Zachary Kurtz
Owner Independent Consultant
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolZachary Kurtz is an independent consultant and machine learning engineer with a Ph.D. in Statistics from Carnegie Mellon and over a decade applying quantitative research to production systems. He has led ML and data science efforts across academia, government, and industry—deploying prioritized resource models for Allegheny County, advancing autonomous-vehicle data science at Argo AI, and shipping ML solutions at EvolutionIQ. Known for systematic tech-debt paydown, process optimization, and rigorous documentation, he also drives engineering best practices like CI, static analysis, and agentic coding in client stacks. Raised in the forest and trained as a statistician, Zachary blends ecological patience with rigorous modeling to tackle messy real-world data problems. He’s currently running an independent consultancy while consulting for Grotto AI, choosing engagements that mix thoughtful research with pragmatic engineering. As an autistic practitioner with a taste for the Rosie Project series, he brings both precise analytical depth and an unconventional perspective to team dynamics and problem framing.
10 years of coding experience
13 years of employment as a software developer
Master's degree, Applied Mathematics, Master's degree, Applied Mathematics at University of DelawarePh.D., Statistics, Ph.D., Statistics at Carnegie Mellon UniversityBachelor's degree, Mathematics, Bachelor's degree, Mathematics at Eastern Mennonite University
Github Skills (200)
gbm10
parallel10
python10
resolver10
deep-learning10
r10
pandas10
gradient10
gradient-boosting10
lightgbm10
high-performance10
catboost10
kaggle10
shap10
classification10
Programming languages (8)
Github contributions (5)
zkurtz/pandahandler
Dec 2024 - Mar 2025
Utilities for handling pandas objects
Contributions:75 PRs, 140 pushes, 73 branches in 3 months
zkurtz/dummio
Oct 2024 - Mar 2025
easiest-possible IO for basic file types
Contributions:1 release, 67 PRs, 120 pushes in 4 months
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