About Me
Welcome to my website! My name is Nicholas Abad and I'm a Data Scientist based in Berlin, Germany.
I'm currently the sole Data Scientist at Fuchs & Eule, a start-up focused on building energy efficiency.
Being the only data scientist means I get to wear a lot of hats — I come up with my own ideas, figure out how they tie back to actual business needs, and then build them end-to-end.
Day-to-day, that involves a lot of communication with both internal and external stakeholders (energy consultants, analysts, engineers) to make sure what I'm building actually solves real problems.
On the technical side, I've built an automated energy modeling pipeline that uses 3D data and physics-based simulations to predict building components and estimate energetic states, as well as a RAG system that ingests building documentation through OCR and chunking, stores them in a vector database, and lets users query documents using natural language.
Before Fuchs & Eule, I completed my PhD in the Division of Applied Bioinformatics (Faculty of Molecular Biotechnology) at the German Cancer Research Institute (DKFZ), which is the largest biomedical research center in Germany.
My thesis, titled "REMIND-Cancer: A Recurrence-Agnostic Workflow for Identifying and Prioritizing Functional Promoter Single Nucleotide Variants", can be viewed at the following link.
Briefly, it's about the creation of a bioinformatics pipeline that identifies and prioritizes functional promoter SNVs, a class of mutations that are consistently missing from known oncogenic mutations.
Through the analysis of a public pan-cancer dataset as well as an internal precision oncology dataset, I used as input to my pipeline the genomic and transcriptomic information (if available) of roughly 3,000 samples and 30,000,000 mutations.
This led to the positive in vitro validation of 10 promoter SNVs, some of which were highly-recurrent (i.e. occurring in many samples) and some of which were singletons (i.e. only in a single sample).
Alongside the PhD, I was also a Lead Data Science Instructor at CodeOp, where I taught 100+ non-technical professionals the fundamentals of statistics, coding and data science through 13 bootcamps.
As for how I got here — I'm originally from Silicon Valley where I got my Bachelor's in Mathematics at the University of San Francisco with a minor in Computer Science. After that, I moved to the UK to earn my Master's in Data Science at Lancaster University, and then to Cologne, Germany where I worked as a Machine Learning Engineer first for a start-up and then for a consultancy firm.
Data Scientist | Machine Learning Engineer
- Name: Nicholas Abad
- City: Berlin, Germany
- Hometown: San Francisco, USA
- Current Role: Data Scientist at Fuchs & Eule
- PhD: Applied Bioinformatics, DKFZ (2024)
- Masters: Data Science, Lancaster University
- Bachelors: Mathematics, University of San Francisco
Skills
Years of Programming Experience in Python
Years of Programming Experience in R
Years of ML Experience and Education
Cups of Coffee Drank
Resume
Education
PhD Student
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Heidelberg, Germany
Dec 2020 - Oct 2024
Division of Applied Bioinformatics at the DKFZ
Faculty of Engineering at Heidelberg University
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Recently submitted my PhD thesis: “REMIND-Cancer: A Recurrence-Agnostic Workflow for Identifying and Prioritizing Functional Promoter Single Nucleotide Variants”
Designed and implemented a user-friendly and scalable pipeline (REMIND-Cancer Pipeline) to identify and prioritize functional promoter mutations using genomic and transcriptomic data.
Due to being in the process of submitting two manuscripts, further details of my project are not yet publicly available.
Masters Degree in Data Science
Lancaster University
Lancaster, United Kingdom
Specialization in Statistical Inference
Oct 2017 - Sep 2018
Graduated with Distinction (Highest Honors)
Courses Taken:
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Bayesian Inference
Likelihood Inference
Distributed Artificial Intelligence
Applied Data Mining (NLP)
Generalized Linear Models
Data Mining (Neural Networks)
Bachelors in Mathematics
University of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
Minor in Computer Science
Aug 2012 - May 2016
Courses Taken:
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Data Mining
Statistics
Probability
Mathematical Modeling
Econometrics
Linear Algebra
Combinatorics
Programming in Python
Programming in R
Data Structures and Algorithms
Professional Experience
Data Scientist
Fuchs & Eule
Berlin, Germany
May 2025 - Present
Developed an automated building energy modeling pipeline leveraging 3D data and physics-based simulations, reducing manual model creation time from hours to seconds and accelerating energy efficiency assessments for building portfolios
Detailed Description of Tasks
Lead Data Science Instructor (Part Time)
CodeOp
Barcelona, Spain (fully remote)
April 2022 - Aug 2025
Taught 100+ non-technical professionals the fundamentals of statistics, coding and data science through 13 data science bootcamps, covering Python, SQL, ML, A/B Testing, and Tableau
Machine Learning Engineer
Alexander Thamm GmbH
Cologne, Germany
Jan 2020 - Dec 2020
By working for the best Data Science / AI consultancy firm in Germany, I worked directly with clients in various industries (i.e. Industrial, Marketing, Biomedical, etc.) to improve operational processes and create visionary, data-based products and solutions individually tailored to the needs of our clients.
