Abhishek - AI Skunkworks + Humanitarians AI Testimonial

Finding a research community that keeps working for you after graduation is rare, especially for international students racing against visa deadlines. This testimonial from Abhishek, a former president of AI Skunkworks at Northeastern University, traces how that community was built, and how it extends into a nonprofit that keeps supporting graduates once their student status ends.

Abhishek describes AI Skunkworks as a student-led AI organization he was part of and eventually led under the guidance of Professor Nik Bear Brown. During his time there, the group grew from roughly 300 members to more than 940, a scale he frames as evidence of something structurally different from a typical student club. The organization gave students from multiple departments a shared environment to research, innovate, and implement real AI projects together, rather than working in isolation on coursework.

Research groups built around real skills

A core part of the model was organizing students into focused research groups around specific technical domains: causal inference, reinforcement learning, Kaggle competitions, and explainable AI. These groups met weekly, which kept projects moving and gave members consistent collaboration rather than sporadic, one-off events. Abhishek credits this structure directly with tangible career outcomes, saying the skills and project experience gained through these groups helped students, including himself, secure part-time and full-time job opportunities.

What made the mentorship different

Abhishek is specific about what set the experience apart from other organizations he encountered in his two and a half years at Northeastern: it was not just about peer connections or technical skill-building, but about direct exposure to how research gets shared publicly. Professor Brown's one-on-one mentorship helped students publish Medium articles, ebooks, and research papers, work that gave members something concrete to point to when applying for jobs or graduate programs, beyond a standard resume line.

The bridge to Humanitarians AI

The testimonial's most practical detail is about what happens after graduation. Humanitarians AI is described as a 501(c)3 nonprofit that lets former AI Skunkworks members, now called fellows, continue doing research, take workshops, and keep learning after they graduate, by contributing to the organization's coding and STEM research work. For international students specifically, this arrangement allows them to pause the OPT clock while they continue building skills and searching for a strong post-graduate job offer, rather than being forced into a rushed job search immediately after finishing school.

Abhishek also addresses a concern that might reasonably worry mentors and research partners: what happens to a project if a fellow moves on. He explains that fellows are expected to give at least a month's notice before transitioning to their next step in life, at which point another AI fellow takes over the project, so momentum on shared research work is not lost.

Key takeaways

• AI Skunkworks grew from about 300 to over 940 members under weekly research groups in causal inference, reinforcement learning, Kaggle, and explainable AI.
• The organization directly contributed to members landing part-time and full-time job opportunities through hands-on project experience.
• Professor Nik Bear Brown's mentorship helped students publish Medium articles, ebooks, and research papers.
• Humanitarians AI, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, lets graduates continue research and workshops after graduation and pause the OPT clock while job searching.
• Fellows give at least a month's notice before transitioning off a project so another fellow can take over.

Who this is for

This testimonial speaks directly to current students considering AI Skunkworks, international students weighing their options after graduation, and potential mentors or donors wondering how continuity is maintained when fellows move on. It is a firsthand account of how Humanitarians AI's fellowship structure works in practice, straight from someone who both led the student organization and became part of its post-graduate continuation.