# Tarik Metin

> Computer science at Johns Hopkins (BS May 2026, MSE expected December 2026). Co-Founder & CTO of Pebl Health; Research Software Engineer at the JHU Center for Language and Speech Processing. Based in Baltimore, MD.

This is the full text of https://tarikmetin.com, generated from the same content file as the 3D house. A shorter index is at https://tarikmetin.com/llms.txt; structured data is at https://tarikmetin.com/profile.json.

## Contact

- Book a call: https://calendly.com/tarmus1291/pebl
- Phone: 657 246 6619
- Résumé (PDF): https://tarikmetin.com/Tarik-Metin-Resume.pdf
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarik-metin

## Education

- **Bachelor of Science, Computer Science**, Johns Hopkins University (completed May 2026; GPA 3.8 / 4.00)
- **MSE, Computer Science & Human Language Technology**, Johns Hopkins University (expected Dec 2026)

Coursework: Artificial Intelligence; Deep Learning; Natural Language Processing; Human Language Technology; Robot Learning; Embodied AI with Web-Scale Data; Algorithms for Sensor-Based Robotics; AI-Enabled Software Engineering; Full-Stack JS; UI & Mobile Applications; Human Computer Interaction (Course Assistant); Augmented Reality; Data Structures; Algorithms; Computer System Fundamentals; Computer Networks; Medical Device Cybersecurity; Ethical Hacking.

## Work

- **Research Software Engineer, Center for Language and Speech Processing (CLSP), Johns Hopkins University** (Feb 2026 to present; Baltimore, MD)
  Built the interface and non-NLP product systems for a social-media experiment designed to bridge communities and broaden perspectives.
  Designed a social platform that pulls people out of their filter bubble toward unfamiliar communities and perspectives. There is a live demo.
- **Founder & Organizer, House of Nur, JHU Hacker House** (Aug 2025 to present; Baltimore, MD)
  Founded and lead an eight-person hacker house: a basement robotics and electronics lab, an Embodied AI club, Biryani Wednesdays, visits from professors and deans, and shared systems for living.
- **Co-Founder & CTO, Pebl Health Inc** (Sep 2024 to present; Baltimore, MD)
  Took a patent-pending handheld biometrics logger from concept through firmware, PCB design, enclosure CAD, and native iOS and web apps; it is now entering injection-molded production. Raising a $1.5M pre-seed; completed the AARP AgeTech Accelerator, NSF I-Corps, and the Johns Hopkins Pava Center Fuel accelerator.
  Invented a patent-pending biometrics logger and led a 3-person team from 3D design through PCB, firmware, iOS, and an AI health assistant.
- **Research Assistant, Quantum Sensor Technologies, LLC** (Jun 2024 to Sep 2024; Baltimore, MD)
  Predicted vector magnetic fields from ODMR data with Fourier-transformed MLPs, and built a Python-driven lithography machine for micrometer-scale antenna manufacturing.
  Built machine-learning, vision, and precision-motion systems to read quantum magnetic-field data (ODMR) and drive micrometer-scale fabrication.
- **Security Engineer I, Intertek / Acumen Security** (Sep 2022 to Jan 2025; Rockville, MD)
  Supported FIPS certification for Samsung, Oracle, and Intel modules, automated cybersecurity requirement testing with Python3 and C, and built a tokenization tool that turns module specs into security test plans.
  Automated FIPS and Common Criteria security-requirement testing and supported certification work for major technology companies.
- **Engineering Intern, Morgan State University** (Aug 2021 to Jan 2022; Baltimore, MD)
  3D modeled, printed, and assembled a robotic prosthetic arm using Fusion 360 and Arduino.
- **Outreach Coordinator & Youth Mentor, Maryland Turkish American Inhabitants (MARTI)** (Sep 2019 to present; Columbia, MD)
  Mentored 5th-12th graders for years and coordinated the mentor team, founded a STEM academy teaching cybersecurity and programming, and organized interfaith gatherings. This is the thread that runs under everything else here.

## Highlights

- **Pebl Health** (Co-founder & CTO): Invented a patent-pending biometrics logger and led a 3-person team from 3D design through PCB, firmware, iOS, and an AI health assistant.
- **Intertek** (Security Engineer): Automated FIPS and Common Criteria security-requirement testing and supported certification work for major technology companies.
- **Quantum Sensing** (ML / Research Engineer): Built machine-learning, vision, and precision-motion systems to read quantum magnetic-field data (ODMR) and drive micrometer-scale fabrication.
- **CrossWeave** (Product & HCI): Designed a social platform that pulls people out of their filter bubble toward unfamiliar communities and perspectives. There is a live demo.

