AVINASH RAVISHANKAR
Data Scientist | Product Manager | Mechanical Engineer
About Me
Mechanical engineer turned computer vision researcher. A decade of product in between.
I started my career as a mechanical engineer at Oxy Oil & Gas. I built pipeline integrity risk models for assets in the Permian Basin and Colombia. That work made me curious about the software itself. I wanted to build tools, not just use them.
That curiosity led to almost a decade in product. Along the way, I learned how to ship, how to lead global teams, and how to build products people actually use.
Now I'm back at Rice, pursuing a Master's in Data Science, expected December 2026. I'm combining my engineering background, my product experience, and my technical depth in machine learning. This summer I completed a Computer Vision Research Internship with the Digital Health Institute at Rice University. I built AI pipelines that estimate tissue stiffness from video. This work supports autonomous surgical robots.
Career
Projects that combine technical depth with real impact
Houston Texans
Conducted 4-week analytics project defining Explosive Plays using 2024 Texans play data. Engineered features and analyzed 600+ plays to identify offensive trends, presenting findings with four actionable recommendations to football operations staff.
TaskTag
Led product management for construction project management platform. Managed teams of 20+ distributed across 9 countries, launched mobile and web app, acquired 2000+ users in 3 months. Built custom metrics dashboard for business KPIs.
Mesos
VP of Product for stratospheric drone and aerial imagery company. Managed engineering team building imaging systems, oversaw software development for image detection and cataloging of 1+ petabyte data. Led B2B partnerships and investor relations.
daytum
Built online Learning Management System (LMS) in Anaconda (Jupyterhub with Postgres) to teach data science and machine learning to 1000+ energy professionals. Led customer discovery and feature development in fast-paced startup environment.
muvve
Co-founded fitness events marketplace connecting enthusiasts to local events. Managed team of 4, built iPhone app with 1000+ downloads, partnered with 20+ fitness companies to increase revenue by 10%. Managed sales funnel of 20,000+ contacts.
Oxy Oil & Gas
Mechanical Engineer working on pipeline integrity risk modeling software for Permian Basin and Colombia assets. Implemented H2S monitoring programs and conducted risk matrix analysis of near-miss incidents.
Technical Arsenal
Core competencies for modern data science