Hi, I'm João!

me

I'm a Computer Science student at Kent State University (KSU) in Ohio. You'll find my projects, contact information and other general stuff on here!

I'm an Undergraduate Researcher at Guan's Lab, where I've been working on projects related to Deep Learning, Spiking Neural Networks, Neuromorphic Computing and Audio Processing/Classification.

I currently work part-time as a Computer Science Tutor at KSU, I also work part-time as an IT Technician at the Division of IT in KSU.

I also like taking part in volunteer work as a member of the Kent State Ambassadors

Learn to pronounce João by clicking here

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me

My ML work at Guan's Lab (Sept 2024 - Ongoing)

Research, Machine Learning, Neuromorphic Computing, Pytorch, AI Models, Audio Processing

Participating in research on Neuromorphic Computing models. Exploring how we can take advantage of Spiking Neural Networks (SNN) to improve energy efficiency, accuracy and inference time, in particular for low-power devices and for problems that can take advantage of the temporal event-based nature of SNNs. Research tools I'm familiar with:

  • Building and training models using PyTorch
  • Evolutionary and backpropagation based training for SNNs
  • Audio preprocessing and feature extraction
  • Spike encoding techniques
  • Common data/visualization tools like matplotlib, numpy

Additionally, I've contributed to planning and writing academic papers in a professional research setting, as well as reading and analyzing other people's work in the field. Beyond SNNs, I like understanding the math behind these models, and have learned about other modern models like diffusion for generative AI.

Babel Pages (2024 - Ongoing)

Java, Spring Boot, MySQL, OpenAPI, Unit Testing, Relational Database

A fullstack book review platform. Frontend written with React and Typescript. Backend REST API made using Java with the Spring Framework.
I decided to do a self imposed challenge of only using raw SQL queries rather than relying on ORMs. Additionally, I designed and implement the front end interface without using prebuilt components or CSS libraries. Currently has:

  • Account/Profile creation and management
  • Book registering, retrieval, tagging
  • Review writing, voting for other users' reviews
Backend Github Repository
Frontend Github Repository

Pet Adoption Backend (2023)

Java, Spring Boot, JPA, OpenAPI, Unit Testing, Relational Database

Fully fledged REST api written in Spring Boot for a prototype pet adoption web app. Developed as my final project for in person software developer training at Latin-American bank Bradesco. Features include:

  • Authentication and Authorization using JWT tokens
  • Pet matching system based on preference
  • Location data for matching system (Google Maps API)

Time Travelling Tic-Tac-Toe (2022)

Javascript, HTML, CSS

Tic-Tac-Toe made using vanilla JS. Features include:

  • Mechanism to "time travel" back N number of plays
  • Player X Player mode
  • Three bot difficulty levels

Neural Network Implementation (2020)

C++

Flexible Neural Network class implemented in C++. No external libraries used! Features include:

  • Matrix class implementation for calculations
  • Data set loading from text files representing grayscale pixels of each image
  • Forward propagation, cost calculation, training, accuracy measurement

Snake game (2020)

Java, Swing

Snake game implemented in Java using the Swing GUI API.

Hash Cracker (2020)

Python

Command line tool. Attemps to find the value that generated a hash by using a wordlist, or generating words by bruteforce based on certain criteria.

Word Search GUI (2019)

Java

GUI application written in Java with the Swing API. Searches for occurences of a word within text files. Can load text invidiually or from a directory of files.

Blog posts or notes on various topics

These are just some of my notes on different ideas I've enjoyed learning about

Creating a score-matching diffusion model from scratch

A thorough explanation on the math and implementation details of making a diffusion model from scratch.

Topics include: Pytorch, GenAI, Diffusion, Differential Equations, Probability

Date: 2025-06-21

test post

This is a test post. I am just using this to see what the css will look like if I have multiple posts! This is a test post. I am just using this to see what the css will look like if I have multiple posts! This is a test post. I am just using this to see what the css will look like if I have multiple posts!

Topics include: Topic1, topic2, topic3, topic4

Date: 1333-12-30

test post

This is a test post. I am just using this to see what the css will look like if I have multiple posts! This is a test post. I am just using this to see what the css will look like if I have multiple posts! This is a test post. I am just using this to see what the css will look like if I have multiple posts!

Topics include: Topic1, topic2, topic3, topic4

Date: 1333-12-30

About me

I'm a senior at Kent State University (KSU) studying Computer Science (Cybersecurity concentration) with a minor in Applied Math. I've also received a degree in Liberal Arts from KSU as part of a two-year program in partnership with the Brazilian university PUC-PR (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná). I currently work as an IT Technician at KSU, in addition to working on research at Guan's Lab (AI, Neuromorphic Computing, Spiking Neural Networks, Audio Processing). My plan is to pursue a Master's degree in CS/Math, and continue to work on Machine Learning projects. I'm open to work in software development, teaching or research.

While studying for my Liberal Arts degree in Brazil, I had the opportunity of being part of a training and recruitment program for one of Latin America's largest banks, Bradesco. I took part in 9 months of formal in-person training to be a back-end developer at the bank. We used Java (Spring Framework) and Javascript (Node.js with Express framework) to build REST APIs. Being a part of this was an irreplaceable educational experience. I met amazingly talented professors and incredibly hard-working people. I got to learn about proper development patterns and standards, unit testing and documentation, as well as authentication, authorization and many other concepts.

At KSU, I've been able to work on real research projects at a Computer Science research lab. I've had the experience of researching and learning about topics like CNNs, Neuromorphic, Transformers, Diffusion Models, Audio/Signal Processing and much more. My favorite parts of this has been discussing and presenting on different models and papers, investigating state of the art problems, as well as writing and communicating findings and results. I have acquired skills that I will use in every aspect of my life, and am more confident in my ability to contribute to meaningful research and pursue graduate school.

Other than that, my interests include reading, playing video games, cooking and metal music.

Contact

You can reach out to me on LinkedIn

I'm also on Discord: joaodonaton

My KSU email is: jmacambi@kent.edu

me

Gallery

Here are some cool pictures I've taken recently.

Sunset in Porto Belo, Brazil

Itapema, Brazil viewed from a distance.

Sunset in the parking lot outside KSU's Mathematical Sciences Building

Sunset in Itapema, Brazil

Kent State's Architecture Building

East side of KSU campus viewed from the library

Chicago viewed from the 103rd floor of Willis Tower

South Loop Chicago

Downtown Chicago