About
I'm Thabolezwe Mabandla, a graduate student in Engineering Artificial Intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University Africa. My work sits at the intersection of applied AI, software engineering, robotics, and language technology.
I have built production-grade data pipelines, RAG systems, and LLM-powered applications for cybersecurity, media, and enterprise AI use cases. I'm especially interested in systems that combine robust machine learning infrastructure with real-world deployment constraints.
My current research direction focuses on adversarial reinforcement learning and robotics, while my broader interests include world models, computer vision, vision-language models, drone technologies, and African language technologies.
Education
Aug 2025 - May 2027 Master of Science in Engineering Artificial Intelligence - Carnegie Mellon University Africa
Graduate program focused on Applied AI, with growing specialization in embedded systems, robotics, and intelligent autonomous systems.
- Concentration: Applied AI
- Applied AI
- Robotics
- Embedded Systems
Aug 2020 - Jun 2024 BSc Honours in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning - University of Zimbabwe
Completed undergraduate research on low-resource NLP for Zimbabwean languages, including a Shona spell checker for language digitization and preservation.
- Concentration: Natural Language Processing
- Thesis: Digitization of Indigenous Zimbabwean Languages: A Shona Spell Checker
- Graduated with First Class Honors
- Awarded the University of Zimbabwe Book Prize
- Awarded Best Undergraduate Researcher and Innovator in the Faculty of Computer Engineering
- NLP
- Machine Learning
- Low-resource Languages
Experience
Jun - Aug 2026 Graduate Research Assistant - CMU-Africa
Conducting research on adversarial reinforcement learning and robotics with Professor Jesse Thornburg, focusing on robust learning methods for embodied intelligent systems.
- Adversarial RL
- Robotics
- Reinforcement Learning
- Research
Mar - Aug 2025 Backend Developer / Machine Learning Engineer - CyberAlliance
Contributed to SallyAI, a threat intelligence platform delivering real-time cybersecurity insights through LLM and code agents. Engineered distributed data pipelines and deployed retrieval and threat-intelligence infrastructure for enterprise security workflows.
- Built pipelines with Apache Airflow, Kafka, Redis, and Postgres.
- Fine-tuned LLMs with HuggingFace Transformers, BitsandBytes, MLflow, and AWS.
- Implemented RAG with Weaviate, Elastic Stack, and Sentence Transformers.
- Integrated CTI sources including NVD NIST, Abuse.ch, AlienVault OTX, and MITRE.org.
- Python
- LLMs
- Airflow
- Kafka
- Redis
- Postgres
- Weaviate
- AWS
Oct 2024 - Mar 2025 AI Software Developer - Rubiem Innovations
Led development of local LLM applications and enterprise AI prototypes, including an agent for Zimpapers that helped journalists retrieve internal knowledge and search the web during article writing.
- Designed LLM applications for customer support and content generation.
- Supported AI strategy work for banks and telecom clients.
- Translated technical concepts into client-facing recommendations and training.
- LLM Agents
- RAG
- Google Search
- Client Delivery
- AI Strategy
Jan - Jun 2024 Research Scientist - Zimbabwe Centre for High Performance Computing
Conducted NLP research for indigenous Zimbabwean language technology and developed a novel Shona spelling correction model on high-performance computing infrastructure.
- NLP
- HPC
- Shona
- Language Technology
- Model Training
Sep 2022 - Aug 2023 IT Operations Intern - Old Mutual & CABS
Supported infrastructure operations for financial systems by monitoring uptime, improving deployments, maintaining documentation, and executing system maintenance and compliance checks.
- IT Operations
- Infrastructure
- Documentation
- Security Compliance
Projects
Aug 2023 - Jun 2024 LLM for Shona Spelling Correction
Developed the first LLM-based spell checker for Shona, supporting language digitization and preservation for one of Zimbabwe's major native languages. Built and fine-tuned models on HPC clusters as part of undergraduate research.
- LLMs
- Shona
- NLP
- HPC
- Research
Oct - Dec 2024 LLM Agent Prototype for Zimpapers
Designed a local LLM-powered agent for journalists that retrieved from internal archives and integrated real-time Google Search, improving contextual research workflows for Zimbabwe's largest media house.
- LLM Agents
- RAG
- Search
- Local AI
- Prototyping
Jul 2024 IoT + AI for Power Infrastructure Security
Collaborated with Team BitLords to win the 2024 TEXPO Hackathon. Designed an IoT system for ZESA to detect transformer oil and copper cable theft in real time and analyze sensor data for predictive incident detection.
- IoT
- AI
- Sensor Analytics
- Predictive Modeling
- Hackathon Winner
Publications
Publications coming soon
Papers, research reports, and preprints will be added here as they become available.