## Timeline

- **2018-2019: VEX Robotics Team 6460** (First machines). Competition robotics made engineering physical: mechanisms, iteration, failure, repair, and teamwork under pressure. [Team video archive](https://www.youtube.com/@TeamVexVideos)
- **2019-present: MARTI outreach + youth mentoring** (The continuous thread). Mentored 5th-12th graders for years and coordinated the mentor team, founded a STEM academy teaching cybersecurity and programming, and organized interfaith gatherings. This is the thread that runs under everything else here.
- **2021: Artificial Intelligence Today** (Intern Mentor research). Four UMBC expert interviews became a paper, presentation, video, and an early investigation of AI ethics, transparency, and capability. [Open the original project](http://tarikmetin.com/ai)
- **2021-2022: PLTW Engineering** (Making foundations). Bridge testing, mechanisms, circuits, aerodynamics, and prototyping expanded robotics into a broader engineering practice.
- **Aug 2021-Jan 2022: Morgan State robotic prosthetic arm** (Engineering internship). 3D modeled, printed, and assembled a robotic prosthetic arm using Fusion 360 and Arduino.
- **Sep 2022-Jan 2025: Intertek / Acumen Security** (Security Engineer I). Supported FIPS certification for Samsung, Oracle, and Intel modules, automated cybersecurity requirement testing with Python3 and C, and built a tokenization tool that turns module specs into security test plans.
- **Mar-Apr 2024: MentorTracker** (Mentoring infrastructure). Built a React and Firebase portal that let mentors set goals and follow a mentee’s personal development over time.
- **Jun-Sep 2024: Quantum Sensor Technologies** (Research assistantship). Predicted vector magnetic fields from ODMR data with Fourier-transformed MLPs, and built a Python-driven lithography machine for micrometer-scale antenna manufacturing.
- **Sep 2024-present: Pebl Health** (Co-Founder + CTO). Took a patent-pending handheld biometrics logger from concept through firmware, PCB design, enclosure CAD, and native iOS and web apps; it is now entering injection-molded production. Raising a $1.5M pre-seed; completed the AARP AgeTech Accelerator, NSF I-Corps, and the Johns Hopkins Pava Center Fuel accelerator.
- **Aug 2025-present: House of Nur, the JHU hacker house** (A shared builder culture). Founded and lead an eight-person hacker house: a basement robotics and electronics lab, an Embodied AI club, Biryani Wednesdays, visits from professors and deans, and shared systems for living.
- **Feb 2026-present: CrossWeave at Johns Hopkins CLSP** (Research Software Engineer). Built the interface and non-NLP product systems for a social-media experiment designed to bridge communities and broaden perspectives.

## Projects

- **VEX Robotics Team 6460** (2018 to 2019): Competition robotics made engineering physical: mechanisms, iteration, failure, repair, and teamwork under pressure. https://www.youtube.com/@TeamVexVideos
- **Artificial Intelligence Today** (2021): Four UMBC expert interviews became a paper, presentation, video, and an early investigation of AI ethics, transparency, and capability. http://tarikmetin.com/ai
- **PLTW Engineering** (2021 to 2022): Bridge testing, mechanisms, circuits, aerodynamics, and prototyping expanded robotics into a broader engineering practice.
- **MentorTracker** (Mar 2024 to Apr 2024): Built a React and Firebase portal that let mentors set goals and follow a mentee’s personal development over time. https://mentortracker.org
- **OpenRealtime, self-hosted OpenAI Realtime API replacement**: A voice-agent server that speaks the OpenAI Realtime API protocol over WebRTC and WebSocket (clients switch with a one-line base-URL change): 835 ms median voice-to-voice latency and 81 ms barge-in. Silero VAD and smart-turn end-of-turn detection, Whisper large-v3-turbo on a custom CUDA-graph decoder, a cloud LLM, and Kokoro-82M TTS, with ASR and TTS local on GPU. Speculative transcription and provider hedging cut about 250 ms per turn; a tool-calling harness for open-weight models scores 31/32 on a tool-use eval. 700+ tests; runs on a single DGX Spark. Python, PyTorch/CUDA, aiortc, ONNX.
- **ThinkAloud, AI-moderated usability testing platform**: A full-stack platform where a voice-AI moderator runs think-aloud usability studies on a researcher's own web app: it gives tasks, probes silent participants with non-leading follow-ups through a tool-calling state machine, and records outcomes and standard questionnaires (SUS, UMUX-Lite, SEQ, NASA-TLX, NPS). Session replays, transcripts, interaction events, optional on-device webcam eye tracking, consent and data-deletion flows, Stripe metered billing, and 120+ unit plus Playwright end-to-end tests. TypeScript, React 19, Express 5, SQLite, WebRTC/WebSocket.
- **HizmetSearch, multilingual RAG search engine**: A retrieval-augmented search engine over a 573k-chunk multilingual (Turkish, Arabic, English) corpus: FastAPI, Qdrant, PostgreSQL, and SQLite FTS5 hybrid retrieval with cross-encoder reranking, self-hosted as a five-service Docker stack, serving 1,000+ searches per month. https://hizmetsearch.com/
- **Secure Product Development Framework (SPDF), ESP-IDF reference implementation**: A secure firmware reference implementation for medical telemetry devices on the ESP32-S3: secure boot, record-level encryption, threat modeling, and SBOM traceability. Advised by Dr. Michael Rushanan. https://tarikmetin.com/spdf-workbench.html
- **Memory-SmolVLA**: SmolVLA with a memory module: long-horizon (LIBERO-10) success went from 72% to 76% over a tuned baseline, and 88.75% overall on LIBERO (the SmolVLA paper reports 87.3%). https://github.com/aleksantari/memory-smolVLA
- **ClinicalScheduler.org**: A React Native (iOS) shift-scheduling app for volunteer-run free clinics with push, email, and SMS reminders, two-way calendar sync, offline PWA support, and WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility.
- **LinguaLeap**: An adaptive language-learning platform built by a six-person team (Team 07) in the AI Software Engineering course at Johns Hopkins, spring 2026: voice-first practice and per-word mastery tracking. Stack: React, TypeScript, Convex, OpenAI Realtime, WebRTC. https://dareal-lingualeap.netlify.app/

