# Harihar Rengan: full profile

> Student machine-learning researcher at Dubai College, UAE, focused on explainable and interpretable AI for healthcare (cardiology, nephrology, EEG and neuroimaging) and learning science. Sole inventor on a granted US patent. Founder of EpicxAI; co-founder of Lock In and AlziDetect. Website: https://hariharrengan.com/

Last updated: October 2026. Name: Harihar Rengan. Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Email: harihar.rengan@gmail.com. ORCID: 0009-0001-0704-2751.

## Research experience

- **Explainable AI Lab, EECS, American University in Dubai** (2025–present). Student Research Lead, supervised by Dr. Vinod Pangracious, Head of EECS. Interpretable ML for cardiology, nephrology, EEG and neuroimaging. Presented two papers in person at IEEE Healthcom 2026, New York.
- **Department of Computing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University** (Mar 2026–present). Student Researcher, supervised by Dr. Chi-wai Do and Dr. Eugene Yujun Fu. First author on a prior-informed normative EEG scorer for Alzheimer's screening (IEEE COMPSAC 2026).
- **Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging** (joint MIT–Harvard lab at MGH; Jun 2026–present). Research Intern: deep learning for MRI segmentation.
- **Independent research** (Jun 2024–present). Certified orthogonal-polynomial surrogates for interpretable ML; sole-author manuscript under review at TMLR.
- **Science Internship Program, UC Santa Cruz** (Jun–Aug 2024). Research Intern, Electrical Engineering: simulated porous metallic nanostructures for plasmonic biosensors.

## Papers (* equal contribution)

1. H. Rengan*, A.-M. Valiyev*, R. B. Zhu*, C. Do, E. Y. Fu. "Prior-Informed Normative EEG Scoring for Alzheimer's Detection: Framework and Cross-Paradigm Boundary Analysis." IEEE COMPSAC 2026 (IEEE flagship conference), MediComp workshop, pp. 3044–3051. https://doi.org/10.1109/compsac69091.2026.00455
2. H. Rengan, V. Pangracious. "Explainable Single-Biomarker AI for CKD Screening Using Symbolic Regression." IEEE Healthcom 2026. Closed-form screen from serum creatinine alone; cross-validated AUC 0.82 on 2,249 patients, 0.95 on a held-out clinical cohort. https://openreview.net/pdf?id=7zOZEKIJsZ
3. E. Tomar*, H. Rengan*, V. Pangracious*. "Understanding the Generalization Limits of EEG-Based Mind-Wandering Detection: A Trustworthy Cross-Paradigm Study Across Reading and Video-Watching." IEEE Healthcom 2026. AUROC 0.936 on video (previous best 0.876) but near chance on reading under leakage-controlled evaluation. https://openreview.net/pdf?id=joNIi36h5r
4. H. Rengan, V. Pangracious, T. AlAkl, M. AbouRehab, S. Makin, L. Noman. "NeuroAssist: ML-Driven MRI Vision for Brain Tumor Analysis." IEEE CAISAIS 2026. https://openreview.net/pdf?id=AFXRsJnb98
5. V. Pangracious, H. Rengan, G. Abdallah, H. Park. "Augmenting Cardiovascular Care with Artificial Intelligence: A Clinical Approach." ACM ICMHI 2026. https://openreview.net/pdf?id=Ec9XCMyEj1
6. H. Rengan*, A.-M. Valiyev*. "An Empirical Analysis of Student Disengagement." IEEE MIT URTC 2026. https://openreview.net/pdf?id=MewYidkYFG
7. A.-M. Valiyev*, H. Rengan*. "Empirical and Behavioral-Simulation Based Evidence for Portfolio-Style Allocation in Student Study Time." IEEE TALE 2026 (IEEE flagship conference). https://openreview.net/pdf?id=jUITZdXksJ
8. A.-M. Valiyev*, H. Rengan*. Same title, working paper at SBP-BRiMS 2026 (Carnegie Mellon). https://sbp-brims.org/2026/proceedings/SBP-BRiMS_2026_paper_21.pdf
9. V. Pangracious, H. Rengan, G. Abdallah, H. Park. "Augmenting Heart Failure Detection with AI: A Clinical Approach." Scientific Reports, in revision. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9776541/v1
10. H. Rengan*, V. Pangracious*, E. Tomar*. "An Investigation of the Limits of EEG-Based Mind-Wandering Detection Across Cognitive Paradigms." Array, under review. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.7570259
11. H. Rengan. Certified orthogonal-polynomial surrogates for ML interpretability (title withheld). TMLR, under review.

