Yash Kakde wasn’t familiar with railroad operations before joining the RailTEC program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, but he is now considering a career in the rail industry. After graduating in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering in Pune, India, Kakde worked for one-and-a-half years as a data analyst for the cyber security company, Qualys. He arrived at UIUC in January 2024 to earn a master’s degree in computer science and expects to graduate in May 2025.
“All of my family has a background in computer science; my dad is a computer engineer,” he said. “UIUC is considered one of the best colleges in the U.S. for computer science.”
Kakde admits coming to the United States was overwhelming. “I had never lived alone before and had never been to the U.S. It was initially a bit scary,” he said. “I had to get accustomed to the people, the weather, and driving on the other side of the road. I like cold weather, and I like snow,” he added. “I’m adapting to living on my own. I cook my own meals and cleaning my own place is fun.”
Kakde was actively looking for a job on campus in which he could use his computer science skills when he saw a posting for hourly employees in the RailTEC program. “Everything aligned with what I do here and what RailTEC does,” he said. “But being from a computer science background, I didn’t know anything about railroads.”
RailTEC graduate research assistant Augusto Ramos (2024 MS) taught Kakde everything he needed to know about rail research. “Augusto was a big, big help to me,” Kakde said. “He was like a big brother to me.”
Kakde uses machine learning and computer science in a cross-correlation project being conducted by RailTEC research engineers. “I am pre-processing data before it’s used and deciding what method to use to model track degradation,” he explained. “I implement the method to predict the degradation of the track based on the current condition of the track and come up with the cross correlation to detect when track maintenance happened previously.
“I also am doing a lot of data handling for rail industry companies,” he added. “I’ve met a few industry partners and learned what others are doing with data. Since I was coming into this from a computer science background, I knew nothing about the rail industry, but I’ve learned how big it is,” he said. “Looking at it at that perspective is really interesting to me. The scope of the rail industry is interesting to me. I used train transportation quite a bit in India, but I never looked at railroads this way and now I’m helping to improve them.”
Kakde said he has made friendships and lasting memories being in RailTEC, including playing “football” (soccer) at the ARC and collaborating with other graduate research assistants in their designated room in the Newmark Civil Engineering Lab basement.
“With the support we get from the management team, I’ve never felt lonely and if I have an issue – even a life issue – they’re here to help.” Spending time with Assistant Prof. Riley Edwards, Senior Principal Research Engineer Marcus Dersch and Senior Research Engineer Arthur Lima and their families at social gatherings are “memories I’ll cherish forever,” Kakde said.
“It was always a plan to work here in cyber security, but now I can see the rail industry is a new avenue for me,” he said, adding that he will be interning this summer at CSX in Jacksonville, Florida.