## Publications

- **CrossWeave** (CSCW '26, 2026): An AI-curated social media design that bridges communities and broadens perspectives. https://client-git-dev-jhustack.vercel.app/ChineseEVs
- **Effect of Constitutional AI Principles on LLM Responses** (BlueDot): Evaluated AI alignment techniques using RLHF models. https://tarikmetin.com/ai/constitutional_ai_principles
- **Artificial Intelligence Today** (2021): Interviewed AI researchers at UMBC; analyzed AI ethics, transparency, and capabilities. http://tarikmetin.com/ai

## Skills

- Programming: Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, C / C++, Java, SQL
- Web & Backend: React, React Native (Expo), Node.js / Express, FastAPI, REST, WebRTC / WebSocket, HTML / CSS / Tailwind
- ML & AI: PyTorch, TensorFlow, CUDA, Whisper, ONNX, vLLM, RAG, embeddings / reranking, Hugging Face
- Infra & Hardware: Docker, PostgreSQL, Qdrant, SQLite, Firebase, Cloudflare Tunnels, Git, Linux, Embedded (ESP32, Arduino), PCB design (KiCad, EasyEDA), Fusion 360
- Languages: English (Fluent), Turkish (Native), Arabic (Professional Working)

## Honors and awards

- 1st Place MedTech Hackathon
- Robot Skills Champion
- National Honor Society
- Phi Theta Kappa

## The house, room by room

Each room groups related work. Stations are the spots you can walk up to inside a room.

### Technical Background (2018 → foundations)

VEX Team 6460 (Robot Skills Champion), PLTW engineering, the Morgan State robotic prosthetic arm, Artificial Intelligence Today, and Memory-SmolVLA: the robotics thread from first build to research.

**Station: First systems** (VEX 6460 · AI Today · where the building started)

#### VEX Robotics Team 6460

id: `vex-robotics-team-6460` · Competition robotics · 2018-19

The beginning of the robotics thread: mechanisms, iteration, repairs, and teamwork under competition pressure.

Image description: Team 6460B's metal VEX competition robot on the Turning Point field.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/vex-team.jpg) · [Watch the team archive](https://www.youtube.com/@TeamVexVideos)

#### Artificial Intelligence Today

id: `artificial-intelligence-today` · Intern Mentor research · 2021

Four UMBC expert interviews became a paper, presentation, video, and hand-built research portfolio about AI capability, ethics, and access.

Image description: The original Artificial Intelligence Today research portfolio homepage created in high school.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/ai-today-archive.jpg) · [Open the original portfolio](http://tarikmetin.com/ai)

**Station: PLTW bench** (structure · test · iterate · eleventh and twelfth grade)

#### PLTW Engineering

id: `pltw-engineering` · Engineering foundations · 2021-22

Bridge analysis, mechanisms, circuits, aerodynamics, and load testing widened robotics into a broader making practice.

Image description: A hand-drawn truss plan and a pinned wooden bridge prototype on a worktable.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/pltw-bridge.jpg)

#### PLTW Bridge Build + Test

id: `pltw-bridge-build-test` · Engineering foundations · 2021-22

The original build photograph and test footage show the engineering loop directly: predict, fabricate, load, inspect, and revise.

Image description: A pinned wooden truss bridge being assembled on a worktable before load testing.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-bridge-build.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-bridge-test.mp4)

#### PLTW Adjustable Catapult

id: `pltw-adjustable-catapult` · Project Lead the Way · mechanisms

An adjustable catapult tuned for range: change the arm stop and the release angle, then measure how far each setting throws.

Image description: A wooden catapult with an adjustable throwing arm firing on a workbench.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-catapult.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-catapult.mp4)

#### PLTW Wind Tunnel Test

id: `pltw-wind-tunnel-test` · Project Lead the Way · aerodynamics

Smoke streamlines in the classroom wind tunnel, showing where the flow stays attached and where it breaks into turbulence.

Image description: Smoke streamlines flowing over a test shape inside a small wind tunnel.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-air-tunnel.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-air-tunnel.mp4)

#### PLTW Digital Logic

id: `pltw-digital-logic` · Project Lead the Way · circuits

A breadboarded logic circuit: gates wired by hand, LEDs reading out the truth table one input combination at a time.

Image description: A breadboarded digital logic circuit with LEDs indicating gate outputs.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-digital-circuit.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-digital-circuit.mp4)

#### PLTW Balsa Glider

id: `pltw-balsa-glider` · Project Lead the Way · aerodynamics

A balsa glider from the PLTW aerodynamics unit. Lift, drag, and center of gravity worked out on the bench before the throw.

Image description: A balsa-and-film model airplane built for a PLTW aerodynamics unit.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-airplane.jpg)

#### The PLTW Engineering Lab

id: `the-pltw-engineering-lab` · Project Lead the Way · where it happened

The PLTW engineering lab: benches, tools, and half-finished builds. Eleventh and twelfth grade happened in this room.

Image description: A high-school engineering classroom lined with workbenches, tools, and student projects.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pltw-room.jpg)

**Station: Prosthetic arm** (CAD · print · wire · control)

#### Robotic Prosthetic Arm

id: `robotic-prosthetic-arm` · Morgan State internship · 2021-22

3D modeled in Fusion 360, printed, assembled, wired, and driven with Arduino. An early end-to-end robotics build from the Morgan State engineering internship.

