Aryan Ashta

Student looking to build real things at the intersection of ML research and applied systems.

I am a Mathematics & Computer Science student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, focused on continual learning for LLMs and practical data-driven products.

About

How I approach research and building.

I build projects that combine mathematical modeling with machine learning engineering. My current work centers on making adaptation for large language models more efficient and practical.

In independent research, I developed Hierarchical Adapter Fusion, a continual learning framework that combines variational hypernetworks, FAISS-backed memory retrieval, and evolutionary candidate selection.

I enjoy shipping end-to-end systems, from experimentation and evaluation to production-oriented interfaces like APIs.

Education

Academic foundation and milestones.

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Expected May 2030

B.S. Mathematics & Computer Science · Champaign, IL

West Shore Jr/Sr High School

May 2026

High School Diploma · Melbourne, FL

  • Valedictorian (Rank 1 / 132)
  • 4.7 weighted GPA
  • Perfect ACT score
  • Dual enrollment at Florida Institute of Technology: Calculus III, Probability & Statistics, Discrete Mathematics, Algorithms & Data Structures

Research

Current and recent research tracks.

Hierarchical Adapter Fusion (HAF)

August 2025 - Present

Independent Research: Continual Learning for LLMs

  • Designed a continual learning framework combining a variational hypernetwork, FAISS-based hierarchical memory retrieval, and evolutionary candidate selection for parameter-efficient LLM adaptation.
  • Achieved approximately 15x lower adaptation cost compared with Self-Adapting Language Models.
1st Place, Brevard District Science FairMerit Award, Florida State Science Fair

Projects

Applied ML and systems work.

fin-RAG

In Progress

Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Financial Data · April 2026 - Present

Building a RAG pipeline over financial documents and extending it toward a fine-tuned model with a REST API endpoint.

PythonFAISSHuggingFace Transformers
  • Working prototype completed.
  • Current focus is model improvement and API packaging.

M3 Challenge: Gambling Addiction Progression Model

Completed

MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge · February 2026

Developed a debt-cascade model to simulate individual and population-level progression through gambling addiction stages.

PythonNumPyMarkov Chains
  • Used US and UK public health datasets for calibration.
  • Submission passed the first round of national judging.

Honors

Recognition and outcomes.

  • USNCO National Finalist (2024)
  • National Merit Finalist (2026)
  • Future Problem Solvers International Bowl Qualifier (2024)
  • Brevard District Science Fair 1st Place; Florida State Science Fair Merit Award (2026)

Skills

Tools and technical focus areas.

Languages

PythonJavaScript

ML and AI

PyTorchHuggingFace TransformersFAISSscikit-learnNumPypandas

Concepts

Continual learningLoRA and parameter-efficient fine-tuningRetrieval-augmented generationMarkov chain modeling

Profiles

Social and public coding footprint.

Student looking to build real things

Joined 2024-10-19 · 5 public repositories

Hierarchical_Adapter_Fusion

Visit

Public release of Hierarchical Adapter Fusion, repo is VERY unpolished

researchJupyter Notebook

CSE2010Final

Visit

CSE2010 Final Project for Florida Institute of Technology

courseJava

areas

Visit

Android habit tracker app I built for my own use

personalJava

Aryan-Ashta

Visit

My Personal Repository

personal

LinkedIn

Open profile

Incoming Freshman @ UIUC Math+CS

I’m an incoming Mathematics & Computer Science student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with interests in machine learning, continual learning systems, and AI research. My work focuses on building scalable and efficient learning frameworks for large language models. I’ve conducted independent research in continual learning, developing Hierarchical Adapter Fusion (HAF), a framework combining hypernetworks, hierarchical memory retrieval, and evolutionary optimization for parameter-efficient LLM adaptation. I also enjoy applying AI and mathematical modeling to real-world problems. Recent projects include building a retrieval-augmented generation pipeline for financial data and developing a Markov chain model analyzing gambling addiction progression for the MathWorks Math Modeling Challenge. Beyond research, I’m interested in the intersection of mathematics, machine learning, and systems design, especially in areas involving efficient adaptation, reasoning, and long-term memory in AI systems. Technical interests: continual learning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), parameter-efficient fine-tuning, probabilistic modeling, and machine learning infrastructure.

Experience highlights will be added soon.