# NVIDIA Certification Champions Join the community of experts who have contributed to the development of our certification program. ## Become a Champion Interested in being part of the NVIDIA Certification Champions team? We’re currently looking for experts in the areas of advanced networking, AI infrastructure, accelerated data science, gen AI, and OpenUSD to help with certification exam creation and beta testing. [Apply Here](https://forms.gle/yujZeqh2dhdcJW3B7) ## Program Overview Our Champions program brings together professionals from diverse backgrounds, including industry experts, educators, and technology enthusiasts. These individuals are chosen based on their deep knowledge of NVIDIA technologies, their experience in the field, and their commitment to fostering learning and career growth. ## Why Do We Have a Champion Program? NVIDIA Certification Champions represent a community of dedicated professionals who contribute to the development and success of NVIDIA’s certification program. They play a vital role in upholding the high standards associated with NVIDIA’s certifications. By harnessing  the collective expertise of these champions, NVIDIA ensures that its certification program remains relevant, challenging, and respected within the industry. Their commitment and knowledge help maintain NVIDIA certifications as a valuable benchmark for professionals in the AI and accelerated computing fields. ## How to Contribute Champions can contribute to the certification program in several ways: * Exam Design: Champions assist in creating and reviewing certification exams, ensuring they accurately assess candidates’ skills and knowledge. * Exam Beta Testing: Champions volunteer to take beta versions of our exams to ensure they are technically accurate and relevant to real-life workplace situations. The results from these beta exams provide useful information to evaluate the quality of the exam and its questions. * Community Engagement: Champions function as ambassadors for the program, sharing their expertise and experiences with aspiring professionals. * Feedback Loop: Champions offer insights from their real-world experiences, helping NVIDIA continually refine and improve the certification process. ## Benefits of Being a Champion Participation in the Certification Champions program offers these benefits: * Early Access: As beta testers, Champions receive first access to our certification exams and can be some of the first individuals to be certified in new areas. * Networking Opportunities: The program facilitates connections with other experts in the field, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing. * Recognition: Champions gain recognition for their expertise and contributions to the NVIDIA ecosystem. ## Eligibility Becoming a Certification Champion requires expertise in NVIDIA technologies. In selecting Champions, we look for the following: * Experience in projects that involve NVIDIA technologies and platforms * Experience teaching AI and related technologies * Completing NVIDIA certification ## View Champions ### Adeola Adesoba --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models), Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science **Interesting Project:** Developed Video Analytics AI Agent utilizing a framework for multimodal agentic RAG on first-person video to enhance accessibility for visually impaired users, integrating NVIDIA NeMo Agent Toolkit. --- **Agentic AI Solutions Architect NVIDIA New York, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional Agentic AI Exam ### Christian López Barrón --- **Areas of Expertise:** Simulation, Modeling, Design, OpenUSD **Interesting Project:** Coming into Animal Logic and working with R&D teams to integrate OpenUSD with mature in-house technologies. --- **Core Assets Technical Director Supervisor Netflix Animation Studios Sydney, Australia** --- **Contributions:** Professional: OpenUSD Development Exam ### Terrell Bennett --- **Areas of Expertise:** NVIDIA DGX, Base Command Manager --- **Technical Training Content Developer NVIDIA  Texas, USA** --- **Contributions:** AI Operations Professional and AI Infrastructure Professional Exams ### Levi Biasco --- **Areas of Expertise:** CG Pipelines, CG Tools, Game Development **Interesting Project:** Developing stepped animation, mesh sharpening, and vegetation pipelines for "Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish" --- **Procedural Technical Artist, Santa Monica Studio California, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: OpenUSD Development Exam ### Gergő Bogacsovics --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models), Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science **Interesting Project:** Senior data engineer and senior lecturer specializing in the areas of deep learning, computer vision, and reinforcement learning. --- **Assistant Professor, University of Debrecen Debrecen, Hungary** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Agentic AI and Gen AI LLM Exams ### Burcin Bozkaya --- **Areas of Expertise:** LLMs, Gen AI, RAG, Behavioral Analytics **Interesting Project:** Helping partners build gen AI, LLM, RAG, agentic, and optimization solutions --- **Senior Developer Relations Manager NVIDIA Florida, USA** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM & MM Associate Exams ### Jim Brinksma --- **Areas of Expertise:** SaaS, AI, ML, Networking **Interesting Project:** Multi-cloud GPUaaS orchestration --- **SVP Software and Solutions LightRiver Software New York, USA** --- **Contributions:** AI Infrastructure & Operations Associate Exam,  AI