## Patent

US Patent 12,737,201, "System and Method of Navigating a Digital Platform with a Customized Virtual Assistant." Sole inventor. Application No. 19/270,080, filed Jul 15, 2025; granted Sep 15, 2026. https://patents.justia.com/patent/12737201

## Ventures

- **EpicxAI** (founder and CEO, 2025–present; https://epicx-ai.com). Patented LLM navigation engine that takes users straight to the page or action they ask for. 20,000+ users, including Royal Sundaram Insurance agents; average search time cut from 8 minutes to 3 seconds.
- **Lock In** (Lock In Enterprises, Inc.; co-founder, Mar 2025–present; https://lockinplanner.com). Study-planning platform for schools. $10k Emergent Ventures grant (55th cohort, 2026: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/06/emergent-ventures-winners-55th-cohort.html); 120,000+ views; 550+ learners served.
- **AlziDetect** (co-founder and technical research lead, 2025–present; https://www.alzidetect.com). Low-cost early Alzheimer's screening from EEG, eye movements and facial tracking, with researchers at Hong Kong PolyU and EdUHK. Partnered with Alpha Clinic to reach 530+ seniors, 165 of whom were referred to GPs. Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition global top 100 of 23,000+ (top 0.1%), Conrad Innovator Award, Diamond Challenge semi-finalist. Featured in TechBullion: https://techbullion.com/alzidetect-pioneering-accessible-cognitive-screening/

## Leadership

- **Dubai Computer Science Society** (co-head with Ali-Mansur Valiyev, Sep 2025–present; https://dubaicssociety.com). Grew Dubai College's CS society into the Dubai CS Society, from 50 to 450+ members, with a first international chapter in Bahrain. Mentored 370+ students around the world through free summer cohorts. Programmes include App a Year (DC CarShare, SpeakUp), a Manim-based CS Knowledge Library and MUGA League, a charity basketball league that raised 50,000+ AED.
- **Mathematics Society and Applied Maths Club, Dubai College** (co-president, Oct 2025–Oct 2026). Founded the DC Integration Bee.
- **Physics Society, Dubai College** (founder and president, Jan 2025–Sep 2026).
- **Sustainability Club, Dubai College** (head of DC CarShare, Sep 2025–Sep 2026). School carpooling app, being prepared for launch.

## Honours and awards

- Blue Ocean Student Entrepreneur Competition: global top 100 of 23,000+ (top 0.1%); 3rd in the Middle East (2026)
- Conrad Challenge: Innovator Award; Conrad China Silver (2026)
- Emergent Ventures: $10k grant for Lock In, 55th cohort (2026)
- American Computer Science League: UAE rank 1 (2025); UAE rank 2 and finalist (2026)
- iCodeJr CodeBattle: UAE national champion (2025): https://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-network/icodejrs-code-battle-2025-celebrates-uaes-brightest-young-coders-in-its-5th-edition
- InnovAIte Hackathon: UAE rank 3 (2026), rank 4 (2025)
- UK Mathematics Trust: top 100 of 240,000+; IMC perfect score; HMO Bronze (2022–25)
- AIME qualifier via AMC 12; AMC 10 school rank 1 and UAE rank 2
- ChallengeME Mathematics: 3rd of 41,000+ in the Middle East (2025)
- ISMTF Senior Competition: 4th individually in Vienna (2026)
- Dubai Math Super League: UAE rank 1 twice
- Mathematician of the Year, Dubai College (2025)
- John Locke Institute: Very High Commendation, Theology (top 1%); Commendation, International Relations (2026)
- Badminton: UAE U19 singles rank 14
- Trinity College London Grade 8 Electronic Keyboard, with Merit (2026)

## Education

Dubai College, Dubai, UAE (Aug 2020–Jul 2027, expected). A-Levels: Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science. SAT 1560 (800 Math, 760 Reading and Writing). AP Calculus AB: 5. GCSEs: 10 subjects, all Grade 9. HPQ: A*. EPQ on explainability checks for CNN classifiers of Parkinson's drawings.