About Me

I am a Data Science student and LIFE Fellow at Northern Kentucky University with a strong academic record, leadership experience, and active research involvement. Minoring in Computer Science, Statistics, and Biological Sciences. I currently work as a statistical consultant and contribute to research initiatives in the College of Informatics.

Research Interests

  • Machine Learning & AI
  • Natural Language Processing
  • Computer Vision

Areas of Focus

  • Deep Learning
  • Data Science & Analytics
  • Applications of Artificial Intelligence

News

Apr 2026

Completed KCV Fellowship

Completed a month-long fellowship about technology commercialization at Kentucky Commercialization Ventures.

Feb 2026

Paper Accepted & Reviewer for ICCAI-2026

Paper accepted on hackathon multi-modal classification; also served as reviewer for ICCAI 2026.

Jan 2026

Paper Accepted for EDUNINE 2026

Paper on a Virtual Teaching Assistant using RAG for graduate Cybersecurity education accepted at IEEE World Engineering Education Conference.

Dec 2025

Paper Accepted for ICSADL-2026

Conference paper on Sentiment Analysis of LLM Reviews accepted at IEEE ICSADL-2026.

Nov 2025

Paper Accepted for MedPRAI-2026

Hackathon analytics paper accepted at the 7th Mediterranean Conference on Pattern Recognition and AI.

Nov 2025

Paper Reviewer for WDSI 2026

Reviewed 5 academic papers for the AI Applications in Business Decisions track at the 2026 WDSI Annual Conference.

Oct 2025

Speaker at Cyber18 NKU

Selected as a key speaker for the Cyber18 conference at Northern Kentucky University.

Oct 2025

Paper Reviewer for CISSE 2025

Serving as an academic reviewer for the Colloquium for Information Systems Security Education.

Sep 2025

2 Papers Accepted at AIBThings 2025

Research on IoT and AI applications accepted for publication and presentation.

Jul 2025

Paper Accepted at ICCIDA 2025

Research accepted at the International Conference on Computing, IoT and Data Analytics.

Apr 2025

2 Papers Accepted at IEEE ICMI 2025

Double acceptance for research contributions at the 2025 IEEE conference.

Mar 2025

Kentucky Capitol Presentation

Selected to present research poster at the state capitol for the 2025 session.

Dec 2024

Paper Accepted in AHFE 2024

Research accepted for publication in AHFE International Conference proceedings.

Oct 2024

Paper Accepted at KCFC 2024

Contribution accepted for the Kentucky Cybersecurity & Forensics Conference.

Mar 2024

Kentucky Capitol Presentation

Presented research findings to legislators and the public at the 2024 Capitol event.

Aug 2023

LIFE Fellow Recipient

Awarded the prestigious LIFE Fellowship at Northern Kentucky University.

Publications

2026

01

Enhancing Cybersecurity Education with Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Virtual Teaching Assistant Approach

G. Baral, S. Shrestha, M. Sah, A. Chattopadhyay · EDUNINE 2026Upcoming

02

Predicting Hackathon Success: A Multi-Modal Approach

G. Baral, J. Zhou · ICCAI 2026Upcoming

03

Comparative Analysis of Hackathon Submissions and GitHub Repositories

G. Baral, P. Dhungana · MedPRAI 2026Upcoming

04

AutoFormBench: Benchmark Dataset for Automating Form Understanding

G. Baral, J. Zhou · Pre-print

04

Sentiment Analysis of Reviews of Top Large Language Models

G. Baral, A. Khanal, P. Pandit · ICSADL 2026

2025

05

Forecasting Sticker Sales: A Comprehensive Analysis Using Regression Models

G. Baral, J. Zhou · ICCIDA 2025Upcoming

06

Enhancing Emotion Classification with Human-in-the-Loop Verification for Facial Expression Recognition

G. Baral, M. Sah, A. Khanal, A. Dhonju, S. Shrestha · AIBThings 2025

07

AutoEyeFT: A Human-in-the-Loop Continuous Learning Pipeline for Robust Drowsiness Detection via Eye Region Analysis

G. Baral, M. Sah, A. Khanal, A. Dhonju, S. Shrestha · AIBThings 2025

2024

08

Exploring Movie Recommendation Systems: A Text Mining based Overview

G. Baral, J. Zhou · ICMI 2024

09

Drowsiness Detection Using Convolutional Neural Network with Eye Feature Analysis

