Researcher · Engineer · Founder · Calgary, Canada
I study learning systems and build them into things people use.
I am a Ph.D. researcher in Computer Science at the University of Victoria and an NSERC Postgraduate Scholar. I also founded SiliconBlast, an applied AI lab that ships its own apps and builds production AI with enterprises and governments.
Nootka Island, BC · 49.6°N 126.8°W · Sentinel-2Doctoral research
On Adaptive Kelp Forest Monitoring
No single global detector works best on every coast. My method learns from sparse, late-arriving labels which detector to trust for each satellite tile of coastline. The British Columbia coast is the case study. A pool of detectors with adaptive selection monitors a wider range of coast than any one global model.
- Degree
- Ph.D. in Computer Science, University of Victoria
- Supervisor
- Dr. Neil Ernst
- With
- Dr. Maycira Costa’s remote-sensing lab
01 · Research
What I work on
My research covers reinforcement learning and learning automata, adaptive and self-organizing systems, climate informatics and satellite remote sensing, language models for low-resource languages and machine learning for health.
- FoundationsAdaptive Data StructuresSelf-organizing lists-on-lists that learn from query patterns with learning automata. The aim is lower access cost where queries cluster. Five papers with Dr. B. John Oommen.
- LanguageEjagham Language ModelA language model for Ejagham, a low-resource Nigerian language. It preserves the language and gives its speakers working text tools.
- HealthDermAIA diagnostic model for skin lesions across ethnic skin types. It supports dermatology care for communities with little specialist access.
- Earth and climateGHG inventory for land use, land-use change and forestryLand-cover segmentation from Landsat imagery. The maps give the consistent land representation a Tier-3 greenhouse gas inventory needs.
- Earth and climateGHG accounting from wasteGreenhouse gas accounting for the Nigerian waste sector. It measures how circular economy measures change emissions and supports Nigeria’s revised Nationally Determined Contribution.
02 · Publications
Books and papers
- 2024Predicting high blood pressure using machine learning models in low- and middle-income countries BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making · Journal article
- 2023UCTH Breast Cancer Dataset Mendeley Data · Dataset
- 2021On utilizing transitivity and pursuit-enhanced object partitioning to optimize self-organizing lists-on-lists Evolving Systems · Journal article
- 2020BioMedBERT: A pre-trained biomedical language model for QA and IR COLING 2020 · Conference paper
- 2020Optimizing self-organizing lists-on-lists using transitivity and pursuit-enhanced object partitioning IFIP AIAI 2020 · Conference paper
- 2017Built to last or built too fast? Evaluating prediction models for build times IEEE/ACM MSR 2017 · Conference paper
03 · Talks
Talks and workshops
- 2024Using AI to enhance coding skillsGDG Winnipeg, Winnipeg
- 2023TensorFlow with Ekaba BisongGoogle Developer Student Clubs, McMaster UniversityWatch the talk
- 2021Predicting the S&P 500 with recurrent neural networksTensorFlow Everywhere North America
- 2020Optimizing self-organizing lists-on-lists (paper)IFIP AIAI 2020Watch the talk
- 2019Building a language toxicity classification model using AutoMLGoogle ML Summit, Cambridge, MassachusettsWatch the talk
- 2019Building deep learning models on Google Cloud Platform with KerasCisco DevNet Create, Mountain View, California
- 2019Building machine learning products with Google Cloud and TensorFlow 2.0GDG DevFest New Orleans
- 2019Machine learning and open-source applicationsBlacks in Technology Conference, Twin Cities
04 · Building
SiliconBlast
I founded SiliconBlast in 2019. It is an applied AI lab in Calgary. We build, ship and run six apps and deliver production AI for enterprises and governments. I lead its research, its products and its client work.
05 · Writing
Essays and tutorials
From 2017 to 2020 I wrote 24 essays and tutorials on machine learning, Google Cloud and Kubeflow. Each one was brought up to date in 2026.
All writing →- 2019Kubeflow for Poets: A Guide to Containerization of the Machine Learning Production Pipeline
- 2019Building a Language Toxicity Classification Model on Google Cloud
- 2019Google Cloud AutoML for Medical Image Classification
- 2017Supervised Machine Learning: A Conversational Guide for Executives and Practitioners
06 · About
Career and education
Across more than a decade I have built AI and data systems for enterprises, banks and public-sector organizations. I taught machine learning and programming at the University of Calabar. I started in climate data, building greenhouse gas inventories for Nigeria.
Career
- 2019 to nowFounder and Principal ConsultantSiliconBlast, Calgary
- 2020 to 2021Principal AI ArchitectLoblaw Companies Limited, Brampton
- 2019 to 2020Senior Consultant and Data Science LeadT4G, Calgary
- 2017 to 2019Data Scientist and Data EngineerPythian, Ottawa
- 2015 to 2017Assistant LecturerUniversity of Calabar, Nigeria
- 2010 to 2015Data and Earth Science Research ScientistIntegrated Ecodev Systems Konsult, Nigeria
Education
- 2024 to nowPh.D. in Computer ScienceUniversity of Victoria
- 2024 to nowB.Sc. in MathematicsAthabasca University
- 2016 to 2018M.Sc. in Computer ScienceCarleton University. Supervisor: Dr. B. John Oommen
- 2009 to 2013B.Sc. in Computer ScienceBabcock University
Honours
- 2025 to 2028NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship, Doctoral (PGS D)
- 2025 to 2027President’s Research Scholarship, University of Victoria
- 2024 to 2026University of Victoria Graduate Fellowship, Doctoral
- 2024University of Victoria Graduate Entrance Award
07 · Contact
Write to me about research, a talk or a project.
For consulting and product work, start with SiliconBlast.