Hello, I'm Nithin Balamurugan

Computer Science Student at University of Western Ontario | Graduating April 2027

AI Research Platform Developer | Co-author of "Tiny Recursive Models on ARC-AGI-1" Research Paper

Nithin Balamurugan

About Me

I'm a Computer Science student at the University of Western Ontario, graduating in April 2027. I'm always looking for the next opportunity to build my technical background and get closer to my goal of working in consulting. Currently, I'm finishing a project at Varonova Tech Inc. and will be starting at CIBC for the summer.

Previously, I worked as an AI Research Platform Intern at CognitomeAI, where I built core features for an AI-powered research platform aggregating academic papers and generating interactive research maps. I co-authored the research paper "Tiny Recursive Models on ARC-AGI-1: Inductive Biases, Identity Conditioning, and Test-Time Compute," published on arXiv. I also worked as a Data Engineer Intern at MomentumMind, where I optimized SQL queries, built fault-tolerant ETL pipelines, and streamlined data transformation processes.

I'm passionate about AI research, full-stack development, and building scalable systems that solve real-world problems. Each experience helps me develop the technical skills and problem-solving abilities needed for a career in tech consulting.

Languages

Java Python TypeScript JavaScript C/C++ SQL HTML CSS R COBOL JCL REXX MATLAB

Frameworks & Tools

Next.js React Node.js FastAPI Flask JUnit AWS Docker IBM Mainframe Zowe CLI OpenAI API

Libraries

Tailwind CSS PostCSS ESLint npm Pandas NumPy Matplotlib PyTorch Hugging Face PyMuPDF Docling Tesseract OCR RapidOCR

Work Experience

CIBC

Technical Operations Co-op - Intern

May 2026 - August 2026
  • Monitored production banking applications using Splunk and ServiceNow, triaging and resolving 20+ support tickets weekly while performing root cause analysis to maintain stability for platforms supporting thousands of internal users
  • Developed Python and PowerShell automation scripts to streamline log analysis and recurring operational tasks, automating several manual workflows and improving incident response times for the operations team
  • Queried and analyzed system data using SQL and worked across Linux and Windows environments to diagnose application issues, assist with deployments, and support system updates impacting multiple enterprise applications

Varonova Tech Inc.

AI Software Developer Intern

January 2026 - April 2026
  • Refactored an AI video generation pipeline into modular object-oriented Python architecture, separating scene proxy operations, depth processing, and rendering to improve maintainability and consistent video generation workflows
  • Implemented a 3D point cloud reconstruction pipeline using NumPy, performing depth backprojection via the pinhole camera model, applying 4×4 camera pose transformations, and using voxel-based downsampling to generate optimized scene proxy representations
  • Developed a novel-view rendering pipeline projecting 3D point clouds into new camera perspectives using z-buffer occlusion, point splatting, and OpenCV inpainting, producing H.264 video outputs with FFmpeg for downstream AI video generation workflows

Western Cyber Society (club)

Software Developer

September 2025 - May 2026
  • Designed and developed LedIq, a functional replica of a top-5 banking system on an IBM z/OS mainframe using zCX, implementing core mainframe components with COBOL, JCL, SQL, and REXX, and integrating a Node.js frontend with a FastAPI backend to support low-latency, real-time credit risk evaluation
  • Deployed an ONNX-hosted XGBoost model for real-time risk scoring and implemented explainable AI (SHAP), persisting predictions and feature-level explanations in IBM Db2 for auditability and compliance

CognitomeAI

AI Research Platform Intern | Developer | Marketing | Research

September 2025 - December 2025
  • Built core features for an AI-powered research platform aggregating academic papers and generating interactive research maps using Python, FastAPI, Node.js, Next.js, Docker, and AWS for scalable deployment
  • Co-authored research paper: "Tiny Recursive Models on ARC-AGI-1: Inductive Biases, Identity Conditioning, and Test-Time Compute," published on arXiv
  • Performed empirical ablations to isolate effects of test-time compute, puzzle-identity conditioning, and recursion depth
  • Benchmarked TRMs against a QLoRA-fine-tuned LLaMA 3 8B baseline, showing lower memory usage and higher inference throughput with comparable or better accuracy
  • Found it was cheaper and faster than LLMs; researched how to implement into company use

