Robbins
I Will Wait by Bertha Msora Queue Novel

Quick Take: A story of patience and hope.

I Will Wait
Bertha Msora

Recommend me an interesting book! Email your suggestions to mudaherarich@gmail.com — I love discovering new reads.

Recent Updates

Recent research, projects, and ongoing explorations.

    For more, feel free to explore my LinkedIn, Medium, and GitHub profiles.

    Thoughts, notes, and articles on my journey and the things I’m currently learning.

      For more, feel free to explore my LinkedIn, Medium, and GitHub profiles.
      For more, feel free to explore my LinkedIn, Medium, and GitHub profiles.