My name is Neda Ghafouri, and I’m excited to introduce myself as someone who is deeply passionate about data analytics, machine learning, and their applications in real-world challenges, especially within the health, bioscience, and transportation fields.

A bit about my background: I hold a Master’s degree in Data Analytics and I’m currently pursuing a PhD in Civil Engineering (Transportation) at the University of Central Florida. My journey so far has given me hands-on experience in machine learning, AI, Python programming, and data visualization. I’ve worked on projects like forecasting airport passenger flows using GCN-LSTM models, analyzing citation networks in science, and applying large language models (LLMs) to improve clinical trial matching for cancer patients.

Why am I motivated to volunteer? I love collaborating with diverse teams to tackle meaningful problems. Volunteering allows me to expand my skill set, give back to the community, and stay engaged with new technologies and fresh perspectives. It’s also a great way to network, learn from others, and contribute to projects that can make a real impact.