Niraj Dhakal

Student Engineering Intern @ Dogwood Gaming

January 2025 - Present

• Built an AI-powered marketing platform for game developers featuring competitor analysis, content generation, and multi-platform social media scheduling.
• Developed full-stack application with React/TypeScript frontend, Go/Gin backend, and PostgreSQL database with sqlc for queries; containerized using Docker.
• Integrated a RAG system leveraging game documentation and competitor data to deliver context-aware content recommendations with 1–2 second query latency, allowing teams to upload custom knowledge bases and analyze competitor insights.
• Designed and implemented persistent chat history with group-based authorization, storing sessions in PostgreSQL and injecting last 3 conversation turns into LLM context to optimize token usage for CPU-only inference constraints.
• Refactored authentication from localStorage to HTTP-only JWT cookies with secure group+user ID validation to prevent XSS and enforce strict session and API access control.
• Implemented task queue using Celery for social media automation and Instagram scraping with Selenium.

Scrum Master/Developer @ Retreiver Proposal Portal

Fall 2025

• Developed a full-stack project portal connecting UMBC students with faculty-led initiatives using Next.js, Prisma, and MongoDB.
• Implemented role-based access control for three user types (students, stakeholders, admins), enabling secure project discovery and collaboration.
• Built unit tests for frontend components using Jest to ensure reliable functionality.
• Collaborated with faculty stakeholders to define requirements and iterate on features, resulting in the platform being presented to campus leadership as a potential university-wide solution.
• Managed sprint cycles using Jira, including backlog prioritization, task decomposition, and progress tracking to ensure timely feature delivery.

Teaching Assistant @ UMBC

Fall 2025

• Hosted weekly labs for 18 students, teaching Python programming and foundational coding concepts.
• Held office hours to assist students with coding assignments and problem-solving strategies.
• Graded assignments, projects, and exams, providing constructive feedback on code quality, logic, and style.
• Mentored students to strengthen their understanding of programming fundamentals and prepare them for higher-level computer science courses.

Research Assistant @ UMBC

October 2024 – January 2025

• Assisted the DAMS lab in researching privacy policies for IoT devices
• Used Python and Large Language Models (LLMs) to validate triples for Knowledge Graph construction
• Contributed to advancing privacy research in the Internet of Things domain

Teaching Fellow @ UMBC

January 2024 – June 2024

• Assisted students in weekly office hours on Object-Oriented Programming concepts
• Helped students with complex projects involving memory management using pointers, linked lists, and inheritance
• Graded bi-weekly C++ projects focusing on memory management, polymorphism, and inheritance
• Provided mentorship and guidance to help students master fundamental computer science concepts

University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science | Expected May 2026

GPA: 3.625

Relevant Coursework: Data Structures, C++ Programming, Python Programming, Object-Oriented Design