About

Born and raised in Jerusalem, Palestine. I graduated in June 2023 from Northwestern University with a B.S. in Computer Science and a Minor in Economics. I currently work as a Software Engineer at AlNayzak Organization building platforms that support education, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and I actively work on AI/ML/NLP projects and experiments.

Software Engineer & AI/ML Enthusiast.

Birthday: 14 November 2001
Phone: +1 (773) 999-4738, +970 598388288
City: Jerusalem, Palestine
Degree: Bachelor of Science

LinkedIn: Omar Khatib LinkedIn Profile
Email: osokhatib1@gmail.com
Github: Omar Khatib Github Profile
Availability: Open to research and engineering opportunities

Skills

My work spans AI/ML experimentation, full-stack engineering, and building reliable systems under real-world constraints. Below is a snapshot of the tools and areas I use most.

AI / Machine Learning

Deep Learning: PyTorch
NLP / Transformers: HuggingFace, BERT, GPT-2 (fine-tuning & evaluation)
ML Concepts: supervised learning, model evaluation, error analysis, overfitting/regularization
Data: pandas, NumPy

Full-Stack Engineering

Frontend: React, Next.js
Backend: Node.js, Express, Laravel
APIs: REST, auth flows, multi-tenant systems
Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB

Cloud / DevOps

AWS: S3, IAM, EC2 (basics)
Containers: Docker
Version Control: Git
CI/CD: GitHub Actions (and general CI practices)

Systems / Other

Testing: automated testing, QA pipelines (internship + production work)
Programming: Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, SQL, C#, C++
Methodologies: Agile/Scrum, iterative development

Selected coursework: Machine Learning · Deep Learning · Generative Deep Models · Deep Learning for NLP · Algorithms · Computer Systems · Database Systems · Scalable Software Architecture · Statistics · Econometrics · Corporate Finance · International Finance

Resume

Below, I document my education, research, and professional experience.

View my resume as a PDF: Omar Khatib Resume

Summary

Omar Khatib

Software Engineer focused on AI/ML/NLP and building scalable systems for education and entrepreneurship.

Education

Northwestern University

2019 - 2023

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science & Minor in Economics

Graduation Date: June 2023
Major GPA: 3.9
Overall GPA: 3.7

Stanford University

2019

Certificate: UX/UI Design (Summer Program)

Ramallah Friends School

2007 - 2019

International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma

Graduation Date: June 2019
Top 5 Class Rank

Languages

Arabic - Native Reading, Writing and Speaking

English - Native Reading, Writing and Speaking

French - Intermediate Reading, Writing and Speaking

Research & Academic Projects (AI/ML/NLP)

Language Modeling and NLP Experiments

2023

FFNN/LSTM fake-biography detection; BERT/GPT-2 multiple-choice question answering

Implemented and compared FFNN, LSTM, GPT-2, and BERT across fake-text detection and QA tasks.
Achieved 66.8% accuracy using FFNN + KDE thresholding; analyzed limitations and failure modes.
BERT classifier reached 48.0% validation / 45.8% test; evaluated GPT-2 generative approach and documented constraints.
Repo: github.com/OmarKhatib01/NLP-Experiments

A Quantitative and Behavioral Profile of GPT-3

2022

Benchmarking GPT-3 models on academic and behavioral test formats

Tested Davinci-003, Curie-001, and Babbage-001 on ACT/LSAT-style questions and psychometric task formats.
Built scraping + scoring pipeline; analyzed answer distributions and prompt-format artifacts.
Repo: github.com/OmarKhatib01/cs496-final-project

Artificial Life: 3D Morphology Evolutionary Algorithm

2023

Evolutionary simulation with PyBullet / Pyrosim

Simulated evolving agents using a parallel hill climber over multiple seeds and generations; tracked fitness and morphology diversity.
Video: watch demo | Repo: github.com/OmarKhatib01/Artificial-Life

Professional Experience

AlNayzak Organization

11/2023 - Present

Software Engineer

Led development of a student portal serving 2,000+ users, supporting program delivery and student engagement.
Built a modular ERP platform used by 50+ staff across finance/HR/operations; designed for reuse across local organizations.
Engineered Jenan Market, a multi-tenant e-commerce platform enabling small entrepreneurs to access online markets.
Designed and taught a 60-hour Emerging Technologies course (AI, LLMs, blockchain/Web3, ethics), contributing to a future 900-hour AI Diploma.

