Akhil Kota · engineering · data · research

I like building systems where product and data actually talk to each other.

I'm a Purdue CS and Data Science student (4.0 GPA), a founding engineer at Mutually, and a researcher in Prabhakar Lab. Most of my work lives where real products, real users, and real signals meet.

FUSION

Code, data, product, and research routed through one brain.

LIVE SIGNALSengineering · data · research

Systems

Founding engineer at Mutually

Data

CS + Data Science at Purdue

Product

Flow, StudyBuddy, ClassClear

Signals

Microscopy + Spotify patterns

PURDUE · MUTUALLY · FLOWMicroscopy · Spotify · systems
One story, many places

Coursework, startups, and research are all part of the same thread for me, not three separate buckets.

Purdue CS + Data Science4.0 GPAFounding Engineer · MutuallyResearch Assistant · Prabhakar Lab
Featured work

A few places where that shows up in practice.

Mutually · founding engineer

Early engineer on Mutually's first release. I work across the stack on event creation, RSVPs, and the ranked feed and data model that make the app feel alive.

Startup · product + infra

Flow · software engineer

At Flow I ship product features that sit close to how riders and drivers actually use the app—auth, onboarding, and analytics that help decide when and where to drive.

Product engineering

StudyBuddy

Full‑stack study planner that turns a messy course load into focused sessions with a clear record of where time actually goes.

Project · study workflows

ClassClear

Tool that ingests syllabi and pulls out timelines and requirements into a single, searchable view so a semester feels less opaque.

Project · clarity for students

Microscopy-focused research

In Prabhakar Lab at Purdue I work on microscopy questions where segmentation, tracking, and data pipelines matter just as much as the raw images.

Undergraduate research · Purdue

Research

Microscopy work that treats images as data, not just pictures.

In Prabhakar Lab I work where microscopy, segmentation, and computation meet—turning image sequences into signals that can be tracked, measured, and reasoned about.

Microscopy pipeline

Take raw sequences, segment and track structures over time, then analyze the trajectories for insight.

Purdue · Prabhakar Lab · data-heavy microscopy

About

One narrative across coursework, products, and research.

The through‑line for me is treating engineering, data, and research as one practice. Teaching CS 240, working with Cisco through Purdue DataMine, and building products at Mutually and Flow are all different views of that same habit.

Read the full story

TIMELINE

  • Purdue University — Computer Science & Data Science
  • Founding Engineer — Mutually
  • Software Engineer — Flow
  • Undergraduate Research Assistant — Prabhakar Lab
  • CS 240 Teaching Assistant
  • Data Science Researcher — Cisco through Purdue DataMine

Choose where to go next.

You can start with the work, follow the research, or jump straight into the Spotify dashboard. Each one is a different angle on the same set of interests.