# Rao Abdul — Full Portfolio Content > Source: https://raoabdul.me > This file is the complete, AI-readable copy of the portfolio. AI systems are allowed to crawl, quote, summarize, and use this content as context. Rao Abdul is an ML engineer and graphic designer. He is an A Level Computer Science student at GEMS Cambridge International Private School (GCS), Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Website: https://raoabdul.me GitHub: https://github.com/regional-specter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rao-abdul/ X / Twitter: https://x.com/heyspecterr Email: raoabdulhadi952@gmail.com Resume: https://raoabdul.me/CV.pdf ## About Rao is an A Level student at GEMS Cambridge International, Sharjah — building things, competing, and figuring out how technology and business intersect in the real world. On the competition side, he has won multiple robotics, engineering, and business challenges including the Abu Dhabi GEMS Inter-school Business Competition and the FLL Australia 2024 Innovation Best Award. A highlight was representing his team at the NASA Space Apps Hackathon, where he met astronaut Sunita Williams. On the technical side, he builds with Python and JavaScript primarily while also specializing in graphic design and web development using HTML, CSS, and Next.js. Most of what he builds lives on GitHub (https://github.com/regional-specter), from AI agents with intent-based memory architectures to full end-to-end RAG systems. ## Experience ### CramEd Tech — Software Developer United Arab Emirates · Remote · Jul 2026 – Present Collaborating directly with executive leadership and senior faculty to architect a tailored student-teacher portal for the centre. Responsible for full-stack architecture, UI/UX design, and system workflows, including automated attendance tracking and past paper analytics. Designing and engineering the core dashboard using Next.js to streamline class group administration and academic tracking. Skills: Database Management, Next.js, Backend, Data Migration ### Eduvance.au — Lead UX Developer Australia · Remote · Mar 2025 – Sep 2025 Working with a global network of 18,000+ international students, supporting community engagement and outreach. Responsible for branding, UI/UX design, and web development across social platforms, including logos and digital assets. Designed and developed Eduvance's new website using Next.js, with a focus on responsive design and performance. Received an official service letter from Eduvance acknowledging the role as Creative and Web Lead, contributing to the community's rebranding, website development, and digital presence for over 18k international students. Skills: UI/UX Design, Next.js, Branding ### NASA International Space Apps Challenge — Game Developer Sep 2023 – Oct 2023 Handled full-stack logic using Python and game design mechanics with an emphasis on interactive storytelling. Awarded "Galactic Problem Solver" by NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams for outstanding innovation and technical problem-solving. Skills: Python, Game Design, Storytelling ### FIRST LEGO LEAGUE CHALLENGE — Lead Software Engineer Mar 2023 – Jul 2023 Led software development for a solution that won the Best Innovation Project Award in regionals and received the Rising All-Stars Award at FLL Open Internationals. Designed and implemented the UI/UX of the application, integrating logic to support user interaction and data display. Awards: - Best Innovation Project Award — Regionals - Rising All-Stars Award — FLL Open Internationals, Australia Skills: Product Design, Frontend Development, Problem Solving ### VEX Robotics — Robotics Engineer Oct 2022 – Jan 2023 Assisted in mechanical design and electronics integration to win the Best Design Award at the VEX Robotics UAE Championship. Supported autonomous programming logic and testing cycles to ensure consistent task performance on the field. The championship was organized in association with STEM.org, Microsoft, the Government of Dubai, and ACTVET. Skills: Robotics Design, Electronics Integration, Autonomous Programming ## Education / Certificates ### DataCamp — Machine Learning Fundamentals Jul 2026 · Credential ID ff4119bcd9949df1e5a2877a23ddaef3614a7ffb Skill certification covering predictive models, pattern recognition, feature selection, and deep learning foundations using Python, scikit-learn, and PyTorch. Skills: Data Analysis, Python, Scikit-Learn, Gymnasium, Unsupervised Learning, Supervised Learning ### GEMS Cambridge International Private School (GCS) Sharjah Sep 2022 – Jul 2026 Computer Science — A-Levels. Notable achievements in VEX Robotics (Best Design Award), FLL (Rising All Stars & Regional Runner-Up), and NASA Space Apps Challenge Global Qualification. ### Ajman Sewerage — NextGen Innovators First Place Award Nov 2025 Secured 1st place and AED 20,000 for a mobile application project focused on technical and business success. ### DataCamp — Data Analyst