Image description: A close view of the assembled 3D-printed robotic prosthetic arm with exposed servos and multicolored wiring.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/morgan-hand.jpg)

#### Prosthetic Arm: Build Evidence

id: `prosthetic-arm-build-evidence` · Morgan State internship · 2021-22

The prototype up close, and moving. CAD became printed parts, tendon routing, electronics, and Arduino control.

Image description: The 3D-printed robotic prosthetic arm prototype with its servos, tendons, and wiring visible.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/morgan-hand-build.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/robot-hand-demo.mp4)

### Pebl + Research Lab (2024 → now)

Pebl, a patent-pending biometrics logger taken from 3D design to PCB to testing, plus ODMR quantum sensing, a homebuilt lithography machine, SPDF medical-device security, and the Raz concept.

**Station: Quantum optics** (ODMR · optics · precision motion)

#### Quantum Sensor Systems

id: `quantum-sensor-systems` · Research assistantship · 2024

The optical bench at Quantum Sensor Technologies. Behind it sit Fourier-transformed MLPs predicting magnetic fields from ODMR data, and a Python-driven lithography machine for micrometer-scale antenna manufacturing.

Image description: An optical workbench filled with lenses, cameras, precision stages, and laser-path hardware.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/quantum-setup.jpg)

#### YOLO Electrode Tracking

id: `yolo-electrode-tracking` · Quantum Sensor Technologies · 2024

Machine vision steering micro-electrodes a tenth the size of a cell: recordings of manual nanowire control, processed with CV2 and trained into TensorFlow CNNs and YOLO models so the tracking could outpace a human hand.

Image description: Machine-vision footage tracking a gold nanowire electrode under a microscope, bounding box locked on.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/yolo-electrode.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/yolo-electrode.mp4)

#### ODMR Field Prediction

id: `odmr-field-prediction` · Quantum sensing · 2024

One sample from the quantum ML pipeline: an ODMR contrast sweep in, a predicted vector magnetic field out. K-nearest trees and Fourier-transformed MLPs do the predicting.

Image description: A pair of plots comparing ODMR-derived magnetic field predictions with measured values.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/quantum-odmr.png)

#### ODMR Sensor Scan

id: `odmr-sensor-scan` · Quantum sensing · measurement

An ODMR scan reads a magnetic field off the fluorescence dip of nitrogen-vacancy centers as the microwave frequency sweeps.

Image description: An optically detected magnetic resonance scan visualized on a lab display.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/odmr-scan.png)

#### ODMR Model Training

id: `odmr-model-training` · Quantum sensing · the learned model

Loss and accuracy curves for the model that reads the ODMR signal: convergence over epochs, the machine-learning half of the sensing pipeline.

Image description: Training loss and accuracy curves for the ODMR signal model.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/odmr-loss-accuracy.png)

#### Microscope Lithography Stage

id: `microscope-lithography-stage` · Quantum Sensor Technologies · 2024

The precision mechanics behind microscope-laser lithography and machine-vision alignment.

Image description: Precision motion and microscope hardware used for laser lithography experiments.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/lithography-stage.jpg)

#### Homebuilt Lithography: Optics

id: `homebuilt-lithography-optics` · Quantum sensing · the build

The optics of a homebuilt lithography machine, focusing a pattern down onto a coated substrate to expose micron-scale features.

Image description: Close-up of the optics and stage of a homemade photolithography setup.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/lithography-detail.jpg)

#### Homebuilt Lithography: Mask

id: `homebuilt-lithography-mask` · Quantum sensing · the build

The mask stage of the same rig: the stencil that decides which parts of the substrate see light and which stay covered.

Image description: A photomask and exposed pattern from the homemade lithography rig.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/lithography-mask.jpg)

#### CNC Antenna Machining

id: `cnc-antenna-machining` · Fabrication · precision milling

CNC-milling an antenna part. This is the fabrication side of the lab, where a design file becomes a physical component to spec.

Image description: A CNC mill cutting an antenna part from stock on a work table.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/cnc-mill.jpg)

**Station: Pebl** (a product, not only a prototype)

#### Pebl One

id: `pebl-one` · Co-Founder + CTO · 2024 → now

The patent-pending Personal Electronic Biometrics Logger, invented, designed, and prototyped end to end: 3D design, PCB design, embedded firmware, software, and testing, leading a team of three.

Image description: A Pebl One product poster explaining pinch force, movement, pressure mapping, and exergaming measurements.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/pebl-one.jpg)

#### Pebl Live Demonstration

id: `pebl-live-demonstration` · Product demonstration · 2026

Pebl outside the lab. Handheld devices on a public event table, live measurements running, and the team standing there to explain what the numbers mean.

Image description: Tarik and the Pebl team demonstrating handheld devices at a public event table.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pebl-demo.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pebl-demo.mp4)

#### Pebl Labs

id: `pebl-labs` · Product development · 2024 → now

Prototypes and development equipment on the Pebl bench, which is where the device spends most of its life before it looks like a product.

Image description: Pebl prototypes and development equipment arranged in the lab.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pebl-labs.jpg)

#### SPDF: Secure Product Development Framework

id: `spdf-secure-product-development-framework` · Medical device security · advised by Dr. Michael Rushanan

A secure firmware reference implementation for medical telemetry on the ESP32-S3 (ESP-IDF/FreeRTOS): secure boot, record-level encryption, secure OTA, SBOM traceability, threat modeling, and FDA SPDF + HIPAA evidence.

