Barath Velmurugan

Data Science | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Hi! I am a Master of Business Analytics student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working with Professor Vivek F. Farias. Previously, I received my B.Math in Statistics & CS from the University of Waterloo. My work spans software engineering, machine learning, optimization, and cloud infrastructure!

I am on the job market this year (2025-2026).

Research

My research focuses on generative modeling of digital twins and behavioral simulation using large language models. I'm interested in how large language models can reason about human behaviour! My recent work applies these ideas for synthetic customer modeling at Anheuser-Busch InBev through MIT.

Work Experience

Graduate Research Assistant · Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Sept 2025 – Present

LLM-based digital twins and behavioral simulation for ABI’s Zé Delivery (5M users) platform.

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  • Developed a scalable digital twin framework to simulate user interviews using data from AB InBev’s 5M-user delivery application
  • Built an alignment pipeline in Python and Databricks processing 319 Brazilian-Portuguese interviews for persona modeling
  • Prototyped an automated LLM-as-judge evaluation harness quantifying coherence, temporal consistency, and fidelity
Research (MIT Analytics Lab — 2025 Winners) · Mira Intel | Sept 2025 – Dec 2025

Computer vision & multi-agent workflow for wind-turbine damage detection and forecasting.

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  • Awarded 1st Place in MIT Analytics Lab (top team among 22 teams across 21 industry partners) [official announcement]
  • Constructed a computer vision pipeline that ingests images of wind-turbine blades, predicts damage, and forecasts wear
  • Engineered a YOLOv8 damage detector using Python achieving 0.96 F1 on critical defects via class-imbalance correction
  • Architected a multi-agent workflow using OpenAI Agent Builder to convert lengthy damage reports into prognostic JSONs
Software Engineer Intern · PointClickCare | Sept 2024 – Dec 2024

A full-stack platform to support the Senior Living Resident Management market (React & Python).

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  • Built a feature enabling an Azure GPT3.5 Turbo model to review lengthy SQL files and flag syntax deviations in pull requests, providing real-time non-intrusive quality checks using Groovy (i.e., undisturbed Jenkins build)
  • Took ownership of complex React UI features such as debugging production issues, building a multi-select search filter, and enabling editable time fields for “move-out” operations
Software Engineer Intern · Manulife | Jan 2024 – Apr 2024

Qualys Cloud Agent automation in Ansible using Azure Metadata and YAML.

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  • Proved out Qualys Cloud Agent functionality in Ansible by leveraging Ansible Modules, Azure Metadata, and YAML
  • Built a Chef feature using Ruby to validate access control policies (Sudo, HBAC) during the provisioning of a server, strengthening security and reducing server deployment time by 15%
Software Engineer Intern · Manulife | May 2023 – Aug 2023

PySpark and Databricks pipelines for large-scale database migration (80K records).

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  • Transformed data fields using PySpark and Databricks to support large-scale database migration of 80,000 records
  • Refactored a mission critical React project by consolidating logic, modularizing code, and deleting files
  • Built API-driven table rendering functionality (< 3s response) using TypeScript, React, and Material UI
  • Streamlined client data entry by adding button functionality and 5 conditional fields using React Hooks and JSX
Software Engineer Intern · Manulife | Sept 2022 – Dec 2022

Azure Logic Apps integration of Manulife Bank (SOAP) and Salesforce (REST).

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  • Integrated Manulife Bank (SOAP) with Salesforce (REST) using Azure Logic Apps, achieving 42% more performance (less than 1s latency) and near-zero downtime compared to the previously deployed PCF model
  • Solved authentication using Azure App Service to allow the Logic App to hit the bank’s on-prem SOAP APIs
  • Strengthened Logic App security by implementing OAuth 2.0 authentication using Azure Active Directory
Software Engineer Intern · PointClickCare | Jan 2022 – Apr 2022

Azure Event Hub deployment & Python multithreading for large-scale (22M+) data ingestion.

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  • Provisioned an Azure Event Hub using Java and Terraform to enable parallel ingestion of 22 million patient data
  • Leveraged Python multithreading to reduce script validation time for OHDSI datasets with 150,000 rows by 56%
  • Programmed an Azure Function using Java to detect the health of a Redis cache and PostgreSQL application
Software Engineer Intern · PointClickCare | May 2021 – Aug 2021

API development and unit testing using Spring and JUnit.

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  • Engineered a new API in 1 week (half a sprint) using Spring to inform 10,000+ vendors on ancillary charge statuses
  • Integrated 20+ comprehensive unit tests with JUnit for public APIs to improve API robustness and maintainability

Selected Publications

Projects

Extracurricular

Clubs

MIT AI & ML Club, MIT Tech Club, MIT Project Management Club, UW Data Science Club, Stanford ASES

Conferences & Events

CODE@MIT (2025), GAI World (2025), Hack The North (2024), Jane Street FTTP (2021)

Interests

strategy games (e.g., Chess), lo-fi music, long road-trips, electronic music production, and specialty drinks!

© 2025 Barath Velmurugan | visits