Detailed Description of Tasks
Data Scientist
fedger.io
Cologne, Germany
Nov 2018 - Dec 2019
Using state-of-the-art Object Detection methods, I lead the AI Team in creating and continuously developing our neural network architecture in order to detect and extract structured information from documents.
Detailed Description of Tasks
Data Science Intern
Co-op Insurance
Manchester, United Kingdom
June 2018 - Sep 2018
As part of my Master's dissertation, I implemented both parametric and non-parametric modeling techniques and hyper-parameter optimization methods to improve the Co-op's Motor Insurance rates.
Detailed Description of Tasks
Relevant GitHub Repositories
Consulting
Outisde of my PhD, I also offer individual and group consulting work in the following topics:Coding in Python/R
For basic or intermediate students.
Potential Topics:
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Python Fundamentals
Functions and Modules
Data Structures
Intermediate Topics
Coding Best Practices
Data Science
For basic or intermediate students.
Potential Topics:
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Introduction to Data Science
Data Manipulation
Statistical Theory
(Un)supervised ML Algorithms
Data Visualization
Story Telling via Data
DS/ML Interview Prep
For those trying to land their first Data Scientist or Data Analyst role.
Potential Topics:
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Building a Strong Foundation
Crafting Your Resume and Portfolio
Networking and Personal Branding
Interview Preparation
Are you eager to embark on a journey into the world of Python programming, data science, or kickstarting your career in this growing field? If so, I invite you to join me for a complimentary consultation session tailored just for you. Whether you're a beginner curious about Python's possibilities, an aspiring data scientist looking to master the fundamentals, or someone striving to land that elusive first data science job, I'm here to guide you every step of the way. During our free consultation, we'll discuss your goals, aspirations, and learning preferences. It's an opportunity for us to get to know each other, chart out a personalized learning path, and address any questions you may have.
As for pricing, I offer once-a-week video call sessions where we could discuss topics, your progress, and, most importantly, any questions that you may have for 100 euros a week (price negotiable). In addition to this, I'll be available for any/all questions via email and/or slack at your convenience and will also craft a peronsonalized learning plan. If this interests you, feel free to email me so we can get started :)
Outside of Work
Rather than trying to explain who I am outside of my education and profession, here are some of my favorite pictures to hopefully show you what I value the most and what I enjoy doing!
Heidelberg, Germany 2024
My group, the Division of Applied Bioinformatics.
Heidelberg, Germany 2024
My PhD hat that my group thankfully made for me!!!
Heidelberg, Germany 2024
My parents and brother
Dubrovnik, Croatia - 2019
Some of my best friends from San Francisco and I decided to rent jet-skis and go around the Adriatic Sea. Pictured in the background is the Fort Lovrijenac.
San Francisco, USA - 2016
Days before all of us graduated from the University of San Francisco, my best friends and I decided to have one last get together before each of us went our separate ways.
Zermatt, Switzerland - 2018
To cap off my three-week solo backpacking trip across Europe for the first time, my final destination was an acoustic music festival (Zermatt Unplugged) in the Swiss Alps.
Cerritos, USA - 2018
My crazy cousins and I taking a funny picture with the greatest grandpa in the world before our annual family Christmas party!
Cataract Falls, USA - 2017
Three of my good friends, including my roommate at the time (pictured in the back), and I decided to have a nice getaway in the nearby city of Stinson Beach to go hiking at this beautiful location!
Cologne, Germany - 2019
Me after completing one of my lifelong goals of running a full marathon! What you can't see (thankfully...) was the amount of pain and exhaustion that I was going through and how I could barely even walk afterwards... Either way, it was all worth it once I crossed that finish line! :)
Petaluma, California - 2017
To celebrate one of my best friends birthdays, my friend group and I went to a local brewery (Lagunitas) with amazing beer and even better people!
Edinburgh, Scotland - 2018
As you could probably tell by my big smile, I was super excited to be running in my first ever race, which happened to be the Edinburgh Half Marathon!
Cologne, Germany - 2019
To try something new, some of my friends and I actually completed an escape room - despite all the arguing and time pressure we were under :)
Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada - 2019
To celebrate the start of the New Year, some of my best friends and I spent a couple days in a cabin in Tahoe where we hung out, played board games, and played in the snow, which is something us Californians aren't all that used to
Contact
Email:
nicholas.a.abad@gmai.com
LinkedIn:
linkedin.com/in/nicholasabad
Twitter:
twitter.com/_nicholasabad_
GitHub:
github.com/nicholas-abad