Image description: A spec-sheet poster for SPDF: an ESP32-S3 chip with a shield, listing secure boot, record-level encryption, secure OTA, SBOM, and FDA/HIPAA evidence.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/spdf-framework.png) · [Open the SPDF workbench](https://tarikmetin.com/spdf-workbench.html)

#### Pebl Prototype in Hand

id: `pebl-prototype-in-hand` · Pebl Health · industrial design

Another angle on the Pebl prototype, at hand-scale, where the industrial design has to feel right and not only measure right.

Image description: A Pebl biometric-logger prototype held in hand, showing its form factor.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/pebl-two.jpg)

#### Pebl at Vitalist Bay

id: `pebl-at-vitalist-bay` · Pebl Health · 2026 showcase

Showing Pebl at Vitalist Bay 2026, out of the lab and in front of a room of people who build health technology.

Image description: The Pebl team presenting at the Vitalist Bay 2026 event.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/vitalist-bay.jpg)

**Station: Raz + concepts** (edge intelligence · motion · presence)

#### Raz

id: `raz` · Home-health robotics concept · 2025 → now

A home-health companion concept connecting ambient sensing, clinical Pebl assessments, mobility support, and local-first intelligence.

Image description: A Raz concept poster showing a soft home-health companion and its proposed sensing and support functions.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/raz.jpg)

#### NeuroPen Concept

id: `neuropen-concept` · Health interface exploration

A concept for putting health sensing and guidance into the shape of a pen, an object people already know how to hold.

Image description: A vertical NeuroPen concept poster describing a health-sensing interface.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/neuro-pen.jpg)

**Station: Security lab** (FIPS · Common Criteria · the Intertek years)

#### Security Engineer I

id: `security-engineer-i` · Intertek · Acumen Security · 2022 → 2025

Three years at Intertek / Acumen Security in Rockville: FIPS certification for Samsung, Oracle, and Intel modules, automated cybersecurity requirement testing in Python3 and C, and a tokenization tool that turns a module's specs and claims into security test plans. Networking fundamentals and a Google IT Support certificate sit underneath all of it.

Image description: Poster for the Intertek / Acumen Security years, showing FIPS 140-3, Common Criteria, and a network motif.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/security-engineering.png)

### Interfaces + Learning Studio (HCI · language · reflection)

CrossWeave (CSCW '26) built at the JHU Center for Language and Speech Processing, LinguaLeap, MentorTracker, PersonaPlay, and a semester assisting the HCI course.

**Station: LinguaLeap** (language practice · realtime conversation)

#### LinguaLeap Per-Word Mastery

id: `lingualeap-per-word-mastery` · Team 07 · AI Software Engineering

Mastery is four numbers, not one. Opening a word breaks it into recognition, recall, production, and usage, each earned by a different kind of exercise, so the AI can tell "knows it when she sees it" apart from "can say it unprompted" and pick what to practise next across all 500 words.

Image description: LinguaLeap's vocabulary board with a word's mastery opened as a four-axis radar: recognition, recall, production, and usage.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/interfaces/lingualeap-vocabulary-state.jpg) · [Open LinguaLeap](https://dareal-lingualeap.netlify.app/)

#### LinguaLeap Learning Dashboard

id: `lingualeap-learning-dashboard` · Team 07 · AI Software Engineering

Team 07's learning dashboard, which is where progress and the next thing to practise wait between sessions.

Image description: The LinguaLeap team project's learning dashboard.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/interfaces/lingualeap-learning-dashboard.jpg) · [Open LinguaLeap](https://dareal-lingualeap.netlify.app/)

#### LinguaLeap Session Summary

id: `lingualeap-session-summary` · Team 07 · AI Software Engineering

What a practice session actually moved: fifteen words improved, four errors, and the before-and-after mastery for each one. Progress is reported per word rather than as a streak, so the next session has something to aim at.

Image description: A LinguaLeap session summary listing new words, improvements, errors, and the mastery change for every word practised.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/interfaces/lingualeap-session-summary.jpg) · [Open LinguaLeap](https://dareal-lingualeap.netlify.app/)

**Station: CrossWeave** (perspective · communities · reflection)

#### CrossWeave Feed

id: `crossweave-feed` · Research interface · Johns Hopkins CLSP · 2026

The live #ChineseEVs discussion in CrossWeave. The whole front-end was built at the JHU Center for Language and Speech Processing with Professors Xiao, Eisner, and Piccardi, and published at CSCW '26.

Image description: The live CrossWeave #ChineseEVs discussion: posts on the left, response threads on the right.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/interfaces/crossweave-feed.jpg) · [Open the CrossWeave demo](https://client-git-dev-jhustack.vercel.app/ChineseEVs)

#### CrossWeave Composer

id: `crossweave-composer` · Interaction detail · Johns Hopkins CLSP · 2026

Drafting a reply: the interface answers with feedback in the voice of a patient moderator and three simulated reactions to the draft, while the perspective panel keeps labelled contributions (framing, evidence, proposals) in view. Submission stays disabled for a few seconds so the reactions are read rather than skipped.

Image description: A CrossWeave reply being drafted, with AI feedback, three simulated replies, and the perspective panel beside it.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/interfaces/crossweave-composer.jpg) · [Open the CrossWeave demo](https://client-git-dev-jhustack.vercel.app/ChineseEVs)

#### CrossWeave Perspective Panel

id: `crossweave-perspective-panel` · Perspective interface · Johns Hopkins CLSP · 2026

The response column runs beside the feed so other perspectives stay in view while you read, which makes comparing them part of reading rather than a separate trip.

