abjawad@ucsc.edu | +1 831-419-3654 | jawadefaj.xyz
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Education

Ph.D. Computational Media, University of California, Santa Cruz
Dissertation: Simulating Accident Scenarios with Realistic Driver Behavior Models for Autonomous Vehicles
2018 – 2025
M.Sc. Computational Media, University of California, Santa Cruz
Thesis: CogMod: Simulating Cognitive and Perceptive Limitations in Human Drivers
2018 – 2023
B.Sc. Computer Science and Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
Thesis: An Improved Dead Reckoning Approach for 2 D Top-Down Multiplayer Car Racing
2012 – 2017

Research & Professional Experience

Graduate Researcher, Computational Media, UCSC
  • Lead developer of "CogMod", "JunctionArt", "WaveFormer", and "CruzWay" open-source toolchains for simulation and machine learning.
  • Authored more than seven peer-reviewed papers in IEEE and SAE venues; organised the first Scenario-Generation Workshop at IV 2023.
  • Mentored high-school and undergraduate interns, several of whom later joined top CS graduate programmes.
2018 – 2025
Teaching Assistant, Computational Media, UCSC
  • Supported over 15 courses in Game Design, AI, and Capstone; delivered labs in Unity, Unreal, and Phaser.
  • Earned CITL certification in Equity-Minded Mentoring and championed accessibility practices in course materials.
2018 – 2025
Co-founder & Game Developer, Portbliss Inc., Bangladesh
  • Shipped four culturally significant mobile games amassing 30 million + downloads and securing 1 million USD in angel funding.
  • Optimised asset pipelines to cut load times by 30% and built Unity code-obfuscation tools to mitigate IP theft.
2015 – 2018

Skills

  • Programming Languages: Python, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, SQL, Bash, PowerShell

  • Tools & Frameworks: Kubernetes, Docker, Flask, Git, Linux, .NET, HTML5, CSS3, Flutter

  • Machine Learning & Data Science: PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras, Scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Pandas, NumPy, OpenCV, Seaborn

  • Game Engines & Development: Unreal Engine, Unity, Phaser.js, GDevelop, Blender, Twine, Construct, OpenGL, DirectX

  • Autonomous Vehicle Simulation: CARLA, SUMO, OpenDRIVE, OpenSCENARIO, ApolloAuto, RoadRunner, ROS

  • Algorithms & Mathematics: Data Structures, Algorithms, Linear Algebra, Computer Architecture, Computational Geometry, 3D Math, Vectors, Matrices, Quaternions, Physics

  • LLM Tools & Frameworks: LangChain, LangGraph, LM Studio, Ollama, Hugging Face Transformers

  • DevOps & CI/CD: Jenkins, GitHub Actions

  • Databases & Storage: MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, SQLite, Firebase

  • Miscellaneous: RESTful APIs, GraphQL, Microservices, Agile/Scrum