Welcome to my profile! I'm an 18-year-old builder and student who likes working where data, software, and real-world systems meet. Most of my projects start with a question I can't stop thinking about — where river trash should be intercepted, how far ahead a creek floods, or how markets and R&D decisions move in the real world — and I build the models, maps, and apps around them.
- 🎓 Incoming B.S. in Business Administration & Applied Mathematics at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School.
- 🏫 Graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM).
- 🔬 National award-winning researcher working in quantitative research, applied ML, and geospatial systems.
- 📸 When I'm not building, I'm usually taking photos, reading, or overplaying a song for a week.
- 🌐 Portfolio & more: sohamkela.com
- 📫 Reach me: sk.sohamkela@gmail.com
A geospatial optimization system that ranks high-impact locations for river trash interception (Mar 2026 – May 2026).
- Built a multi-parameter scoring model over environmental, hydrological, and census data spanning 108k+ cities across 240 countries
- Deployed on an interactive Mapbox dashboard with a Python FastAPI backend
- Top 20 USA Finalist & 1st Place North Carolina - Stockholm Junior Water Prize 2026
- Climate Impact Grand Prize — SMathHacks 2026
- grime.world
Machine learning research under Dr. Ranjithan to support municipal flood response.
- Co-developing an Elastic-Net regression model predicting creek water levels 150 minutes ahead for 500k+ Raleigh residents
- Engineered 99 features across 7 USGS sites, achieving ~0.5 ft mean absolute error on a 2.5-hour forecast horizon
- Presented the model to the City of Raleigh as part of an ongoing collaboration
- 🥇 Stockholm Junior Water Prize — Top 20 USA Finalist & 1st Place North Carolina (2026) · the world's most prestigious award presented to a high school student for a water-research project
- 🎖️ National Merit Finalist
- 🇺🇸 U.S. Presidential Scholars Semifinalist (Top 627 nationally)
- 🎗️ Presidential Volunteer Service Gold Award — Gold Award recipient for 250+ hours of service
- 🌎 Climate Impact Grand Prize — SMathHacks 2026, out of 200+ NC students
- 🩺 Semi-Finalist — Conrad Challenge 2025
- 🔬 Science Olympiad — 13 Top 2 medals at interstate Duke/UNC invitationals, states, & regionals in research events
- 🏅 DECA — 2× International Competitor, Int'l Platinum Seal of Excellency, 2× 1st in NC (Hotel Management & Retailing), multiple Top Test & Top Roleplay honors at States/Regionals
- 🔬 ML Research Intern, NC State University — flood-forecasting models for the City of Raleigh
- 💊 Innovation & Finance Intern, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals — pharma R&D financial strategy & capital allocation
- 🎓 Foundation Attaché, NCSSM Foundation — 1 of 11 selected from 300+; led video strategy for a campaign raising $275k in 24 hours
- 🏅 Co-President, DECA NCSSM Chapter — grew a 120+ member chapter to 30+ state & international wins and an Int'l Platinum Seal of Excellency
Beyond code, I run my own photography business (events, portraits, automotive, and places) with 40k+ monthly views and a growing roster of clients.
- 📷 Instagram: @socam.k
- 🖼️ Portfolio: sohamkela.com
- 📩 Booking & inquiries welcome! Reach out!
Thanks for visiting my profile! Feel free to explore my repositories and reach out if you'd like to collaborate!