Alisha Arora smiling in a red dress
Software Engineering Machine Learning Systems Design

Engineer · Researcher · Innovator

Hi, I’m Alisha. I'm a Systems Design Engineering student at the University of Waterloo, pushing the boundaries of AI & software innovation.

Currently building transformer-based recommendation models at Shopify. Recognized as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women and a Rising Star in AI by Women in AI North America. I’m always tinkering with AI systems & software solutions from language and world models to inference systems that pushes what’s possible in healthcare, climate, and beyond.

Linkedin See work
Now
Interning as an MLE intern @ Shopify
Exploring
agents, inference & search
Fueled with
curiosity, community, a little glitter ✨

Experiences

Here’s where I’ve spent my time building ML products, shipping real software, and learning what impact looks like at scale.

Beyond just an engineer 🫶

The communities and councils where I build, advocate, and reimagine how technology can serve people.

World Economic Forum AI Council Member

At the World Economic Forum’s Global AI Council, I contribute to discussions on ethical and inclusive AI. I also judged the Smart Toy Awards alongside will.i.am, spotlighting safe, creative AI products for kids.

Founder of The HopeSisters

Forbes-recognized nonprofit with a mission of spreading hope to vulnerable populations! Delivered over 5,000 HopeBags for kids in care and 2,000 HopeCards to seniors in long-term care.

Women in Engineering

Mentoring women and underrepresented students, hosting Women in Engineering podcast conversations, and serving as a Dell Girls in Engineering Ambassador championing equity in STEM.

Projects

Explorations at the intersection of machine learning, product design, and full-stack!

Visualization of EEG emotion detection

Project Flourish

Built with support from Microsoft; deep learning model trained on 2M+ social media posts to detect suicidal ideation, deployed in beta with 2,000 users.

JobMatch AI dashboard

JobMatch AI

Built the full-stack platform for job matching leveraging chain-of-thought reasoning.

TremorSleeve wearable device

EcoAgents

Designed a multi-agent system that ingests regional climate data and autonomously recommends sustainability action.

Visualization of LLM optimization techniques

LLM Optimization

Fine-tuned LLaMA using LoRA, pruning, and efficient attention techniques to optimize inference performance.

JobMatch AI dashboard

EmotionNet

Using neural networks to detect sentiment from brainwave signals. Check out my article here.

JobMatch AI dashboard

TremorSleeve

C++ powered wearable that detects tremors and contracts in real time to stabilize movement.

Moments & media

A glimpse into the recognition, conversations, and impact that have shaped my journey.

Alisha speaking on stage
With my fellow recipients at the Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women Award Gala
Alisha collaborating with team
Panel Conversation on AI Safety with the Alan Turing Institute
Alisha teaching a workshop
Launching the Digital Rights Strategy alongside Prince Harry w/ 5rights Foundation
Alisha working in the lab
Awarded the Rising Star in AI Award by Women in AI North America
Alisha hosting a product demo
Working with the Council of Europe on AI for Good Initatives.
Alisha celebrating with teammates
KEVTalks Episode with President of Microsoft Canada
Alisha at Microsoft campus
Recipient of Project Management Institute Future 50.
Alisha leading a workshop
Judging the Smart Toy AI Awards in Dubai as a World Economic Forum AI Council member

Visit website ↗

Ask Alisha.ai

What else would you like to know about me? Ask me about goals, fav projects, or my experiences.