Image description: The CrossWeave response column, with other perspectives running alongside the main feed.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/interfaces/crossweave-perspective-panel.jpg) · [Open the CrossWeave demo](https://client-git-dev-jhustack.vercel.app/ChineseEVs)

**Station: HCI studio** (critique · facilitation · making)

#### HCI Course Assistant

id: `hci-course-assistant` · Teaching + interface practice

Course-assistant work: running critique, unblocking teams, and helping students get from a concept to something that actually responds.

Image description: A university HCI class working together in a large lecture room.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/hci-course.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/hci-course-demo.mp4)

#### PersonaPlay

id: `personaplay` · HCI project presentation

A team HCI project, presented in the same lecture hall where it was built and critiqued.

Image description: The PersonaPlay team presenting an app overview on two lecture-hall screens.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/persona-play.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/persona-play-demo.mp4)

**Station: Shipped products** (mentortracker.org · hizmetsearch.com)

#### MentorTracker

id: `mentortracker` · Mentoring infrastructure · 2024

A private-by-design portal for setting goals, reflecting on habits, and sharing progress with a chosen mentor.

Image description: The MentorTracker homepage showing a private-by-design progress dashboard.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentor-tracker.jpg) · [Open MentorTracker](https://mentortracker.org)

#### HizmetSearch

id: `hizmetsearch` · Semantic search · hizmetsearch.com

Semantic search across Islamic scholarship: source-grounded answers with verifiable citations in Turkish, Arabic, and English, plus a chat mode for longer research.

Image description: The HizmetSearch landing page, offering semantic search across Islamic scholarship.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/interfaces/hizmetsearch.jpg) · [Open HizmetSearch](https://hizmetsearch.com/)

**Also in this room**

#### Side Quests Board

id: `side-quests-board` · Minor projects · the old projects tab

The smaller builds that never earned a whole room: Boring Businesses (blockchain + AI wealth experiments), a TensorFlow vision rig steering micro-electrodes a tenth the size of a cell, English translations for River of Peace's seerah films, a $12,000 campaign that repaired a school in Dar es Salaam, and the petition + ArcGIS plan for a safer park in Blue Stream.

Image description: A pinned poster of five minor projects: Boring Businesses, micro-electrode vision, River of Peace, a Tanzania school campaign, and a park petition.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/interfaces/side-quests.png) · [Open the classic projects page](https://tarikmetin.com/projects.html)

### Mentoring Room (2019 → now)

Seven years mentoring 5th-12th graders through MARTI: grade-group tables, a STEM academy teaching cybersecurity and programming, CPR and college-application workshops, campus visits, and trips.

**Station: 6th grade table** (skills · games · ordinary afternoons)

#### Basketball Day

id: `basketball-day` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Pickup game on a MARTI youth day. Six mentees, one green court, one mentor behind the camera.

Image description: Six mentees mid pickup game on a green outdoor court.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/basketball-day.jpg)

#### Ice Cream Stop

id: `ice-cream-stop` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Froyo stop on the boardwalk, where the spoons did double duty as props.

Image description: Mentees with frozen yogurt cups outside a sweetFrog on the boardwalk.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/ice-cream-stop.jpg)

#### Lakeside Day

id: `lakeside-day` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Lakeside selfie with a 3D-printed skull along for show-and-tell. Mentoring and making travel together.

Image description: A lakeside selfie with mentees, one of them holding a 3D-printed skull.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/lakeside-day.jpg)

#### Kayaking Day

id: `kayaking-day` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Vests zipped, spray flying. One kayak, one pedal boat, one canoe, early-spring water.

Image description: Mentees in life vests spread across a kayak, a pedal boat, and a canoe on a lake.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/kayaking-day.jpg)

**Station: 8th grade table** (trust grows through shared adventures)

#### Soccer Game Trip

id: `soccer-game-trip` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Post-game pizza. Seven years of mentoring 5th-12th graders, and the field trips that keep them coming back.

Image description: MARTI mentees around a table of pizza after a soccer game.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/soccer-game-trip.jpg)

#### JHU Campus Visit

id: `jhu-campus-visit` · MARTI mentoring · 8th grade · 2019 → now

Campus visit in soccer jerseys, with Gilman's clock tower doing the persuading.

Image description: Mentees in soccer jerseys at the Homewood overlook, Gilman's clock tower on the skyline.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/jhu-campus-visit-bright.jpg)

#### Group Meal

id: `group-meal` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

After the outing, at Khana, A Claypot Grille. Foil wraps, curry and rice, orange soda.

Image description: Six mentees around a table of foil wraps, curry and rice, and orange soda.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/group-meal.jpg)

#### New York Visit

id: `new-york-visit` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Midsummer in Central Park, five mentees deep.

Image description: Five mentees by the rowboats on the Lake in Central Park, the San Remo's twin towers behind them.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/new-york-visit.jpg)

**Station: 10th grade table** (campuses · seminars · larger possibilities)

#### Rafting Group

id: `rafting-group` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

River run done. Eight by the bus, one already claiming the roof.

Image description: Eight people beside an outfitter's airbrushed bus after a river run, one of them climbing onto the roof.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/rafting-group.jpg)

#### Rafting on the Water

id: `rafting-on-the-water` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Bow seats on the rapids: six red vests, one unbothered guide, everybody mid-scream.

Image description: Six mentees in red life vests riding a raft through whitewater with a guide steering behind them.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/rafting-action.jpg)

#### Ski Trip

id: `ski-trip` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Dusk at the ski hill, arm in arm, pajama pants and clawed gloves included.

