Asabaal Horan, Ph.D.
Reality Studio Owner-Operator
Professional Summary
Reality studio owner-operator designing and stewarding real-world systems at both human and technical scales. My work spans the creation of scalable technology platforms, data and analytics infrastructure, and operational systems, alongside non-scalable human-centered work such as meaning-making, direction-setting, and narrative coherence. I intentionally work across scalable systems and non-scalable human domains, recognizing when automation is appropriate and when meaning, judgment, and care must remain human. I operate as a steward rather than owner of systems, prioritizing stability, legibility, and responsible evolution while navigating ambiguity and maintaining forward momentum.
Core Competencies
Systems & Platform Design
Socio-technical system design, Data and analytics platforms, Operational infrastructure, System lifecycle stewardship
Human-Centered & Non-Scalable Work
Meaning-making and narrative coherence, Direction-setting under ambiguity, Human judgment and ethical restraint, Cultural and symbolic systems
Leadership & Integration
Cross-domain integration, Complexity management, Transitional and interim leadership, Decision-making under constraint
Execution & Delivery
Translating abstract goals into operational systems, Balancing scale with care, Building for durability not novelty, Aligning systems with real-world use
Professional Experience
Reality studio designing and operating socio-technical systems that produce actionable intelligence and support decision-making in real-world contexts. Work spans both scalable technical systems and non-scalable human-centered domains.
Systems & Platforms (Scalable Work)
- Designing and deploying data, analytics, and reporting systems used for real-world operational decision-making
- Building and stewarding technology platforms under real constraints including time, budget, and organizational complexity
- Translating abstract goals into durable system architectures that can be maintained and evolved over time
Meaning, Direction & Human-Centered Work (Non-Scalable Work)
- Led non-scalable, human-centered work including direction-setting, narrative coherence, and meaning-making to guide system design and organizational decisions
- Produced artistic and narrative artifacts as part of broader systems work to support alignment, cultural clarity, and long-term orientation
- Applied judgment to determine when problems required automation versus human presence, care, or interpretation
Integration & Stewardship
- Operated across technical, human, and organizational domains to maintain coherence between systems, values, and lived reality
- Acted as steward rather than owner of systems, prioritizing stability, legibility, and responsible evolution
- Navigated ambiguity and incomplete information while maintaining forward momentum and trust
Selected case studies available at: Advancements by Asabaal
Promoted from Data Scientist II to Data Scientist III (Nov 2021)
- Created and extended data-driven machine learning pipeline solutions for healthcare applications including patient engagement, repayment, and denials overturn & prevention
- Designed, implemented & maintained proprietary ML Ops infrastructure
- Led internal & external collaboration and communication initiatives
- Defined & implemented data-driven elements of product design
- Mentored junior team members and fostered holistic workplace development
- Continuously pushed boundaries of what's possible while staying current with industry developments
- Developed financial modeling solutions for marketing, acquisition, and fraud prevention
- Managed full data science product lifecycle
- Pioneered team-wide complete overhaul of modeling infrastructure
- Hosted training sessions for AWS migration of data science workflows
- Led client engagements as project specialist, anticipating client needs
- Managed summer intern, initiating new feature engineering approaches
- Transitioned internal codebase to GitLab for version control
- Conducted interdisciplinary computational biophysics research
- Specialized in MCMC HPC simulations using MPI on world-class supercomputers
- Applied data analysis techniques from statistical analysis to unsupervised learning
- Trained and supervised graduate & undergraduate students
- Wrote successful grant proposals (funded by XSEDE)
- Participated in peer review of submitted research articles
- Presented & published scientific research at prestigious conferences/journals
- Designed in-house clustering algorithm described in scientific publications
Education
Human psychology & neuroscience, music creation & production, financial investment strategies, home inspection, creative narrative construction, developing GenAI pipelines
Capstone Project: Diagnosing Malaria with Machine Learning - Used standard ML, neural networks, and transfer learning (VGG16) for image classification, computer vision (Mask RCNN) for parasite identification
Minors in Mathematics & Computer Science
Teaching Experience
- Taught introductory Physics lecture & lab courses
- Developed lesson plans, quizzes, & problem solutions
- Participated in pedagogical experimentation to optimize student learning
- Conducted office hours for student tutoring
- Reviewed solutions for accuracy and developed grading systems
- Assisted in lab setup/teardown and student experiment success