Ch Muhammad Awais – CV
Professional Summary
AI/ML Researcher with 5+ years of experience in computer vision, deep learning, and Earth Observation systems. Published in Tier-A venues like WACV, ISCAS, and IGARSS. Skilled in PyTorch, SageMaker, and MLFlow with a strong track record of scalable ML pipelines, research leadership, and academic collaboration.
Education
- B.S. in Computer Science, IIUI, Pakistan, 2017
Thesis: Pakistan Sign Language Recognition using Local Binary Patterns and Support Vector Machine - M.S. in Data Science, Innopolis University, Russia, 2022
Thesis: A Framework to Understand Image Augmentations for Classification Tasks LINK - PhD in Computer Science, University of Pisa, Italy (Ongoing)
Research at SI Lab, ISTI-CNR | Focus: Deep Learning for SAR ship classification.
6-month mobility at Cardiff/Bristol, UK. Key contributions include curriculum learning for imbalanced data, hybrid pipelines, and 66% reduction in training time.
Work Experience
Research Associate, ISTI CNR, Pisa, Italy
May, 2023 – Present
- Led deep learning research for SAR-based ship classification; co-authored 6 papers.
- Optimized model training (9 to 3 hrs) using modular pipelines in SageMaker/MLFlow.
- Engineered GenAI-based retrieval systems with Langfuse and GenAiDB.
Research Assistant, Innopolis University, Russia
Aug, 2022 - Feb, 2023 (7 Months)
- Conducted analysis of deep learning models, focusing on loss functions.
- Delivered engaging courses including Introduction to AI, Information Retrieval.
Data Science Specialist, Tatneft, Almetyevsk, Russia
Nov, 2021 - Aug, 2022 (10 Months)
- Developed Trello monitoring app and web scraping APIs.
- Created PowerBI dashboards and automated Excel analyses.
Software Engineer, MicroMerger Pvt Ltd, Islamabad Pakistan
Mar, 2018 - Aug, 2018 (6 Months)
- Improved OCR accuracy on receipts (65% → 80%).
- Developed traffic jam optimization reducing GPS noise by 10%.
Researcher, Department of CS and SE, IIUI
Sep, 2016 - Feb, 2018 (17 Months)
- Created PSL dataset and applied ML techniques to it.
Publications
- Awais CM, Reggiannini M, Moroni D. Curriculum Learning for SAR Ship Classification. WACV 2025, Tucson, USA LINK
- Awais CM, et al. Image Quality vs Performance in Super-Resolution. ISCAS 2025, London, UK LINK
- Awais CM, et al. Oversampling for Imbalanced SAR Datasets. IGARSS 2025, Brisbane, Australia (Accepted) Paper Info
- Awais CM, et al. SAR-to-IR Domain Adaptation. AITA 2025, Kobe, Japan (Accepted) Paper Inf
- Awais CM, et al. Deep Learning for SAR Ship Classification. ICEAA 2024, Lisbon, Portugal LINK
- Awais CM, I.E.I Bekkouch, A.M Khan “What augmentations are sensitive to hyper-parameters and why?”, SAI 2022, London LINK
- Awais CM, Wei Gu, Gcinizwe Dlamini, Zamira Kholmatova, Giancarlo Succi, “A meta-analytical comparison of Naive Bayes and Random Forest” LINK
Projects
- Curriculum Learning and Oversampling for SAR data: Classification improvement.
- Dual Polarized SAR Fusion: Handcrafted + DL pipeline.
- YOLO-Based Advertisements Assessment: Object detection for ads.
- Document Retrieval Algorithm: CODE
- Music and Image Search: CODE
- Malicious Content Detection: CODE
- Image Correction Benchmarking: Slides
Teaching
Taught Bachelors and Masters students:
- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
- Information Retrieval
- Advanced Information Retrieval
🛠️ Skills
| Technical Skills | Core Skills | Additional Skills |
|---|---|---|
| Programming: Python, Java, C++ | Artificial Intelligence | Research |
| ML Frameworks: TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-Learn | Machine Learning | Teaching |
| Analysis: NumPy, Pandas, SQL | Natural Language Processing | Problem-Solving |
| Data Visualization: Matplotlib, PowerBI | Deep Learning | Leadership |
| Computer Vision Tools: OpenCV | Computer Vision | Communication |
| Version Control: Git | Data Wrangling | Web Scraping |
| Operating Systems: Linux, Unix, Windows | Data Science | — |
Honors and Achievements
- Winner: Young Mobility Grant, ISTI-CNR, 2025
- Best Student Award, Innopolis University (2020–2022)
- Hackathon Wins: Innopolis Happiness Index (1st), Case-in-Tools, LingvoHack, Art Therapy (2nd), AR/VR Hackathon (3rd)
- Programming Competitions: 1st (2015), 2nd (2016, 2017)
- Scholarships for all academic degrees (BSc, MSc, PhD)
- Research Presentations: SAI 2021, ISDA 2022, ICEAA 2024, ISCAS 2025, WACV 2025
Summer Schools and Scholarships
- Oil Tech Challenge, Almetyevsk, Russia, Mar 2021
- Bertinoro International Spring School, Bertinoro, Italy, Mar 2024
- Vision and Sports Summer School, CTU Prague, Czech Republic, Jul 2024
- Lipari School on Computational Complex & Social Systems: Gen AI & Ethics, Lipari, Italy, Jul 2024
- IEEE GRSS IADF School: Computer Vision for EO, Benevento, Italy, Sep 2024
- High Performance & Disruptive Computing in Remote Sensing School, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, Jun 2025
- IEEE GRSS EO for Australian Challenges, Brisbane, Australia, Jul 2025
- PhD Scholarship: University of Pisa, Italy
- MSc Scholarship: Innopolis University, Russia
- BSc Scholarship: IIUI, Pakistan
- ISCAS and GRSS Travel Grant Winner
Languages
- English: Fluent
- Italian: Intermediate
- Russian: Intermediate
- Urdu/Hindi/Punjabi: Native