G. Baral, S. Shrestha, A. Shrestha, N. Lama, J. Zhou · ICMI 2024

10

A Data-Driven Analysis of Cybersecurity Job Market Trends

G. Baral, J. Zhou · KCFC 2024

11

A Hybrid Regression Method for Predicting Housing Prices

G. Baral, J. Zhou · AHFE International Conference, vol 159

Teaching & Service

Teaching

Teaching Assistant & Tutor 2023 – 2026

Northern Kentucky University

  • INF 101 (Fall 2023): TA for Introductory Python Programming — supported 32 students through tutoring, grading, and lab facilitation.
  • DSC 101 (Fall 2024): TA for Introductory Data Science — aided 26 students with coursework, review sessions, and exam grading.
  • Statistics Tutor (Ongoing): One-on-one and group tutoring in statistical concepts, regression analysis, and hypothesis testing.

Leadership & Clubs

President — Data Science Club 2023 – 2026

College of Informatics · NKU

  • Founded the student-led Data Science Club, organizing events and fostering collaboration across the College of Informatics.
  • Lead weekly Python programming workshops for members, covering topics from fundamentals to advanced ML techniques.
  • Organize collaborative ML study groups covering algorithms and real-world applications.
Representative — Google Developer Group NKU 2025 – 2026

Google Developer Groups · NKU Chapter

  • Represent NKU at the Google Developer Group chapter, connecting students with Google technologies, events, and developer resources.
COI Ambassador 2022 – 2026

College of Informatics · NKU

  • Serve as an official ambassador for the College of Informatics, representing the college at outreach events and engaging prospective students.

University Service

Professor Search Committee — Student Representative

NKU — CS & Software Engineering Faculty Search

  • Served as Student Representative on the search committee for Assistant Professor roles in Computer Science and Software Engineering.
STEM Peer Mentor

NKU Mentorship Program

  • Help incoming STEM students navigate their college experience through academic guidance and peer support.
Peer Review Service

Academic Conferences in AI, Data Science & Cybersecurity

  • Reviewed 5 papers for WDSI Annual Conference (2026) — AI Applications in Business Decisions.
  • Reviewed 1 paper for IEEE ICCAI (2026) — International Conference on Computational AI.
  • Reviewed 1 paper for CISSE (2025) — Information Systems Security Education.

Work Experience

LIFE Fellow Researcher May 2023 – Present

College of Informatics · NKU · Part-time · Hybrid

  • Working as a Student Researcher contributing to innovative projects in data science and artificial intelligence.
  • Work has resulted in 10+ research publications and hands-on experience with cutting-edge AI techniques.
Statistics Consultant — Data Analyst Intern Aug 2025 – May 2026

Burkhardt Consulting Center · NKU · On-site

  • Conducted statistical analyses (Regression, ANOVA, Hypothesis Testing) to uncover patterns and support decision-making.
  • Developed reports and dashboards delivering actionable insights for DNP projects, ensuring data accuracy and timely feedback.
KCV Innovation Fellow Jan 2026 – Apr 2026

Kentucky Commercialization Ventures • Internship

  • Selected for cross-functional tech commercialization team with a fast time-to-market focus; responsible for building market validation tools, conducting customer interviews, and assessing technology readiness levels.
  • Developed and presented go-to-market strategies, including market positioning, revenue model options, and ecosystem partner maps.
Software Engineering & Data Science Intern May 2025 – Aug 2025

RE-Assist · Remote

  • Used OpenCV and AWS Textract to extract fields from scanned medical forms; applied Google Gemini to intelligently fill extracted fields.
  • Built a FastAPI-based PDF auto-filler in Python; packaged with Docker and deployed serverlessly using AWS EC2.

Certificates

EDUNINE Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at EDUNINE Conference — Cybersecurity Virtual TA Paper

ICSADL Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at ICSADL Conference — LLM Sentiment Analysis Paper

MedPRAI Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at MedPRAI Conference — Hackathon Analytics Paper

ICCIDA Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at ICCIDA — Sticker Sales Regression Paper

KCFC Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at KCFC — Cybersecurity Job Analysis Paper

ICMI Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at ICMI — Drowsiness Detection Paper

ICMI MRS Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at ICMI — Movie Recommendation Paper

Acadmic Award Certificate

Acadmic Excellence Award from College of Informatics Ambassadors

DSC Club Certificate

Outstanding Contributor Recognition — NKU Data Science Club

NVIDIA Certificate

NVIDIA — Fundamentals of Deep Learning Certificate

AIBThings Drowsiness Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at AIBThings — Drowsiness Detection Paper

AIBThings Emotions Certificate

Certificate of Presenting at AIBThings — Emotion Recognition Paper