Operations, AI Infrastructure and AI Networking Professional Exams ### Brad Christian --- **Areas of Expertise:** Data Center Architecture, AI, Cloud Enterprise Solutions, Process Design, and FinOps --- **Chief Enterprise Architect for DC and AI Computacenter Texas, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: AI Operations and Professional: AI Infrastructure Exams ### Allison Ding --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI, AI Development, Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science, NLP, LLM, Machine Learning **Interesting Project:** Developer Advocate for GPU-accelerated AI APIs, libraries, and tools at NVIDIA, specializing in Large Language Models (LLMs) and cutting-edge data science --- **Senior Developer Advocate - Data Science NVIDIA California, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Accelerated Data Science Exam ### Michael Fattu --- **Areas of Expertise:** Data Science, Computer Vision, LLMs **Interesting Project:** I helped in deployment of the top 2 systems on the Top 500 Supercomputers in parallel before the Nvidia/Mellaonx merger. --- **Senior Field Applications Engineer NVIDIA  California, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: AI Infrastructure Exam ### Michael Fongemie --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Infrastructure & Operations, DGX, Solution Selling **Interesting Project:** Developing AI platform solutions, assessments, and workshops for internal and external customers --- **Senior Solution Architect Insight Florida, USA** --- **Contributions:** AI Infrastructure and Operations Associate Exam, AI Infrastructure Professional Exam ### Andras Hajdu --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Development, Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science **Interesting Project:** AI healthcare projects including diagnostic support, automated screening, image analysis, clinical text extraction, and training tools for cytology, dermatology, ophthalmology, and implant assessment. --- **Dean, Full Professor, NVIDIA Ambassador University of Debrecen Debrecen, Hungary** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Agentic AI and Professional: Gen AI LLMs Exams ### Igor Isupov --- **Areas of Expertise:** GenAI, AI, ML, OVE, DGX/HGX **Interesting Project:** Giving developers access to the latest and greatest of NVIDIA Hardware and Software and early access to SDKs --- **Sr. Data Scientist, NVIDIA Alliance Technical Lead SoftServe Lviv, Ukraine** --- **Contributions:** Associate: Gen AI LLM, Associate: Gen AI Multimodal ### Dr. Manal Jalloul --- **Areas of Expertise:** Gen AI, Accelerated Computing, Data Science **Interesting Project:** Develop DL solutions in automotive, pharma, smart cities, and more --- **Founder and CEO AI Lab Beirut, Lebanon** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM & MM Associate Exams, Accelerated Data Science Professional Exam ### Dr. Laszlo Kovacs --- **Areas of Expertise:** DL and AI in medical and automotive industries **Interesting Project:** AI/ML-based product development, and real-time product-related data analysis solutions to support production and quality steering --- **Research Scientist, Assistant Professor BMW and University of Debrecen Debrecen, Hungary** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM & MM Associate, Accelerated Data Science Professional Exams ### Vadim Kudlay --- **Areas of Expertise:** Deep Learning, Gen AI **Interesting Project:** Mimic Keras API using NumPy to implement MNIST classifier --- **Senior Content Developer, DLI NVIDIA Louisiana, USA** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM & Gen AI MM Associate Exams ### Kevin Lee --- **Areas of Expertise:** Data Science, Computer Vision, LLMs **Interesting Project:** AI agents --- **Senior Content Developer, DLI NVIDIA California, USA** --- **Contributions:** Accelerated Data Science Professional Exam ### Kaikai Liu --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Development, Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science --- **Associate Professor San Jose State University California, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Gen AI LLMs Exam ### Brian McBrayer --- **Areas of Expertise:** DGX Cloud, Gen AI, Infrastructure, Engineering **Interesting Project:** Contribute code back to the OSS agentic communities --- **Solutions Architect in Generative AI NVIDIA North Carolina, USA** --- **Contributions:** Accelerated Data Science Professional Exam ### Shawn McCarthy --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models) **Interesting Project:** Official recognition for specialized expertise in AI + Ethics + Insurance Instructor for Web API Technologies with focus on cloud deployment, DevSecOps, and test automation. --- **Graduate Instructor University of Colorado Denver Colorado, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Agentic AI Exam ### Veer Mehta --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Infrastructure, AI Operations **Interesting Project:** Designed and built a large scale virtualized infrastructure for AI involving vGPU around VMware and Nutanix ecosystems. --- **Senior Solutions Architect in Generative AI NVIDIA California, USA** --- **Contributions:** AI Infrastructure and Operations Associate Exam, AI Infrastructure Professional Exam, AI Operations Exam ### Mariofanna Milanova --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models), Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science **Interesting Project:** Developed predictive models that combine computer vision with health data analytics, aiming to prevent