B.S. in Statistics and Data Science

2022 – 2026 (expected)

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

CPI: 8.9/10

Awards: Academic Excellence Award (2022 & 2023)

Honors Track Student

Minor: Machine Learning and Applications

Grade XII

2022

Delhi Public School, Surat

Score: 97.6%

Grade X

2020

Delhi Public School, Surat

Score: 98.4%

Nalanda Merit Scholarship 2020

Fee waiver worth INR 3,00,000 for securing 98.4% marks in AISSE

BYJU's Merit Scholarship 2020

Fee waiver worth INR 1,50,000 for excellent academic performance

Barker's DP-SGD

July 2025 – Present

Prof. Dootika Vats, IIT Kanpur

• Developing a differentially private SGD variant using a Barker's proposal–inspired robust gradient scaling
• Improving utility–privacy tradeoffs in model training and accelerating convergence while preserving privacy guarantees

Coordinate Descent for LAD Estimation

Aug 2025 – Nov 2025

Prof. Debasis Kundu, IIT Kanpur

• Developed a coordinate-wise descent algorithm to compute Least Absolute Deviations (LAD) estimates for linear regression.
• Demonstrated numerical stability in high-dimensional regimes (p > n) and achieved accuracy comparable to simplex-based solvers.
• Achieved a worst-case computational complexity of O(pn log n), improving runtime over standard LP-based methods.
• Established convergence guarantees under standard OLS regularity conditions and empirically verified stable convergence across multiple regression setups.

Languages: R, Python, C, C++, LaTeX, MATLAB, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, SQL

Technologies: Bloomberg Terminal, Fusion360, Gazebo, scikit-learn, Matplotlib, Quarto, RShiny, PyTorch, TensorFlow

Machine Learning & Algorithms: Data Structures & Algorithms, Introduction to Machine Learning, Probabilistic Machine Learning, Techniques in AI & Data Mining, Markov Chain Monte Carlo

Applied Statistics: Data Science Labs, Computational Statistics, Time Series Analysis, Linear Regression & ANOVA, Multivariate Analysis, Bayesian Analysis

Theoretical Courses: Linear Estimations & Modeling, Applied Stochastic Processes, Theory of Statistics, Real Analysis, Complex Variables

Coordinator, Debating Society

Apr 2024 – Apr 2025

Media and Culture Council, IIT Kanpur

• Led a multi-tier team of 40+ students to train teams for national and international debate tournaments
• Convened IITKAPD (first edition) with 300+ participants from 6 countries, generating a profit of INR 50,000

Editor, Vox Populi

Apr 2024 – Apr 2025

Writing and Investigative Journalism

• Led a 3-tier editorial team (60+ contributors) producing reports, infographics, and videos
• Organized Fleet Street, IIT Kanpur's first journalism conclave with 1,000+ attendees

Z. Naik, D. Kundu — Coordinate Descent Algorithm for Least Absolute Deviations Regression (manuscript in preparation)

Z. Naik, M. Chow, S. Mitra — Automated Label Imputation and Robust Optimization for SWAP Regression (manuscript in preparation)

Associate Intern

May 2025 – Jul 2025

Boston Consulting Group — Mumbai / Gandhinagar

Received a pre-placement offer (PPO) to join as a full-time Associate in the Mumbai office.

• Partnered with the Gujarat Administrative Reforms Commission as knowledge partners for policy modernisation
• Benchmarked global best practices (Estonia, Singapore, UK) to design strategic digital governance interventions
• Analyzed utilization across 1,400+ PHCs to optimize healthcare service coverage and streamline delivery statewide
• Re-imagined 5+ workflows to enable data-driven governance, improve accountability, and increase impact
• Contributed to implementation of e-governance policy, improving digital access for an estimated 60M+ citizens

Research Intern

May 2024 – Jul 2024

IIM Bangalore — Prof. Sharkarsan Basu

Research featured at the Research Symposium on Finance and Economics 2024 (IFMR)

• Optimized lending strategies and examined equity trends for public and private banks under crisis scenarios
• Analyzed lending data for > 100,000 firms and top 50 banks to train predictive models
• Validated the 'state double-engine' hypothesis on economic growth via discriminant analysis
• Studied dividend stickiness and corporate governance effects using large-scale firm-level data

SWAP Regression

Aug 2023 – Sep 2025

Prof. Sharmishtha Mitra, IIT Kanpur

Advancing towards publication in collaboration with Prof. Mosuk Chow (Penn State).

• Developed an EM-based label-imputation mechanism to infer response–predictor roles for SWAP regression
• Implemented a weighted LAD M-step (L1 loss) with MAD-based scale updates for robustness to outliers
• Validated on USD/INR – SENSEX data, reducing RMSE by 81.6% vs. baseline
• Auto-imputed alternating causality regimes consistent with empirical economic findings

PHASR (RoboCup MSL)

Sep 2023 – Apr 2024

Prof. Indranil Saha, ERA, IIT Kanpur

First Indian team to qualify for the RoboCup MSL Challenge out of 100+ international applicants.

• Designed robots for autonomous football play using real-time vision and swarm robotics
• Led electronics and mechanical subsystems in a 2-tier team (13 members)
• Built solenoid-based kicking and automated ball-handling mechanisms; designed agile chassis (≈4 m/s)

Tempered Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (THMC)

Jan 2025 – May 2025

Prof. Dootika Vats, IIT Kanpur

• Designed a tempered HMC variant to improve sampling in multi-modal distributions
• Incorporated adaptive tempering into leapfrog integrators for better mode traversal
• Proved reversibility and volume preservation guarantees; improved coverage on Neal's Funnel and multi-modal targets

The Knight & Bishop Algorithm

Jan 2025 – May 2025

Research Project

• Developed hyperparameter tuning for Magnetic HMC using dual averaging and recursive exploration
• Proved invariance and ergodicity of the Magnetic HMC kernel
• Benchmarked gradient-based failure modes on complex multimodal targets

No-U-Turn Sampler (NUTS)

Jul 2024 – Nov 2024

Prof. Dootika Vats, IIT Kanpur

• Implemented NUTS from first principles and validated performance on challenging targets
• Mastered recursive path-length construction and adaptive hyperparameter tuning