Zulfidin (Bobojon) Khodzhaev, Ph.D.

Staff Data & ML Engineer at Western Digital.

I work on applied ML and Agentic AI for hard drive manufacturing (+HAMR). My focus is taking ML from research to production in engineering workflows.

Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UT Austin (completed in 2.5 years). Research on semiconductors and magnetic materials: neuromorphic computing, magnetic skyrmions, and generative AI for plasmonic design. Work featured on the cover of Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering (Nov 2024). Guest researcher at NIST. Published in IEEE, AIP, and Nature-cited journals.

Previously interned at Seagate, where I built a generative AI pipeline (VAE + diffusion models) for plasmonic NFT design that produced 2k+ optimized structures per hour with 20% higher power efficiency than expert-designed structures.

Earlier degrees in B.S. Physics Engineering and B.S. Electronics & Communication Eng from Istanbul Technical University (ABET-accredited) and an M.S. in Physics from Oklahoma State University. Erasmus+ exchange at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Fluent in four languages. Originally from Tajikistan, based in San Jose, CA.

No visa sponsorship needed in US & UK:

🇺🇸 Green Card (via EB2 NIW, recognized by US govt for advancing data storage, wireless communications, and cybersecurity through ML and novel materials)

🇬🇧 High Potential Individual visa

Open to: Industry opportunities, research collaborations, and speaking engagements.

zulfidinkhodzhaev@gmail.com

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