falls before they occur rather than simply detecting them afterward. --- **Professor of Computer Science University of Arkansas Little Rock Arkansas, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Agentic AI and Professional: Gen AI LLMs Exams ### Mohammad (Sina) Mostafanejad --- **Areas of Expertise:** Accelerated Computing, AI Development, Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science, Simulation, Modeling, Design, Molecular Science, Computational Chemistry **Interesting Project:** Investigating LLM architecture, preprocessing, and randomness impacts on molecular property prediction. So far, we have managed to capture, quantify, and unravel new concepts in pertinent literature and explain discrepancies that were documented during the past five years. --- **Software Scientist,  Virginia Tech Virginia, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Gen AI LLMs Exam ### Christian Munley --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Developer, Generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models --- **Solutions Architect NVIDIA California, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Agentic AI Exam ### Ernest Namdar --- **Areas of Expertise:** Machine Learning, Medical Imaging **Interesting Project:** Pediatric brain cancer molecular subtype identification --- **Senior Data Analyst The Hospital for Sick Children Ontario, Canada** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM and Gen AI MM Associate Exams, Accelerated Data Science Professional Exam ### Paul A. Nussbaum, Ph.D. --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models), Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning **Interesting Project:** Developed the "Chef's Buddy"—a culinary agentic AI solution that demonstrates the technology by showing our culinary students (and the student body in general) how to use agentic AI. --- **Faculty ECPI University Virgina, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional Agentic AI Exam ### Eric Phan --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI, ML, Data Science, and Robotics **Interesting Project:** Accelerating workflows with a single line of code --- **System Software Engineer NVIDIA California, USA** --- **Contributions:** Accelerated Data Science Professional Exam ### Ranjit Rajan --- **Areas of Expertise:** Data Processing, DL, Search, and Gen AI **Interesting Project:** Design and build accelerated data processing and gen AI solutions --- **Senior Solutions Architect  NVIDIA Washington, USA** --- **Contributions:** Accelerated Data Science Professional Exam ### Mohammad Raza --- **Areas of Expertise:** Gen AI, Computer Vision, ML **Interesting Project:** Design and implement cutting-edge gen AI solutions for enterprise clients --- **Senior Solutions Architect NVIDIA Illinois, USA** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM & Gen AI MM Associate Exams ### Jack Schultz --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Operations (administration, configuration, data center ops, troubleshooting), AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models), Data Science, Agentic AI **Interesting Project:** Designing agentic applications, building dynamic evaluations and automating optimizations for self‑improving agent architectures in medical‑terminology OSS and digital public goods. --- **AI Solutions Architect, Stepwise.AI Boston, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Gen AI LLMs and Professional: Agentic AI Exams ### Paolo Emilio Selva --- **Areas of Expertise:** Software Engineering for Visual Effects and Virtual Production --- **Principal Software Engineer 880 Productions Wellington, New Zealand** --- **Contributions:** Professional: OpenUSD Development Exam ### Shahar Siegman --- **Areas of Expertise:** NVIDIA AI Software Stack **Interesting Project:** Educate NVIDIA’s largest customers on how to utilize our AI software stack --- **Content Creator and Instructor, NVIDIA Academy NVIDIA Tel Aviv, Israel** --- **Contributions:** Accelerated Data Science Professional Exam ### Rodion Shkrobot --- **Areas of Expertise:** DevOps, Software Engineering and Architecture **Interesting Project:** Creating new CSPs, designing government AI-enabled security systems --- **Cloud Architect SoftServe Inc. Kiev, Ukraine** --- **Contributions:** AI Infrastructure & Operations Associate, AI Operations, AI Infrastructure Professional Exams ### Ryan Simpson --- **Areas of Expertise:** Accelerated Computing (NVIDIA CUDA, C++, Python), AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models), Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science **Interesting Project:** Acted as the principal architect for a ~1000 GPU distributed AI infrastructure project within the public sector. This project allowed unprecedented image analytics for the customer while saving significant infrastructure costs by adopting accelerated computing. --- **Chief Technologist, Public Sector Partner NVIDIA Washington DC, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Agentic AI and Professional: Gen AI LLMs Exams ### Erick Sperandio --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI, Deep Learning, Gen AI, Sustainability, Multimodal Data, Foundation Models, Quantum AI **Interesting Project:** Seeking to develop more sustainable AI solutions --- **Associate Professor, University of Surrey Associate Professor, SENAI CIMATEC Surrey, England** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM and Gen AI MM Associate Exams ### Max Steele --- **Areas of Expertise:** DGX, Base Command Manager, HGX, NVIDIA AI Enterprise --- **Senior Technical