PublicationCo-author
“Machine Learning-Assisted Pulsed Laser Deposition Based on Plasma Optical Emission Signatures”
Accepted for an oral presentation · AVS 72nd International Symposium · Pittsburgh, Nov 8–13, 2026
Hi, I'm
RodionMayatskiy
Computer Science & Physics student at UAB with a 4.0 GPA. I build AI-powered tools, production web apps, scientific software, and simulations.
01 / 04
Software Engineer, Researcher, Founder, Physics × CS
About
About me
I’m a Computer Science and Physics double major at UAB, in the Honors College with early admission to its accelerated master’s program in AI. I write plasma simulations for a physics lab, build production websites, teach Python as a TA for CS 103 and lead student groups like The AI Collective. Long term, I want to build AI systems grounded in physical law and pursue a Ph.D. in machine learning and AI.
- 4.0GPA, Presidential Honors List
- HonorsCollege, Personalized Pathway
- B.S.–M.S.Early admission, accelerated program in AI
- UABBirmingham, Alabama
Education
Aug 2025 to May 2029expected
Education
University of Alabama at Birmingham
B.S. Computer Science & B.S. Physics (double major)
Concentration: Data-Driven Modeling and Technology · Minors: Mathematics, Entrepreneurship
Honors College (Personalized Pathway) · College of Arts & Sciences
4.0
- GPA 4.0 · Presidential Honors List (Fall 2025, Spring 2026)
- Early admission to UAB’s Accelerated Bachelor’s-to-Master’s Program in Artificial Intelligence
Achievements
In numbers
- 4.0GPA · Presidential Honors List · Honors College
- 1stplace, EcoCAR track, HackBama_01 (Oct 2026)
- 60+students in CS 103, where I’m the primary TA
- 1,500+university web pages across 20+ UAB department sites
- 3production websites shipped in 2026
- 1st place HackBama_01 EcoCAR track
- Co-author AVS 72
- UAB Ambassador 1 of 16
- Member of the Year USGA
- Presidential Honors List 2026
- Early admission B.S.–M.S. in AI
- Founder The AI Collective
- 2nd of 30 ASU Game Dev Camp
Featured work · HackBama_01
- lap, hardest practice course
- 36.8 s
- cones hit
- 0
- per decision
- ~10 ms
1st place · EcoCAR track
HackBama_01
A real-time Python controller that drives a simulated AWD electric race car around unseen autocross courses with no map: 36.8 s against the organizers' 39.5 s baseline.
Read moreIllustration of the idea, not the scored controller's output
Projects
Featured projects
Seven projects at a glance: a hackathon win, an AI task planner, a Canvas reminder bot, a multiplayer browser game, two client websites and an AI tutor in early development. Pick one, or keep scrolling to go through them one by one.
012026HackBama_011st place in the EcoCAR track
022026CairnLive beta
032026Canvas Assignment TrackerPrivate beta (6 users at several universities)
042026Pigeon ProblemsJavaScript (ES modules) · Three.js
052026sofiakamal.artReact 18 · JavaScript (ES2020)
062026BOR RealtyNext.js 14 · React
072026PhasoraEarly stage (2 concept pages live)
- 01
Oct 17, 2026 · 12-hour hackathon at the University of Alabama
HackBama_01
1st place in the EcoCAR trackA real-time Python controller that drives a simulated AWD electric race car around unseen autocross courses with no map, in about 10 ms per decision.
- 36.8 slap vs 39.5 s baseline
- 0cones hit
- 129automated tests
- Python
- NumPy
- CARLA 0.9.16
- Vehicle dynamics
- Least-squares optimization
- 02
Oct 2026 – Present
Cairn
Live betaA calm, local-first task planner for brains that get overwhelmed by long lists. Type a task in plain words; it shows you one next step.
