Using Cutting-Edge AI Research to Make an Impact and Becoming the Cameroon Omdena Chapter Lead – by Christian Ngnie, PhD

Christian Ngnie from Senegal completed several Omdena Challenges, upon which he became an Omdena Top Talent to work on paid gigs with companies.

Through Omdena, he has become a part of the changemakers community using cutting-edge advanced research techniques to make an impact, ranging from cancer treatment to fighting misinformation.

What is your background?

I have worked as an Investigative Analyst for Code for Africa, Senegal.

My background is in applied mathematics and machine learning. I’m interested in the mathematical systematization of the core component of cutting-edge machine learning techniques. My work consists of a strong theoretical framework through reading implementing and fundamental papers in solving any complex problem. It’s amazing to see how advanced research contributes to handling complex, practical issues.

When and how did you enter Omdena? What was the reason?

I entered Omdena on January 2021 as a junior machine-learning engineer for the Katapult project.  Its purpose was to generate more jobs for fairer societies by predicting optimal impact investing strategies.

“The main objective was to be a part of the changemaker community using cutting-edge advanced research techniques to make an impact.”

The following weeks, I grew into a lead machine learning engineer at Omdena.

What technical solution did you build recently in a project?

During the Omdena Top Talent project I used a graph-based clustering model helping to understand how social cohesion impacts the performance of an NGO program.

Some projects Christian took part in:

• Cancer Treatment: Identifying Drugs to Repurpose

• Preventing Gang and Gun Violence Via Social Media Analysis
• Improving Global Health & Aging Trends Through Predictive Modeling
• Fighting Misinformation and Promoting Plurality by Detecting Fake News

As an Omdena Cameroon Chapter Lead:

• Hot Topic Detection and Tracking on AFCON 2021 in Cameroon
• Understanding the Anglophone Crisis in Cameroon using NLP

What was the biggest obstacle you recently overcame?

I constantly adapt and improve my basic English (since I’m Francophone) when presenting or sharing ideas with a broad high native English speaker audience, who most of the time didn’t understand what I was saying or meaning.

How did the Omdena experience help you in your career till now? 

It is very amazing to see how current academic research helps to address human/community well-being issues. This is what I have experienced in Omdena Top Talent Projects. It has helped me to improve my research and technical skills by being on the lookout for current research articles and helping to solve complex community problems.