Asif Samir
Hi, I am

Asif Samir (He/Him)

I work with machine intelligence for software engineering

Researcher and Software Engineer building intelligent development tools. Focused on AI-driven Software Engineering, Information Retrieval, and autonomous AI agents for code analysis.

About Me

I am a doctoral researcher at Dalhousie University, building cutting-edge solutions for software bug localization using machine intelligence and information retrieval. My research focuses on leveraging reasoning agents to automate complex debugging tasks.

Previously, I was a founding member of Pipilika, the first Bengali search engine, where I developed core linguistic tools and retrieval pipelines. I combine this technical depth with years of experience as an instructor and academic leader, driving innovation in both engineering and education.

Here are the technologies I work with:
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Large Language Models
  • Software Agents
  • Search and Retrieval

Education

Dalhousie University, Canada
PhD Student in Computer Science
Dalhousie University, Canada
2022 - Present
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh
B.Sc. (Engg.) in Computer Science and Engineering
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh

Experience

Research Assistant - Dalhousie University
Sep 2022 - present
I am currently working as a research assistant at Dalhousie University, focusing on Bug Localization using Information Retrieval and Machine Learning, developing solutions to help localize bugs using modern machine intelligence.
RAISE Lab
Teaching Assistant & Marker - Dalhousie University
Sep 2022 - present
As a Teaching Assistant and Marker at Dalhousie University, I lead lab sessions, design assignments, manage Brightspace course platforms, and coordinate grading for machine learning and software engineering courses (e.g., CSCI 3151, 6515, 6308).
Instructor - Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT), SUST

I was an instructor at the Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT), SUST, where I:

  • Designed and taught undergraduate courses such as Object-Oriented Programming, Data Structures, and Operating Systems.
  • Supervised research and development projects for undergraduate students.
  • Held administrative roles, including serving as a student advisor to guide and support students.
Research and Development Engineer - Pipilika, the first Bengali search engine

I was part of the team behind Pipilika, the first Bengali search engine, where I:

  • Researched and developed tools focused on the Bengali language.
  • Contributed to the development of Pipilika’s indexing and searching modules.
Learn More

Skills

Research & Development
    Software Engineering Source Code Analysis Bug Localization Intelligent Debugging Prompt Engineering Information Retrieval Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Machine Learning (ML)
    Large Language Model (LLM) AI Agents Transformers Deep Learning Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)
Programming Languages
    Python Java C/C++ Swift JavaScript C#
Frameworks & Libraries (ML/NLP)
    PyTorch Hugging Face TensorFlow LangGraph LangChain vLLM Scikit-learn spaCy NLTK Pandas NumPy
Search & Knowledge Graphs
    Elasticsearch Lucene Neo4j Vector Search
Platforms & Tools
    MacOS Linux AWS Compute Canada Docker Git LaTeX
Database
    MySQL SQLite Firebase MongoDB
Web Frameworks
    Django Flask

Personal Projects

Weathered.
An AI-powered iOS app that tracks users and provides personalized weather updates and recommendations using LLMs and AI agents.
AI Agents LLM iOS App Hackathon Group Project
Weathered.
Portfolio Website
Personal portfolio website built with Hugo to showcase projects, skills, and experience.
Hugo Javascript HTML/CSS
Portfolio Website
SnapConvert
A lightweight privacy focused Chrome extension that allows quick image conversion to PDFs, resize them instantly, and even extract images from PDFs.
Chrome Extension JavaScript HTML/CSS
SnapConvert

Recent Publications

CogniGent: Improved Bug Localization with AI Agents Leveraging Hypothesis and Dynamic Cognition
ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award
Asif M. Samir , Mohammad Masudur Rahman
International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC), 2026
Paper Code Presentation
IQLoc: Improving IR-based Bug Localization with Semantics-Driven Query Reduction
Asif M. Samir , Mohammad Masudur Rahman
Journal of Systems and Software (JSS), Elsevier, 2026
Paper Code
BRaIn: Improved IR-based Bug Localization with Intelligent Relevance Feedback
Asif M. Samir , Mohammad Masudur Rahman
International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC), 2025
Paper Code

Honors and Awards

“ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award” at ICSE 2026 event

Apr, 2026

“Runner Up” at Cognizant BrAInstorm AI Hackathon 2025

Nov, 2025

“Best Poster Award” at Consortium for Software Engineering Research (CSER)

May, 2025

ACM SIGSOFT CAPS Award

Mar, 2025

Faculty of Graduate Studies Travel Grant, Dalhousie University

Mar, 2025

“Talent Bursary” - Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii)

Feb, 2025

Doctoral Scholarship - Dalhousie University

Sep, 2022

News and Events

Awarded “ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper” award for our paper CogniGent at ICPC 2026, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Apr, 2026

My PhD proposal paper has been accepted at the Doctoral Symposium, FSE 2026, Montreal, Canada

Mar, 2026

Our journal paper, IQLoc, has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Systems and Software

Mar, 2026

Participated in “SMU DataJam 2026” and our team became finalist among 30 teams!

Mar, 2026

Our Paper, CogniGent, has been accepted at ICPC 2026, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Dec, 2025

Attended “Cognizant BrAInstorm AI Hackathon” and our team became runner up!

Nov, 2025

Attended Consortium for Software Engineering Research (CSER).

May, 2025

Attended Amii Upperbound AI Conference, Edmonton, AB, Canada

May, 2025

Attended and presented paper at ICSE 2025, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Apr, 2025

Passed Research Aptitude Defence (RAD)

Apr, 2025

Certifications

Natural Language Processing - deeplearning.ai

TensorFlow Developer Professional Certificate - deeplearning.ai

Introduction to Agile Development and Scrum Coursera - Coursera

Introduction to Test and Behavior Driven Development - deeplearning.ai

Get in Touch