PhD Researcher · AI & Software Engineer

Dinank Bista

Human-Centered Computing · Machine Learning · Human-AI Collaboration

I am passionate about engineering, AI, and software development. As a PhD candidate at the University of Florida, I build intelligent systems that connect research ideas with real-world impact.

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About

Building the Bridge Between Humans and AI

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I'm a PhD student in Human-Centered Computing at the University of Florida (INIT Lab), researching how people interact with AI — from image annotation interfaces to context-aware mHealth systems.

I combine human interaction research and ML experience with 3+ years of industry engineering work, having contributed to production systems — from a COVID-19 vaccination platform across Seattle to enterprise CRM systems.

PhD, Human Centered Computing University of Florida · Expected 2027 · GPA 3.90

MS, Computer Science University of Florida · May 2025 · GPA 3.90

BS, Computer Engineering Kathmandu University · Nov 2019

3 Publications

Well Experienced

3.90 PhD GPA

400K+ Users Impacted

Certifications

Google TensorFlow Developer 2023

DeepLearning.AI Prompt Engineering 2024

Human-Centered Design for AI (UXPA) 2023

Experience

Where I've Worked

Graduate Research Assistant

INIT Lab · University of Florida · Gainesville, FL

Aug 2022 – Present

Researching human-centered approaches to image annotation for supervised ML data quality.
4-week in-the-wild study (n=30) on contextual vs. time-based notifications — reduced response time by 33%.

Software Engineer II

FuseMachines · Kathmandu, Nepal

Sep 2021 – Aug 2022

Full-stack CRM for Enhatch (React/Next.js, AWS Lambda, Node.js, DynamoDB) — 45% faster load, 80% process automation.
Optimized 32+ API endpoints — reduced average response time by 38%.

Software Engineer

Leapfrog Technologies · Kathmandu, Nepal

Nov 2019 – Sep 2021

Managed Vaccination System serving 400K+ patients across 30+ Seattle clinics — cut manual processing by 60%.
Redesigned Hopelink's CRM (React, Node.js, Power Platform) — reduced manual entry by 70%.
Data migration using Node.js, C#, MS SQL — 40% less redundancy, 30% faster queries.

Software Engineering Intern

Leapfrog Technologies · Kathmandu, Nepal

Jul – Oct 2019

Built a tower defense game in Vanilla JS with custom goal-based pathfinding.
Contributed frontend modules and UI widgets used across client applications.

Skills

Technical Toolkit

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Research

Selected Publications

CHI '24 2024

Investigating Contextual Notifications to Drive Self-Monitoring in mHealth Apps

Chen, Yu-Peng; Woodward, Julia; Bista, Dinank; et al.

DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3641993

Frontiers 2024

MyTrack+: Human-Centered Design of an mHealth App

Chen, Yu-Peng; Woodward, Julia; Shankar, MeenaN.; Bista, Dinank; et al.

DOI: 10.3389/fdgth.2024.1334058

IEEE Access 2025

'Over Time Everyone's Gonna Be Open To It': User Attitudes Towards Security and Privacy in Continuous Authentication for Smart Homes

Wang, Heting; Chen, Yu-Peng; Bista, Dinank; Calvo, Rodrigo; et al.

DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.1234567

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