Gowtham Kuntumalla

I'm passionate about building impactful products at the intersection of Engineering and Computer Science. I'm a self-taught coder and like staying up to date with the latest trends in the world of software programming and data science. Also, I am an active investor/trader in the financial markets. At Forest Creek Capital, I work on building quantitative trading strategies with end-to-end ownership of a trading desk.

Learning : At FCC, I realized the value of a growth mindset in approaching new things. It is very conducive to professional development. At Uber, I had an enriching experience working with consumer products at scale. Working on IoT and gathering critical insights from terabytes of data was a wonderful learning experience for me. During my Masters at UIUC, I developed a keen eye for detail and learned how to manage teams to achieve targets within deadlines. My undergraduate education gave me a strong foundation in various theoretical and experimental aspects of Engineering.

Principle : I believe in the power of simplicity! It's the key to solving hard problems.

Education : I graduated with a Master of Computer Science in 2023 and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2020 both from UIUC , where I performed research in manufacturing and did coursework in theoretical and applied data science. In 2018, I received my Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science from IIT Bombay.

Email  /  Resume  /  GitHub  /  LinkedIn

Experience

Forest Creek Capital LLC

[2020 - current]

Quantitative Analyst & Trader

University of Illinois

[2018-2020]

Graduate Research & Teaching Assistant

Master's degree

Uber

[Summer 2019]

Engineering Intern (New Mobility Team)

-

Washington University in St.Louis

[Summer 2017]

Research Intern (EECE Department)

-

IIT Bombay

[2014-2018]

Undergraduate Researcher

Bachelor's degree

Selected Projects
Equity Portfolio Optimization using Machine Learning Techniques

Gowtham Kuntumalla, Akhilesh Somani, Manan Mehta
Work perfomed at UIUC

We created stock portfolios for personal finance using S&P500 data from 2013 to 2018. Past performance doesn't guarantee future results but it gives a valuable insight into picking a good mix of stocks. Given past data, our method can be expanded to include different assets for an even better portoflio. Image shown is the risk-return profile generated using aforementioned data.
[Image] [GitHub Repo] [Report] [Slides]
Motif Finder in DNA Sequences using EM Algorithm

Gowtham Kuntumalla, Xiaowei Lyu, Devin Vincent
Work perfomed at UIUC

My first project in Bioinformatics. We found how information can be extracted from biopolymeric data using a powerful statistical inference technique called Expectation Maximization algorithm. We developed this algorithm based on research articles published in the 1990s. Image shown is a sequence logo generated from an example probability weight matrix.
[Image] [GitHub Repo] [Report]
Graduate Engineering Internship

Gowtham Kuntumalla, Ashish Dighe (Sr. Technical Operations Manager)
Work perfomed at Uber

I worked on multiple projects spanning Software, Data Analytics & Business Modeling. Main focus was on improvements in the e-bike and scooter infrastructure, popularly know as JUMP. I wrote programs in C++ for embedded Linux OS on IoT (Internet of Things) device on JUMP vehicles. I deployed python codes for automating the testing process in real bikes. In the Data Analytics project, I programmed models using Python and SQL to query and gather crucial imformation on performance of GPS location service on both ebikes and scooters. This data will guide the development of specifications for future versions of the IoT device. For Business Modeling, I used SQL queries and past performance details to propose a new maintenance infrastructure to save 70% of operational expenses.
[Image] [Poster]
Design and Manufacturing of novel hybrid metal-polymer heat exchangers

Gowtham Kuntumalla, Manjunath Rajagopal, Yuquan Meng, Akhilesh Somani, HoChan Chang, Sreenath Sundar, Hanyang Zhao Dr. Chenhui Shao, Dr. Srinivasa Salapaka, Dr. Nenad Miljkovic, Dr. Placid Ferreira, Dr. Sanjiv Sinha
Work perfomed at UIUC

We made a new heat exchanger using polymers and metals. In the process, we created a new roll to roll (R2R) process for creating helical structures using thin (< 200 μm) materials. This HX is light, economic and is expected to perform well in low temperature (150 ° C) flue gas conditions. We won a $1.25 million research grant from Dept. of Energy, USA to perform this project. Also refer to this list of publications related to this project. There are other developmental aspects (Anti-fouling coatings and Physics based machine learning algorithms for controlled maintenance) which are not presented here. . We filed for a patent on our work.
[Image] [Presentation] [Article 1] [Article 2] [CAD] [Production System] [Press]
High Performance Computing (HPC) simulations of particle cluster aggregtion

Gowtham Kuntumalla, Dr. Rajan Chakrabarthy (Mentor)
Work perfomed at Washington University in St.Louis

The coolest aspect of this project was artificially generating fractals and studying their clustering properties as certain physical parameters vary.
[Image] [Seminar] [Summary]
Finding high potential rocket propellants using computer simulations (B.Tech Project)

Gowtham Kuntumalla, Dr. Neeraj Kumbhakarna (Mentor)
Work perfomed at IIT Bombay

I used NASA CEA and Gaussian 9 to simulate atomistic chemical reactions to find thermal properties. The theory behind these simulations is grounded in ab-initio quantum chemistry methods.
[Image] [Slides] [Report]
Implementation of Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV)

Gowtham Kuntumalla, Krishna Sandeep Bhogaraju, Dr. Amit Agrawal (Mentor)
Work perfomed at IIT Bombay

We wrote a C++ computer program for particle image velocimetry, which is a widely used non invasive flow measurement tool in research and industry. The output images produced by our program are simply beautiful!
[Image] [Slides] [GitHub Repo] [Result1] [Result2]
Mechanical Analysis of Pratham Nano-satellite

Gowtham Kuntumalla (small role), IITB students from multiple departments
Work perfomed at IIT Bombay

We produced a cube-sat the size of 1ft x 1ft x 1.5ft under the mentorship of ISRO which was launched into low earth orbit (LEO) on September 26, 2016. I played a small role in this mega student driven project. My job was to verify the structural integrity of our satellite using ANSYS. The launch day and the following week were a thrilling few days!
[Image] [Website] [Real time tracking!] [Press]
Teaching

At UIUC, I worked as a teaching assistant for the following courses:

I worked as a TA in my undergrad too! (IIT Bombay):
Miscellaneous

  • I love playing Badminton and staying active. I read novels and watch TV shows in my free time. Books written by Satyajit Ray, Brandon Sanderson, Ayn Rand, and Jeffrey Archer are my personal favorites.
  • In my third year at IITB, a hostel team led by me made this Rube Goldberg machine (video) with limited resources. Btw, it won the first prize in a collegiate competition.

Last Modified : July 4, 2023

Modified a clone of this simple website!