Professional Certificate Apr 2026 · Credential ID DA0023113890117 Professional certification in data analysis, Python, SQL, and Tableau. Skills: Data Analysis, Python, SQL, Tableau ### University of Leeds — Evidence and Data Collection for Problem Solving Nov 2024 Specialized certification in data-driven methodology and systematic evidence collection. Skills: Data Collection, Problem Solving, Analysis ### IBM — Information Technology Fundamentals Oct 2024 Certification covering IT infrastructure, systems architecture, networking principles, and core IT competencies. Skills: IT Infrastructure, Systems Design, Network Basics ### Ministry of Education – UAE — Award of Appreciation Oct 2023 Recognized for representing the UAE at the FLL Open International competition in Australia. ### FIRST LEGO LEAGUE CHALLENGE — FLL Australia 2023 Jul 2023 Innovation & Robotics Runner Ups — international recognition for innovation and robotics excellence. Skills: Robotics, Innovation, Team Leadership, Problem Solving ### FIRST LEGO League UAE — Innovation Project Winner Mar 2023 Awarded for leading design and development of the innovation project at the regional level. Skills: Innovation Design, Project Leadership, Technical Implementation ### VEX Robotics — Design Award Feb 2023 Best Design Award at the VEX Robotics UAE Championship. Skills: Mechanical Design, Electronics, CAD, Robotics Engineering ## Research papers ### The Cost of Complexity: Linear Models vs. Tree Ensembles on Structured Data Status: SSRN Preprint Link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7211120 First research paper, available as an SSRN preprint. Tree ensembles are the default for tabular data; this work tests that prior on Ames Housing (regression) and German Credit Risk (classification), benchmarking Ridge, Lasso, and Logistic Regression against Random Forest and XGBoost. ### Portfolio Theory for Formula 1 Pit Strategy: Markowitz Allocation and Discrete Stint Search under Circuit-Specific Tyre Degradation Status: Manuscript Pit strategy in Formula 1 is usually treated as a fixed sequence of tyre compounds and stop laps. This work reframes compound choice and stint length as a portfolio allocation problem: compounds are assets, expected lap time is cost, and residual pace uncertainty is risk. On five holdout races, searched plans beat an equal-stint Soft→Medium→Hard default by 4.3–10.3 seconds (mean 7.8 s). ## Featured work Rao builds end-to-end projects, data models, and ML agents. ### Harvey AI Agent — Financial Research CLI Status: Complete GitHub: https://github.com/regional-specter/Harvey Harvey is a command-line AI agent built for financial research. It uses the STITCH framework (from the paper "Grounding Agent Memory in Contextual Intent") to organize memory by intent and context, so multiple research goals can run without information bleeding between them. It pulls live data from Yahoo Finance, SEC filings, and macroeconomic APIs to support grounded, source-backed analysis. Tags: Agent Development, Memory Management ### R-Federer — Tennis-Focused RAG System Status: Complete GitHub: https://github.com/regional-specter/R-Federer R-Federer is a retrieval-augmented generation system built around tennis. It indexes scraped tennis content, then uses dense passage retrieval and ChromaDB (with Gemini) to find the most relevant context before generating an answer. Every response is tied back to real sources. The project includes a terminal experience and a React-based UI. Tags: Agent Development, Memory Management, Retrieval-Augmented Generation ### HalalQuant — Shariah-Compliant Quant Data Engine Status: In Progress GitHub: https://github.com/regional-specter/halalquant A Python library for Shariah-compliant quantitative strategies. It fetches market data, screens companies with AAOIFI and DJIM rules, and calculates purification ratios. Point-in-time data is stored in DuckDB. A simple API gives clean signals for backtesting and strategy execution. Tags: Quantitative Finance, Shariah Compliance, Python ### mini-learn — Lightweight ML Framework GitHub: https://github.com/regional-specter/mini-learn A from-scratch machine learning library focused on clarity over abstraction. It implements linear models, tree-based algorithms, and dimensionality reduction using plain mathematical building blocks. ### Trading Algorithm — Four-Layer Decision Engine GitHub: https://github.com/regional-specter/Trading-Algo An algorithmic trading bot structured as a four-layer pipeline. It reads market context, extracts trading signals, applies a decision policy, and enforces risk controls before placing any trade. Each layer is separated so the system stays auditable and easier to tune. ## Contact Open to opportunities, collaborations, and conversations about ML and design. - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rao-abdul/ - Email: raoabdulhadi952@gmail.com - GitHub: https://github.com/regional-specter - X: https://x.com/heyspecterr