Srinila Pogalla

I started my journey in AI & Data Science out of curiosity — it was new, exciting, and full of possibility. What I didn't expect was how deeply I'd fall in love with the research and the science behind it.

Originally from India, I made my way to the U.S. — first to Florida Atlantic University, then to the University of North Dakota, drawn by the research opportunities here. Grand Forks surprised me. I came in knowing no one, navigating a new country, a new university, and a new culture all at once — but the city, the people, and the community gave me the foundation to grow. That support made all the difference.

Joining the Computational Research Center at UND was a turning point. I walked in with no software engineering background and built my way up — gaining real hands-on experience in full-stack development and MLOps, while contributing to impactful research including a U.S. Department of Energy funded project at the UND ARCTIC Lab. Alongside that, I independently built projects spanning NLP, RAG systems, ETL pipelines, and data analytics — reflecting my passion for both applied AI and data-driven decision making.

Today I sit at the intersection of both worlds: an engineer who can ship production ML systems, and a researcher who genuinely cares about why models work — and when they don't. I'm actively looking for roles in AI, Machine Learning, and Data Science where I can keep building things that matter.

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