Ahmad D. Suleiman

CS PhD Candidate • Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)

Profile Photo

Hi! I am a PhD candidate in Computing and Information Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), working under the supervision of Dr. Daqing Hou.

Research

I'm a computing education researcher focused on project-based learning (PjBL), software engineering, and applied large language models (LLMs). My work builds scalable PjBL modules and LLM-based teaching assistants to support student learning and faculty adoption.

News

  • [09/2025]: Poster Presentation - RIT Fram Signature Exhibition: Transforming the University Experience with AI
  • [08/2025]: Program Committee Member & Reviewer (3 papers) - ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium 2026.
  • [07/2025]: Submitted paper at ACM SIGCSE TS 2026 - “LLM-Generated Design Problems for Higher-Order Thinking Assessment in PjBL” (Under Review).
  • [04/2025]: Jorunal accepted - ACM TOCE 2025: “Systematic Literature Review on Project-Based Learning in Computing Education.”
  • [03/2025]: Published preprint - “An Empirical Study on the Capability of LLMs in Decomposing Bug Reports” (arXiv).
  • [03/2025]: Paper accepted - IEEE FIE 2025: “Factors Impacting Faculty Adoption of Project-Based Learning in Computing Education: a Survey.”
  • [02/2025]: Service - Peer Reviewer for 7 IEEE FIE 2025 papers.
  • [11/2024]: Presented two papers at IEEE FIE 2023.
  • [08/2024]: Tranferred to RIT to continue Ph.D.
  • [05/2024]: Graduated M.S. in ECE (Software Engineering), Clarkson University (CGPA 4.0/4.0).
  • [04/2024]: Two papers accepted at IEEE FIE 2024
  • [02/2024]: Service - Peer Reviewer for 3 IEEE FIE 2024 papers.
  • [10/2023]: Presented two papers at IEEE FIE 2023.
  • [08/2023]: Best Presentation Award - Clarkson University Research and Project Showcase (RAPS).
  • [08/2023]: Poster and Paper Presentation - Clarkson University Research and Project Showcase (RAPS).
  • [03/2023]: Two papers accepted at IEEE FIE 2023
  • [01/2022]: Awarded Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA, 2022–2026).
  • [01/2022]: Began M.S. & Ph.D. in ECE (Software Engineering) at Clarkson University.
  • [12/2021]: Completed role - Software Engineer, Legalfit LLC.
  • [04/2021]: Joined Legalfit LLC as Software Engineer (Remote).
  • [10/2020]: Michael Taiwo Scholarship (MT Scholarship) awarded.
  • [06/2020]: Joined TTF Ltd. as Software Engineer;
  • [11/2019]: Graduated B.Tech. (First Class Honors) - FUT Minna.
  • [07/2018]: Began Internship - DiceBox Innovation Hub, Kano, Nigeria.
  • [04/2018]: Began IT Internship - IHS Towers, Kano State, Nigeria.
  • [10/2014]: Began B.Tech. at FUT Minna; awarded Shell SPDC Scholarship (2014–2019).
  • [01/2014]: LearnAfrica NECO Excellence Award - Ranked 2nd in Jigawa State on NECO.
  • [01/2008]: National Mathematics Competition - Selected as a National Level Finalist (Nigeria).

Education

Jan 2022 – Dec 2026
Ph.D. in Computing and Information Science
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) - Rochester, NY, USA. Jan 2022 – December 2026 (Expected)
Jan 2022 – May 2024
M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (Software Engineering)
Clarkson University - Potsdam, NY, USA. January 2022 – May 2024. CGPA: 4.0/4.0
Oct 2014 – Nov 2019
B.Tech. in Information Technology
Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT Minna) - Minna, Nigeria. October 2014 – November 2019. First Class Honors; CGPA: 4.58/5.0

Experience

Jan 2022 – Present
Research Assistant
Rochester Institute of Technology & Clarkson University - Rochester, NY. Jan. 2022 – Present
  • Contributed to multiple NSF-funded projects (IUSE, SaTC) that designed and deployed 14+ PjBL modules adopted at 7+ U.S. universities.
  • Designed and implemented fine-tuned and RAG-based LLM assistants for automated teaching assistants, project scaffolding, and grading support.
  • Configured and maintained a 20-node Red Hat OpenHPC cluster (640 cores) with Slurm, OpenMPI, and Prometheus/Grafana monitoring.
Apr 2021 – Dec 2021
Software Engineer
Legalfit LLC - Kansas City, KS (Remote). Apr. 2021 – Dec. 2021
Contributed to a CMS platform for law firms and delivered responsive front-end pages from Figma/Adobe XD using Vue.js and Jinja2.
Jun 2020 – Apr 2021
Software Engineer
TTF Ltd. - Lagos, Nigeria (Remote). Jun. 2020 – Apr. 2021
  • Built a COVID-19 registration portal scaled to 200k+ daily check-ins on AWS EC2/S3.
  • Developed an MVP Human Resource Management System (Java, Spring, MySQL) adopted by Sterling Bank.
Jul 2018 – May 2020
Intern / Developer
DiceBox Innovation Hub - Kano, Nigeria. Jul. 2018 – May 2020
  • Developed a biometric attendance tracking system for academic institutions.
  • Built an Android-based POS and inventory system for small businesses.
Apr 2018 – Jul 2018
IT Intern
IHS Towers - Kano State, Nigeria. Apr. 2018 – Jul. 2018
Provided IT support across multiple departments and developed an Android app to streamline telecom site survey recordings.

Skills

Languages
Java, Python, C++, PHP, JavaScript, Bash, SQL (Postgres, MySQL)
Backend / ML
Spring Boot, Flask, Django, PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers, scikit-learn
Frontend / Web
Vue, React, HTML, CSS, Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap, Jinja2
LLMs & AI
Prompt engineering, RAG, fine-tuning, LLM agents, LangChain
HPC & Cloud
Red Hat OpenHPC, Slurm, OpenMPI, CUDA, AWS (EC2, S3), GCP
Tools
Git, Docker