Image description: Eight people arm in arm at dusk on a ski hill, some in pajama pants and clawed gloves.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/ski-trip.jpg)

#### Space Observatory Visit

id: `space-observatory-visit` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Observatory night: red light to save night vision, the moon in the dome slit, one kid on the eyepiece.

Image description: An observatory dome lit red, the moon framed in the slit, a student at the eyepiece.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/space-observatory.jpg)

**Station: Events wall** (workshops and outings the whole group shared)

#### CPR Workshop

id: `cpr-workshop` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Safety skills day: compressions on the manikins, a HeartStart AED trainer waiting its turn.

Image description: Chest compressions on training manikins with a HeartStart AED trainer nearby.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/cpr-workshop.jpg)

#### Car Show Visit

id: `car-show-visit` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

The Corvette drew the crowd. Doors open, hood up, everyone leaning in.

Image description: Mentees crowded around a red Corvette convertible at an auto show, doors open and hood up.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/car-show.jpg)

#### College Seminar

id: `college-seminar` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

College applications, walked through in order, for the high schoolers who were about to file them.

Image description: A college-application seminar for MARTI high schoolers, agenda on the whiteboard, mentor at the lectern.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/college-seminar.jpg)

#### Georgetown Overlook

id: `georgetown-overlook` · MARTI mentoring · 5th-12th grade · 2019 → now

Six mentees at the Georgetown overlook. A college visit is how 'someday' turns into a skyline.

Image description: Six mentees standing at the Georgetown overlook with the city behind them.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/georgetown-overlook.jpg)

**Station: STEM Academy** (teaching kids to build · robotics, 3D, code)

#### STEM Academy Teaching Floor

id: `stem-academy-teaching-floor` · STEM Academy · instructor

Nine afternoons at STEM Academy: 3D modeling, robotics, a homemade microscope, block coding, and a low-poly cat print. The room where I taught younger students to build.

Image description: A nine-photo contact sheet of a STEM classroom: kids at laptops, 3D prints, robotics, and a microscope.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/mentoring/stem-academy-board.jpg)

### House of Nur + Gatherings (est. Aug 2025)

The House of Nur, a JHU hacker house of eight with a basement robotics lab, an Embodied AI club, and Biryani Wednesdays, next to the interfaith dinners and MARTI outreach that came before it.

**Station: Long table** (shared tables · recurring invitations)

#### Interfaith Dinners

id: `interfaith-dinners` · MARTI community practice · 2019 → now

Every hand on this banner belongs to someone who showed up. The gatherings behind it include iftars with JHU Hillel and JHUMA, an iftar at Oseh Shalom, and a program on service in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam that MARTI hosted, with delegates and state senators on the invite list.

Image description: A banner covered in dozens of painted handprints around a printed message about keeping your heart open.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/interfaith-event-art.jpg)

#### JHU Interfaith Iftar

id: `jhu-interfaith-iftar` · Community gathering · 2025

An iftar co-hosted by JHUMA and MARTI, both named on the organizers slide. Speeches at the floor mic, tower-building races between the tables, and a full hall breaking fast together.

Image description: A collage from a large JHU interfaith iftar with speakers, table activities, and a shared meal.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/interfaith-iftar.jpg)

#### Thanksgiving Community Gathering

id: `thanksgiving-community-gathering` · Community practice

Another kind of shared table. Thanksgiving with a decorated room, a full meal, and an open invitation.

Image description: A diverse group gathering around a decorated table at a Thanksgiving event.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/thanksgiving-gathering.jpg)

**Station: Robot corner** (a shared basement lab · embodied AI)

#### House of Nur: Basement Lab

id: `house-of-nur-basement-lab` · Founder + Organizer · Aug 2025 → now

The basement robotics and electronics lab of the House of Nur, the eight-person JHU hacker house. Prototypes, robots, and shared projects live on the same bench.

Image description: Tarik standing beside a small robotics workbench in the House of Nur basement lab.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/hacker-house.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/hacker-house-lab.mp4)

#### SO-101 Robot Arms

id: `so-101-robot-arms` · Embodied AI · 2025 → now

A paired manipulation platform for teleoperation, demonstrations, and embodied-learning experiments, moving here in the basement lab.

Image description: Two black SO-101 robot arms moving around a blue plush object on a wooden table.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/so101-arms.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/so101-demo.mp4)

#### Building the SO-101 Arms

id: `building-the-so-101-arms` · Embodied AI · 2025 → now

Assembly shots and motion footage from the paired robot-arm platform used for teleoperation and embodied-learning experiments.

Image description: Components and assembly work for a pair of SO-101 robot arms.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/so101-build.jpg) · [Video](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/so101-demo.mp4)

#### Memory-SmolVLA

id: `memory-smolvla` · Vision-language-action research · 2026

A temporal memory module grafted onto the SmolVLA vision-language-action model, using mid-layer representation caching with learned gated fusion. Long-horizon LIBERO-10 success rose from 72% to 76%, with 88.75% overall on LIBERO against the base paper's 87.3%.

Image description: Architecture diagram of Memory-SmolVLA: a temporal memory bank with cross-attention and gated fusion cached at the VLM backbone's middle layer.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/smolvla-memory.png) · [Open the GitHub repo](https://github.com/aleksantari/memory-smolVLA)

**Station: Outreach wall** (invite · organize · follow through)

#### MARTI Community Food Drive

id: `marti-community-food-drive` · Outreach coordination

The unglamorous half of community work: donated food to sort and volunteers to coordinate.

