We're excited to select our first Ambassador of the Month for 2025, and it's none other than Ekaterina Butyugina!

Ekaterina's dedication to using data and AI to solve real-world challenges has not only inspired her students and created meaningful advancement across various fields. From sustainability innovations using to developing AI-powered assistants, her projects not only innovate but also deliver impactful, practical solutions.

About Ekaterina

“As a program manager and instructor, I guide my students in addressing real-world data and AI challenges provided by startups, established companies, and research institutes. Many of these projects have practical outcomes, with solutions being integrated directly into the companies' workflows - a testament to how much demand there is for impactful AI solutions. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of supervising more than 50 projects, including recent collaborations with Engageability, ProEngineers, and HealActively”

Featured Projects

• Sustainability Reports Assessment using LLMs
  • Partner: Engageability
    • Organizations face growing pressure to adopt sustainable practices and report their progress transparently. Engageability partners with both public and private sectors to innovate in this area.
    • This project aimed to enhance the evaluation of sustainability reports in line with global standards like the TCFD framework. By leveraging LLMs, our students developed an AI tool that significantly reduces the time needed to analyze these reports - from an entire day to just a few hours - while maintaining high accuracy and insights. This advancement directly supports a mission to create a more sustainable future.
• ProductTwins: Transforming Product Data Management With AI
  • Partner: ProEngineers
    • ProEngineers is an engineering company specializing in computer-aided design for construction. The ProductTwins project reimagines how engineers interact with product data by creating a digital database for balcony connectors and enabling a search functionality based on similarity of the details.
    • The students built an interactive application that allows engineers to quickly compare products based on input parameters, making it easier to identify suitable alternatives. This innovation empowers engineers to make faster, more informed decisions, reducing the time spent searching for product information.
• A Virtual Assistant for Back Pain Self-Management
  • Partner: HealActively
    • Back pain is a widespread issue that affects productivity and well-being. HealActively’s mission is to address this challenge with a personalized, science-based program delivered via a mobile app.
  • The students developed an AI-powered assistant to guide users through their back pain management journey. This assistant not only answers questions and provides physiotherapy insights but also offers emotional support and helps users build sustainable habits for better back health. The result is a highly interactive and supportive tool that enhances the lives of its users.

Powered by Z by HP

Ekaterina acknowledges HP's pivotal support in enabling her students to excel.

“I am deeply grateful to HP for their invaluable support, providing our students with state-of-the-art Z by HP workstations that enable them to excel in their projects. For instance, students use the HP ZBook Fury 15.6 G8 Mobile Workstation for prototyping. To deliver more complex and computationally intensive models, they rely on the HP Z6 G5 Workstation. These tools have been instrumental in turning ideas into impactful solutions.”

Ekaterina’s dedication to advancing impactful AI solutions and her unwavering commitment to mentoring students truly set her apart as an exceptional Ambassador.