MomentumMind

Data Engineer Intern

May 2025 - August 2025
  • Refactored and optimized advanced SQL queries leveraging CTEs, joins, and window functions to aggregate legal compliance data, cutting query latency by 40% and enabling real-time Tableau and Power BI dashboards
  • Designed and built a fault-tolerant Python ETL pipeline to process municipal zoning PDFs, incorporating robust data-quality validation (schema checks, null handling) to support reliable analytics and ML workflows
  • Streamlined data transformation pipelines using Python (Pandas) on AWS, replacing manual Excel-based processes and saving 5+ hours per week while improving overall KPI accuracy

Featured Projects

StoryOS Video Orchestration Platform

StoryOS – Deterministic Video Orchestration

Working on a demo project for a media company to solve inconsistency issues in AI video regeneration. My role focuses on 3D rendering and point cloud technology to ensure consistent character and scene representation across video generations, eliminating the randomness that plagues current AI video tools.

3D Rendering Point Clouds Video Generation Python AI/ML
AI Finance Tracker Dashboard

AI Finance Tracker

Built a full-stack AI finance application using React, Node.js, and PostgreSQL to track expenses, budgets, and spending, with secure user authentication and account management via Supabase, including protected routes, session handling, and user-specific data isolation. Developed a Python-based AI backend (FastAPI) that leverages Pandas for data analysis and OpenAI GPT-3.5-turbo for natural language processing, implementing a hybrid AI system for personalized financial insights.

React Node.js PostgreSQL Python FastAPI OpenAI Supabase Docker
CSV Converter Project

CSV Converter

Developed a high-accuracy PDF-to-CSV conversion algorithm using Python that extracts every table into separate CSV files, generates a full-document text file, and outputs structural metadata files detailing table outlines, dimensions, and formatting, robust across any document layout. Built a modular extraction pipeline using Docling, PyMuPDF, Pandas, and a 3-layer OCR stack.

Python Pandas PyMuPDF OCR
Tiny Recursive Models Research Paper

Tiny Recursive Models Research Paper

Co-authored "Tiny Recursive Models on ARC-AGI-1: Inductive Biases, Identity Conditioning, and Test-Time Compute", analyzing the behavior of Tiny Recursive Models (TRMs) on the ARC-AGI-1 benchmark. Performed empirical ablations and efficiency analyses to isolate the impact of test-time compute, puzzle-identity conditioning, and recursion depth on model performance. Benchmarked TRMs against a QLoRA-fine-tuned LLaMA 3 8B baseline. (PAPER LINK AT THE END OF THE PAGE)

Research AI/ML Python PyTorch

Personal Portfolio Website

Developed a personal portfolio website to showcase projects in depth and share background and skills. Implemented using Next.js, React, TypeScript, server-side rendering (SSR), React Hooks, Tailwind CSS, PostCSS, responsive design, dark mode, animations, form handling, ESLint, Node.js, npm, and Next.js Google Fonts.

Next.js React TypeScript Tailwind CSS PostCSS Node.js

BookBuds

Built a full-stack mobile reading log application using React Native and Expo, enabling chapter-level note-taking with offline-first persistence via AsyncStorage and cross-platform support for iOS and Android. Implemented social features using Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore, including user accounts, friend connections, and real-time commenting on shared chapter notes. Integrated an AI chatbot to summarize and clarify user notes.

React Native Expo Firebase Firestore AsyncStorage AI

LedIq

Functional replica of a top-5 banking system on IBM z/OS mainframe. Implemented core components with COBOL, JCL, SQL, and REXX. Integrated Node.js frontend with FastAPI backend for real-time credit risk evaluation using XGBoost and explainable AI (SHAP).

COBOL IBM z/OS Node.js FastAPI XGBoost SHAP
Self Watering Flower Pot Project

Self Watering Flower Pot

Built an automated self-watering plant system using Arduino to monitor soil moisture and trigger watering below a set threshold, enabling plant care during long absences. Integrated sensors and output modules (LCD, moisture sensor, LED, buzzer, water pump) using Java and Matlab to display moisture data and signal watering events.

Java MATLAB Arduino IoT Hardware

Get In Touch

I'm always open to discussing new projects, creative ideas, or opportunities to be part of your vision. Feel free to reach out!