- 846unit & integration tests, plus 33 end-to-end
- ~12,100lines of TypeScript
- ≈$0.001AI cost per captured task
- React 19
- TypeScript (strict)
- Zustand
- Zod
- Vite
- 03
Oct 2026 – Present
Canvas Assignment Tracker
Private beta (6 users at several universities)A Telegram bot that ranks your Canvas To Do list every morning and keeps reminding you every 2 hours until Canvas shows the work submitted.
- 426automated tests
- 94%line + branch coverage (98% on the scheduler)
- 28,800simulated scheduler ticks across a DST change
- Python 3.13 (asyncio)
- python-telegram-bot
- Canvas LMS REST API
- httpx
- SQLite
- 04
Oct 2026
Pigeon Problems
A 1–4 player co-op rooftop platformer in the browser. Pigeons haul oversized cargo, throw and catch it, on a server-authoritative 60 Hz simulation.
- 60 Hzserver-authoritative simulation
- 300 msinjected lag, still playable
- 127engine/session tests + browser checks
- JavaScript (ES modules)
- Three.js
- WebGL
- Node.js
- WebSockets
- 05
May 2026 – Present
sofiakamal.art
A multi-page portfolio for a Stanford painter, ceramicist, poet and photographer, 58 works, a "watercolor bloom" page transition, JS cut from ~1,060 KB to 58 KB.
- 58 KBJavaScript, from ~1,060 KB
- 1.1 sfirst paint, from ~10 s
- 100Lighthouse SEO, a11y, best practices
- React 18
- JavaScript (ES2020)
- Node.js
- esbuild
- HTML5
- 06
Summer 2026
BOR Realty
A bilingual (EN/RU) Next.js site for a Phoenix brokerage, with a self-updating 689-video library and 300+ accessibility and layout tests.
- 689videos synced daily
- 300+Playwright tests
- 0axe-core violations
- Next.js 14
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Node.js
- 07
Mar 2026 – Present
Phasora
Early stage (2 concept pages live)A physics-informed AI tutor in early development: hints instead of answers, with simulations and formula cards built around each concept.
- 11units planned
- 88concepts, General Physics I
- React
- Vite
- KaTeX
- Anthropic API
- Manim (Python)
14 projects, with filters
All projects
Research
Undergraduate Researcher
Physics lab
Computational plasma physics at UAB, on the Cheaha supercomputer. Co-author of an AVS 72nd International Symposium abstract accepted for an oral presentation.
Read moreExperience
Experience
Teaching, research and web development, alongside a full course load.
- TeachingAug 2026 – Present
Teaching Assistant, CS 103: Introduction to Python
UAB Department of Computer Science · Birmingham, AL
Primary TA for a 60+ student intro Python course: sole grader, teaches a ~40-student weekly lab.
Details
- Appointed primary TA by the instructor for a 60+ student course (~10 hrs/week).
- Grade all homework and lab assignments as the course’s only grader, keeping feedback consistent for every student.
- Teach my own weekly 2-hour lab section of ~40 students, walking through hands-on exercises from first principles.
- Hold 2 hours of office hours a week on programming concepts, problem-solving and students’ own code.
- Work with a second TA, who leads the smaller lab section, on day-to-day course operations.
- Built a small recursion visualizer in Python to explain recursion to my students.
PythonTeachingCode reviewTechnical communication - WorkSummer 2026
Web Developer Intern
BOR Realty, LLC · Phoenix, AZ
Shipped the brokerage’s bilingual (EN/RU) site, 18 pages in Next.js 14.
Details
- Shipped the brokerage’s bilingual (EN/RU) site, 18 pages in Next.js 14.
- Automated a 689-video library with the YouTube Data API and daily GitHub Actions syncs.
- WCAG 2.1 AA with 0 axe-core violations and 300+ Playwright tests.