Instructor in AI and Data Center NVIDIA Texas, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: AI Operations and Professional: AI Infrastructure Exams ### Roman Syrotynskyi --- **Areas of Expertise:** Computer Networking **Interesting Project:** Operational support of corporate networking --- **Network Infrastructure Project Manager SoftServe Inc. Kyiv, Ukraine** --- **Contributions:** AI Networking Professional Exam ### David Taubenheim --- **Areas of Expertise:** Accelerated Data Science, Exploratory Data Analysis, LLM-Enabled System Development **Interesting Project:** Use LLMs to semantically search records to find new business opportunities --- **Senior Solutions Engineer NVIDIA Texas, USA** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM & Gen AI MM Associate Exams ### Jesse Tetreault --- **Areas of Expertise:** Accelerated Computing, AI Infrastructure, AI Development, Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science, Medical Image Analysis **Interesting Project:** Developed MRI lesion detection algorithms that have been deployed in clinical trials and in research hospitals across the world. --- **Sr. Solutions Architect, Healthcare, NVIDIA Virginia, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Gen AI LLMs Exam ### Behzad Torkian --- **Areas of Expertise:** Accelerated Computing (NVIDIA CUDA, C++, Python), AI Infrastructure (data center, servers, networking, storage), AI Operations (administration, configuration, data center ops, troubleshooting), AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models), Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Data Science, Simulation, Modeling, Design **Interesting Project:** Developing multi-agent LLM systems that automate complex expert-driven workflows at enterprise scale. --- **Principal Research Scientist University of South Carolina South Carolina, USA** --- **Contributions:** Professional: Agentic AI and Professional: Gen AI LLMs Exams ### Yurii Turenok --- **Areas of Expertise:** LAN and Wireless Networks **Interesting Project:** Building a high-performance data center network; designing a WLAN network servicing 10,000 clients --- **Network Administrator SoftServe Kyiv, Ukraine** --- **Contributions:** AI Networking Professional Exam ### Dr. Ihor Vakulchyk --- **Areas of Expertise:** Machine Learning Operations **Interesting Project:** Design and implementation of the operations platform within an NVIDIA stack-based AI Factory --- **Machine Learning Operations Engineer Match** **British Columbia, Canada** --- **Contributions:** Accelerated Data Science Professional Exam ### Vahe Vardanyan --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Developer (generative AI, LLMs, RAGs, diffusion models), Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, Simulation, Modeling, Design **Interesting Project:** Worked on a synthetic data generation pipeline for computer vision training based on UE5, Unity, and Houdini. --- **Venture Scientist Montreal, Quebec, Canada** --- **Contributions:** Professional Gen AI LLMs Exam ### Gemma van der Voorst --- **Areas of Expertise:** Computer Networking, Virtualization **Interesting Project:** Design and build virtualized infrastructures for mission-critical workloads with HPC and vGPUs --- **IT Specialist VMware Groningen, Netherlands** --- **Contributions:** AI Infrastructure & Operations Associate, AI Operations, AI Infrastructure, AI Networking Professional Exam ### Domen Verber --- **Areas of Expertise:** HPC, AI, Embedded Systems, Computer Languages **Interesting Project:** Intelligent real-time monitoring of patient’s vital signs with ML-based evaluation --- **Assistant Professor University of Maribor  Slovenia** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM & Gen AI MM Associate Exams ### Bohdan Yurov --- **Areas of Expertise:** AI Infrastructure, AI Operations, AI Development, Computer Vision, Video Analytics, Deep Learning, NVIDIA DGX **Interesting Project:** Country-wide video analytic system for automatic threat prevention. --- **Cloud Architect   SoftServe, Inc. Kyiv, Ukraine** --- **Contributions:** Professional: AI Operations, Professional: AI Infrastructure, Professional: Gen AI LLM Exams ### Mourad Zerai --- **Areas of Expertise:** Deep Learning, Generative AI, Reinforcement Learning **Interesting Project:** Developed multimodal RAG-based chatbots using only open-source resources and local LLMs --- **Associate Professor and Head of AI Program ESPRIT School of Engineering Tunis, Tunisia** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM Associate Exam ### Xiaowei Zhao --- **Areas of Expertise:** Neural Network-Based Language Models, Deep Learning, and Conversational AI **Interesting Project:** Design and build virtualized infrastructures for mission-critical workloads with HPC and vGPUs --- **Professor of Psychology Emmanuel College Massachusetts, USA** --- **Contributions:** Gen AI LLM & Gen AI MM Associate Exams Load More ## Next Steps ### Questions? Contact us if you have questions about training or certification, whether it’s for yourself or your team. [Contact Us](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/learn/organizations/contact-us.md) #### Stay Informed Sign up for training news, announcements, and more from NVIDIA. You can unsubscribe at any time. [Get the Latest News](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/training/dli-newsletter.md) #### Become a Certification Champion Interested in becoming a certification champion? [Apply Here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/17I07ZsHrEWdUQ9E-uNJ15SvHsoIsYH0YpnV6b28BHb4/viewform?edit_requested=true)