Image description: Volunteers organizing donated food during a community outreach drive.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/archive/community-food-drive.jpg)

#### The School in Dar es Salaam

id: `the-school-in-dar-es-salaam` · Travel · the campaign, in person

Inside the school the $12,000 campaign repaired. Students in uniform, mid-lesson, the reason the fundraiser existed. The Side Quests board downstairs tells the money side; this is the room it built.

Image description: Inside a classroom in Dar es Salaam, students in uniform smiling around a visiting mentor.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/travel-tanzania-school.jpg)

**Also in this room**

#### Magoroto View Point

id: `magoroto-view-point` · House of Nur · the Tanzania trip

Magoroto View Point, on the Tanzania trip. A hand-cut steel sign, wet boards, and the hills above the coast. The fundraiser is what put him on this side of the world.

Image description: Standing under a hand-cut steel sign reading Magoroto View Point, green hills and a valley town behind.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/travel-tanzania-market.jpg)

### The Attic (off hours)

Postcards from Egypt, Rome, the Netherlands, Germany, and Madinah; skis, a telescope, and Arabic flashcards; the publication shelf (CSCW '26, Memory-SmolVLA, SPDF, Constitutional AI); and a screening corner for three YouTube channels.

**Station: Hobbies** (postcards · skis · a telescope · Arabic flashcards)

#### Cairo, Egypt

id: `cairo-egypt` · Travel · off hours

The oldest engineering on the itinerary. Some structures ship without documentation and last five thousand years.

Image description: Standing before the pyramids outside Cairo.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/travel-egypt.jpg)

#### Rome, Italy

id: `rome-italy` · Travel · off hours

Aqueducts, arches, and the original long-running production systems.

Image description: A visit to Rome among the ruins and domes.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/travel-rome.jpg)

#### Netherlands

id: `netherlands` · Travel · off hours

Canals, bikes, and a whole country engineered below sea level.

Image description: A canal-side scene in the Netherlands.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/travel-netherlands.jpg)

#### Germany

id: `germany` · Travel · off hours

Trains that apologize for ninety seconds of delay. A standard worth importing.

Image description: Traveling through Germany.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/travel-germany.jpg)

#### Madinah

id: `madinah` · Travel · pilgrimage

The quietest place on the map for me. Some trips are maintenance for the soul.

Image description: The mosque courtyard in Madinah.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/travel-madinah.jpg)

#### Tanzania

id: `tanzania` · Travel · Dar es Salaam region

The trip behind the school campaign. A jungle lake on a rest day, between work days in Dar es Salaam.

Image description: Selfie at a jungle lake in Tanzania, palms and mist over green water.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/travel-tanzania-lake.jpg)

#### The School in Dar es Salaam

Listed above (id `the-school-in-dar-es-salaam`).

#### Ski Trip

Listed above (id `ski-trip`).

#### Space Observatory Visit

Listed above (id `space-observatory-visit`).

**Station: Publications** (papers · frameworks · early writing)

#### CrossWeave Feed

Listed above (id `crossweave-feed`).

#### Memory-SmolVLA

Listed above (id `memory-smolvla`).

#### SPDF: Secure Product Development Framework

Listed above (id `spdf-secure-product-development-framework`).

#### Constitutional AI Principles

id: `constitutional-ai-principles` · Essay · tarikmetin.com/ai

Early writing on what a machine should promise the people it serves: transparency before capability, and the user keeps the last word.

Image description: Cover card for the Constitutional AI Principles essay.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/constitutional-ai.png) · [Read the essay](https://tarikmetin.com/ai/constitutional_ai_principles)

#### Artificial Intelligence Today

Listed above (id `artificial-intelligence-today`).

**Station: Screening corner** (three channels · robotics films · reflections)

#### The State of AI Today

id: `the-state-of-ai-today` · The Techy Student · YouTube

The AI Today research, turned into a video for people who would never read the paper.

Image description: Thumbnail for The State of AI Today video.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/yt-NCyCFDzX4hI.jpg) · [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/NCyCFDzX4hI) · [Live demo](https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/NCyCFDzX4hI)

#### iPad Pro 2020 Review

id: `ipad-pro-2020-review` · The Techy Student · YouTube

A student's-perspective tech review, and early practice at explaining hardware honestly.

Image description: Thumbnail for the iPad Pro 2020 review video.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/yt-Ld1Q1vSrww0.jpg) · [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/Ld1Q1vSrww0) · [Live demo](https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Ld1Q1vSrww0)

#### Aliens, Jinn & Ancient Archeology

id: `aliens-jinn-ancient-archeology` · tar mus · YouTube

The reflective channel, reading ancient texts and ancient sites side by side.

Image description: Thumbnail for the archeology in the Quran video.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/yt-fl8-FCMrFH0.jpg) · [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/fl8-FCMrFH0) · [Live demo](https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/fl8-FCMrFH0)

#### Do You Feel Secure?

id: `do-you-feel-secure` · tar mus · YouTube

A short reflection on security: the feeling, not the checklist.

Image description: Thumbnail for the Do You Feel Secure video.

[Image](https://tarikmetin.com/media/attic/yt-vU8FIxBDmQY.jpg) · [Watch on YouTube](https://youtu.be/vU8FIxBDmQY) · [Live demo](https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/vU8FIxBDmQY)

#### VEX Robotics Team 6460

Listed above (id `vex-robotics-team-6460`).