Next.js 14TypeScriptGitHub ActionsPlaywright - ResearchMay 2026 – Present
Undergraduate Researcher, Computational Plasma Physics
Computational plasma physics research group, UAB Department of Physics · Birmingham, AL
Laser-ablation and fluid-dynamics simulations in C/Basilisk on UAB’s Cheaha supercomputer, supporting machine-learning-guided thin-film growth.
Details
- Write and run coupled laser-ablation and fluid-dynamics simulations of laser-generated plasmas in C with the Basilisk PDE framework.
- Run workloads on UAB’s Cheaha supercomputer; learned Linux and Bash from scratch to manage HPC jobs, environments and data.
- Work with synthetic plasma datasets in which plasma temperature (T) and ionization fraction (Xe) serve as ground truth for testing ML models.
- Write Python scripts that process, visualize and analyze simulation output into the plots and comparisons the team uses to evaluate models.
- Support research on ML-guided pulsed laser deposition (PLD), where Gaussian Process Bayesian Optimization builds surrogate models of plasma conditions from a small number of experiments.
- Co-author, “Machine Learning-Assisted Pulsed Laser Deposition Based on Plasma Optical Emission Signatures,” accepted for an oral presentation at the AVS 72nd International Symposium, Pittsburgh, Nov 8–13, 2026.
CBasiliskPythonBashLinuxHPC (Cheaha)Gaussian Process Bayesian OptimizationScientific visualization - TeachingFeb 2026 – May 2026
Academic Peer Tutor
UAB Vulcan Materials Academic Success Center · Birmingham, AL
Tutored 12+ STEM courses; the center’s only General Physics I tutor.
Details
- Tutored students across 12+ STEM courses, including Calculus I/II, General Physics and Python (~5–6 hrs/week).
- The center’s only General Physics I tutor.
- Used inquiry-based problem solving, graphing and online simulations to help students build intuition.
- Taught TI-Nspire CX II use for calculus: verifying solutions, writing custom functions, graphing 3D surfaces.
- Moved into the CS 103 primary TA role in Fall 2026.
CalculusPhysicsPython - WorkOct 2025 – Present
Web Content Editor Student Assistant (Front-End Web Developer)
UAB Student Affairs Marketing & Communications (SAMAC) · Birmingham, AL
Maintain 1,500+ pages across 20+ UAB department sites in Joomla 5 with custom HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Details
- Maintain and update 1,500+ pages across 20+ UAB department sites in Joomla 5, writing custom HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Bootstrap.
- Converted a 40-page PDF annual report into an interactive, animated webpage as part of a 3-developer team.
- Asked to update a department’s video library page, delivered a full redesign: content reorganized and categorized, a cleaner accessible layout and a clear information hierarchy.
- Run ongoing digital accessibility reviews (WCAG, WAVE) of UAB pages, starting with Dining.
- Started in my first semester, at up to 18 hrs/week alongside a full course load.
Joomla 5HTMLCSSJavaScriptBootstrapWCAG/WAVE
Leadership
Leadership
Founding things, running things and representing the university.
Founder & President, The AI Collective at UAB (AIC)
Founded UAB’s first interdisciplinary AI organization, to make practical AI skills accessible to students in every major.
Read moreFreshman Forum Member, USGA · Member of the Year
Founded the Micro-Internships pilot with the UAB Career Center, now a long-term program (Project One).
Read moreEvents Chair, ACM at UAB
Plan the full-year event calendar for UAB’s largest computing student organization.
Read moreWebsite Coordinator, Undergraduate Student Government Association (USGA)
The only person in charge of updating and redesigning the official USGA website (Joomla 5).
Read moreUAB Ambassador
Selected 1 of 16 new Ambassadors from 140+ applicants as an official student host of the university.
Read moreInternational Mentor, International Scholar & Student Services (ISSS)
Mentor new international students from arrival through their first semesters.
Read more
Skills
The periodic table of skills
Every tool I work with, as an element, grouped in blocks. Move over them; click one to see what it is and where I used it. With a keyboard, the arrow keys walk the table.