Bekalu profile picture

Bekalu Tadesse

Computer Science & Electrical Engineering

About Me

I'm a multidisciplinary engineer with advanced degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, dedicated to bridging the energy sector with information technology. Having lived and studied across the U.S., Germany, and Ethiopia, I bring a global perspective, adaptability, and a collaborative mindset to every challenge.

My focus lies in integrating data from diverse sources—such as smart meters, grid components, and utility systems—to support predictive maintenance, enhance energy efficiency, and modernize utility operations. I've worked on projects involving smart meter data (ASCII format) wrangling, combining engineering intuition with IT expertise to deliver value.

With a strong technical foundation in Python, SQL, PySpark, and cloud infrastructure, I build scalable ETL data pipelines that transform complex datasets ready for actionable insights. I'm especially interested in data-driven approaches that contribute to smarter, more sustainable grids.

I'm pragmatic, great communicator, organized, and eager to learn. I thrive in collaborative environments where I can apply both my technical skills and curiosity to solve problems and contribute to a more intelligent and data-driven energy future.

Highlights:
    - Skilled in automation and analytics.
    - Knowledge in IT and Power Systems.
    - Skilled in Data Engineering & Integration.

    - Interested in Smart Grid & Smart Metring.
    - Experience with smart meter data wrangling.
    - Experinece at Hydro-power plant and SCADA.
    - 2X AWS Certified: Solutions arch associate+CCP.

Skills and Technologies:
Data Engineering
Ingestion
Modeling
ETL/ELT
Data Lifecycle
Data Cleansing
RAG
Python
SQL
pandas
Git
AWS (S3, Lambda, Glue, Athena)
APIs
RegEx
Airflow
Docker
PowerBI

Contact:

bekalu.tkh@gmail.com

Resume

Education

North Dakota State University, USA logo
MS, Computer Science

North Dakota State University, USA • 2025 • GPA: 3.8

Courses:
  • AI
  • Algorithms
  • Data Engineering
  • Database Systems
  • Software Testing
Universität Rostock, Germany logo
MS, Electrical Engineering

Universität Rostock, Germany • 2022 • GPA: 3.7

Courses:
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Warehouses and BI
  • Embedded Systems & VLSI
  • Natural Language Processing
WES - verification link
Jimma University, Ethiopia logo
BS, Electrical Engineering

Jimma University, Ethiopia • 2015 • GPA: 3.4

Courses:
  • Electrical Circuits
  • Power Electronics
  • Power Systems I & II
  • Power Protection & Control
  • Electrical Machines & EMF

Experience

Graduate Teaching Assistant

North Dakota State University, USA • 2022 - Present

  • Teach courses on Databases, Programming langauges, Microsoft Excel and Access, created YouTube tutorials with 15K+ views.
Data Engineering Intern

Universität Regensburg, Germany • 2022 - 2023

  • ETL Data Integration, Query optimization, Schema evolution in SQL + NoSQL Database systems, Data Modeling, Data Migration.
Data & NLP Research Assistant

Universität Rostock, Germany • 2020 - 2022

  • NLP research for text classification and LLM fine-tuning, Data transformation, data validation, data labeling, data visualization.
Electrical Engineer

General Power PLC, Ethiopia • 2015-2018

  • HVAC Systems, Power Control Systems, Power Distribution Panels, Building Electrical Systems.
Intern - Power Plant Operator

Gibe-I HydroPower Plant, Ethiopia • 2014

  • HydroPower plant 0peration, SCADA Control, Electro-mechanical inspection and maintenance.

Projects

LLM Visual Chatbot - WebApp logo

LLM Visual Chatbot - WebApp

Analytical chatbot that generates bar charts for carbonfootprints using various open source LLMs.

FlaskDeepSeek-r1Prompt Engineeringmatplotlib
Crime Data Engineering Project logo

Crime Data Engineering Project

ELT architecture ingesting Chicago Crime data and analysis via PySpark Azure Databrics.

PythonAzure Blob StorageDataBricksPowerBIRestAPIAzure SQLplotly
Smart Energy Meter Data Wrangling logo

Smart Energy Meter Data Wrangling

Wrangling of smart electrical meter reading (ASCII data), transformation into CSV & Parquet, validation, and Analysis.

PythonAzure DataBrickspandasmatplotlibplotlyEAI API
CO2 Emission Analysis logo

CO2 Emission Analysis

Programmatic igesting of CO₂ data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) API and Analysis.

PythonJupyterNotebookpandasmatplotlibplotlyEIA API
Airbnb Price Prediction logo

Airbnb Price Prediction

Price prediction using Regression models with NY Airbnb listings dataset, outlier handling, and model evaluation.

PythonKNNLinear RegressionGradient Boostingsklearnplotly
Information Retrieval WebApp logo

Information Retrieval WebApp

A Responsive information retrieval web app (<2 sec) using TF-IDF, and relevance-ranked search results.

PythonDjangoHTML/CSSJavaScriptSQLNLTKpostgreSQL
Scientific Text Classification logo

Scientific Text Classification

MS Thesis - Classification of Scientific Texts using BERT language models and transfer learning.

PythontorchBERT LLMBRAT - Annotationpandas
XML Data Analysis logo

XML Data Analysis

Analysis of more than 3 Million XML scientific publications using Digital Resource Identifier - RRIDs

PythonBeautifulsoupRegexPandasXML
React Personal Portfolio logo

React Personal Portfolio

A personal portfolio website built with React Vite and Tailwind CSS.

ReactViteTypeScriptTailwind CSSAWS S3Lucide IconsGoDaddyvercel CI/CD
React Facebook Clone logo

React Facebook Clone

Facebook clone with user authentication and Firebase backend.

ReactJavaScriptHTML/CSSFirebaseGoDaddydockerVercelLucide Icons

Certifications

Credly Link