Syed Ali

I am an accelerated BS/MS student at Vanderbilt University studying Computer Science, with an additional major in Mathematics. I will graduate in May 2026 with both degrees. I am pursuing full-time Software Engineering roles.

I am interested in the intersection between Computer Science, Urban Planning, and Transit. I've interned at Capital One, The American Bureau of Shipping, and the Vanderbilt Department of Transportaion. My primary interests are in Backend Engineering, Distributed Systems, and Machine Learning.

Projects

Access911 | October 2025

Next.js, AWS (Lambda, DynamoDB, Bedrock), TypeScript, Twilio, Mapbox

Secured 3rd place and $10,000 at the AWS x Vanderbilt Mission Autonomy Hackathon by building an AI‑powered emergency response platform that reduces 911 hold times during disasters.

Repository →

Distributed Data Pipeline on Kubernetes | October 2025

Kubernetes, Docker, Ansible, Kafka, Flask, Python

Deployed a scalable Kafka streaming pipeline on a 5‑node Kubernetes cluster using Ansible and Docker with multiple publisher/subscriber replicas.

CourseCoach | November 2024

Next.js, TypeScript, OpenAI API, Chakra UI

Course scheduling platform (2nd place, VandyHacks XI) that provides AI‑powered course recommendations and interactive flowcharts.

Repository →

Future Projects

Transit Trip Planner | Planned

Multi-modal routing, GTFS, optimization

Multi-stop itinerary planner that optimizes for total travel time, fewest transfers, or reliability across transit, walking, and micro-mobility. Current apps only provide the ability for one route.

Collaborative AI Workspace | Planned

Real-time collaboration, generative AI, shared context

Google‑Docs-like generative AI app where teams co-edit prompts and responses, refine queries, and get shared, context‑aware answers.