Core Associates

07/2023 - 11/2023

Junior Associate

Contributed to an EU-funded study on digital trade and e-commerce in Palestine.
Conducted research and data collection on digital infrastructure and adoption barriers.
Supported enterprise-level statistical aggregation and analysis for cross-border trade insights.
Engaged stakeholders across public and private sectors to assess needs in the digital ecosystem.

JupiterDX (now Pathize Health)

03/2022 - 01/2023

Founding Software Developer

Developed APIs that generate FHIR observations for wearable devices’ time-series data.
Developed API using TypeScript and Python; used GitHub Actions to support CI and development flow.
Led a team of 5 undergraduate software engineers using agile practices; contributed to a $500k pre-seed raise through product demos.

Alarm.com

06/2022 - 09/2022

Software Engineering Intern

Designed and implemented automated tests for doorbell and battery-powered cameras’ features using C#.
Integrated tests into an existing automation framework to proactively identify firmware and product issues and reduce customer impact.

Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University)

08/2021 - 06/2022

Research Assistant — Political Polarization (NLP)

Conducted literature review and summarized research directions for faculty collaborators.
Data analysis using R and Python; preprocessing, feature engineering, and validation.
Web scraping and dataset cleaning to support NLP experiments and analysis pipelines.

InterTech Web and Mobile Development

07/2021 - 09/2021

Web Development Intern at InterTech.ps

Front-end development using Bootstrap 5, CSS, JavaScript, and jQuery.
Back-end development using PHP, Laravel, and SQL.

Code 4 Palestine (PalTel)

03/2020 - Present

Mentor (Volunteer)

Mentored high school students in coding and design thinking; supported project development and college counseling.

AlNayzak Organization

08/2018 - 09/2018

Curriculum Development Assistant

Planned, launched, and taught a coding curriculum for children ages 8–13.

Portfolio

Below I showcase most of the projects I've worked on (older and newer).

Language Modeling and Natural Language Processing (LM & NLP) Experiments (2023)

Experimenting with different model architectures such as Feed Forward Neural Networks (FFNNs), Long Short Term Memory (LSTMs), and Transformers (GPT-2 & BERT) to create and fine-tune language models (LMs) to perform NLP tasks such as Question Answering and Fakes Detection.
Uses Python, PyTorch, NumPy, and the Hugging Face Transformers library to process data and build/fine-tune models.
GitHub repository with detailed information, results, and code is available here.

A Quantitative and Behavioral Profile of GPT-3 (2022)

Benchmarked GPT-3 models (Davinci-003, Curie-001, Babbage-001) on ACT, LSAT, Myers-Briggs, and Psychopathy screening formats to study model behavior and biases.
Uses Python web scraping techniques and the OpenAI API to query GPT-3 models and analyze results.
A GitHub repository with detailed information, results, and code is available here.

Artificial Life 3D Morphology Evolutionary Algorithm (2023)

This project implements a system that mimics the process of evolution in a simulated environment. It generates a population of creatures, simulates them, and evolves them based on fitness.
Uses Python, PyBullet, Pyrosim, and NumPy to simulate evolution.
Full video here.
GitHub repository here.

Music for the Moment (2021)

Built an automated music player that selects appropriate music for dialogue from user-selected YouTube playlists.
Uses Python multi-threading, IBM Watson API, and NLP to perform sentiment analysis and play mood-matching music concurrently.
System Architecture and Flow Chart available here.