Defined by Detail







Back Story.

Asmaa working

Long before I wrote code, I was creating things in every medium I could get my hands on. I grew up playing piano, guitar, and bass entirely by ear — listening, imitating, and building melodies without sheet music. And when I wasn’t making noise, I was painting or drawing, trying to capture whatever I couldn’t put into words. Music taught me patterns. Art taught me composition. Both taught me how to see structure where most people only see chaos.

Eventually that creative instinct spilled into engineering. The same part of me that used to break down songs or blend colors started breaking down systems — writing late-night Python experiments, rebuilding websites from scratch, and teaching myself the math and logic needed to make data behave. It felt less like switching fields and more like switching instruments.

Today, I’m a Data Science and Computer Engineering intern focused on applied machine learning, automation pipelines, quantitative modeling, and building systems that are stable, efficient, and intuitive. I still approach engineering the same way I approached art and music: start with intuition, refine with structure, and keep iterating until everything fits.

I’m currently interning at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) in the Space Exploration Sector, where I help develop mission-critical software and data infrastructure supporting NASA missions. It’s work that requires precision, reliability, and a kind of quiet creativity — engineering that feels more like composition than construction.

In the end, I’m still creating things — only now the canvas is a codebase, the instruments are models and APIs, and the final product is a system that helps people solve real problems. The medium changed, but the mindset never did.

Overall

I’m a data-driven engineer, cat person, artist, musician, quantum-curious tinkerer, and quietly ambitious programmer.

My cat supervising my desk

Random Facts.

My name is Asmaa. I have a passion for building fish tanks. I have two cats and two leopard geckos. My favorite number is 4. I love to travel. I speak Arabic fluently. My favorite cartoon is Courage the Cowardly Dog. I play guitar, piano, and bass. I love journaling / scrapbooking. I enjoy going fishing and my favorite food is crab legs.

BASICALLY

Outside of my technical work, I’m passionate about QML, automated stock trading systems, and predictive analytics. Creativity has always been the engine behind everything I build.