Benedict Pepper | CS Portfolio

About Me

Driven by Curiosity, Defined by Code.

Hello! I'm Benedict Pepper, a Computer Science student with a deep passion for exploring the intersection of data analytics and human-centric software. My journey started with simple scripts, but quickly evolved into building complex machine learning models and full-stack applications.

I focus on building software that handles complex data while staying easy to use. My work ranges from quantitative finance research on Bitcoin market cycles and optimizing trading strategies, to health-tech innovation with an AI-powered herbal medicine scanner, and applied machine learning for sign language recognition. I enjoy making technical backend logic accessible through clean, functional interfaces.

STACK

Python

Java

JavaScript

React & Next.js

Machine Learning

Data Analytics

Computer Vision

Flask & Streamlit

Firebase

Experiences

A timeline of my academic, professional, and leadership growth.

Technical Researcher (PKM-KC)

National Student Creativity Program | March 2026 - Present

Collaborating on FitMate, a health-tech innovation project aimed at improving medication safety for Mandarin herbal medicine (TCM). Together with the team, built a working prototype consisting of a Python-based rule-based chatbot and website integrated with the WhatsApp API to help users translate TCM labels and check for potential drug interactions and contraindications.

Quantitative Research Intern (PKL)

Ma Chung University | Feb 2026 - Present

Conducting advanced quantitative research on optimizing CBBI (Colin Talks Crypto Bitcoin Bull Run Index) indicator parameters for Bitcoin portfolio performance. Developing an optimization framework using Python and backtesting to tune buying/selling thresholds and asset allocation, validated through In-Sample and Out-of-Sample testing against 3 Bitcoin halving cycles.

Coding Instructor

Kalam Kudus & Kawai Edulab | Feb 2025 - Mar 2025

Instructed programming to elementary, junior high, and early learner students across two institutions. Delivered hands-on sessions covering Scratch, Python, and Roblox Studio, with a focus on computational thinking and introductory programming concepts.

Treasurer & Event Manager

Informatics Engineering Student Association (HMP) | Oct 2023 - Jun 2025

Managed financial planning and cross-functional teams for major university programs. Coordinated the 'IT School' workshop for 100+ high school students and led the 'Harmony IT' outdoor integration program, successfully optimizing the budget by 53%.

Project Manager & Lead Dev

Academic Projects | 2023 - 2024

Spearheaded full-stack and data science projects, coordinating with team members to deliver high-quality applications like 'Lapor Aman' and various analytical tools under tight deadlines.

Community & Event Volunteer

Various Initiatives | 2023 - Present

Actively engaged in diverse community initiatives. Served on the Health Division for the Ma Chung Festival committee and managed operations for the Smile 3.0 blood donation event. Handled social media and e-commerce platforms for Riverkids Special Education School. Additionally, contributed to campus sports events like the Malang Sportival run and conducted technical workshops for high school students.

Selected Works

FitMate: TCM Safety Scanner screenshot 1

FitMate: TCM Safety Scanner

A Progressive Web App that helps consumers safely navigate Traditional Chinese Medicine products. Users scan TCM labels with their phone camera — the app extracts and translates Mandarin ingredient text via a Gemini multimodal pipeline, then cross-references a validated toxicity database to flag dangerous compounds and contraindications. When warnings are detected, users are bridged to a rule-based WhatsApp chatbot for hallucination-free medical guidance. Built with a Next.js PWA frontend, Python FastAPI backend, and MongoDB knowledge base.

Next.jsFastAPIMongoDBGemini APIWhatsApp APIPWA

Python

View Repo Live Demo

Pneumonia Classifier

A web application demonstrating the EfficientNetB4 pneumonia classification research, featuring Grad-CAM visualization for interpretability. It allows users to upload chest X-rays and receive both class predictions and heatmaps indicating the diagnostic regions the model focused on.

PythonTensorFlowFlaskDeep Learning

Python

View Repo Live Demo

Brain Tumor FCM Segmentation screenshot 1

Brain Tumor FCM Segmentation

An automated medical image analysis tool that applies the Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) soft clustering algorithm to segment brain tumor regions from MRI scans. Built as a Streamlit web application, users can adjust the number of clusters and fuzziness parameter to analyze segmentation results in real time.

PythonStreamlitFCMMedical Imaging

View Repo Live Demo

CBBI Strategy Lab

An interactive Bitcoin backtesting simulator built as the public deliverable of a PKL undergraduate research project. Users run live backtests with fully customizable CBBI threshold and allocation parameters across 14 years of BTC data, powered by a Numba JIT-compiled engine for fast computation. The app also surfaces optimization outcomes from 1.29 million parameter combinations, with interactive equity curves, CBBI signal overlays, sensitivity heatmaps, and export for trade logs and top parameter sets.

PythonStreamlitNumbaBacktestingOn-chain Analytics

Python

View Repo Live Demo

CNN Batik Motifs Detector

This web application uses an EfficientNet B0 CNN model to identify Indonesian Batik motifs from uploaded images. Created for a Digital Image Processing final exam, the app not only classifies the motif but also provides historical and philosophical information about its origin. It features a Streamlit interface with confidence level histograms and statistical tables.

PythonStreamlitCNN (EfficientNet B0)

Jupyter Notebook

View Repo Live Demo

Queueing System Simulator

An interactive simulator for queuing theory models (M/M/1, M/M/c) that visualizes service performance metrics. Users input arrival rates and service rates to see queue length, waiting times, and utilization in real time with chart output.

PythonSimulationData Visualization

Python

View Repo Live Demo

Academic Research

Optimizing Threshold Parameters and Asset Allocation Based on CBBI Indicators for Maximizing Bitcoin Portfolio Performance

Ongoing PKL Research

Keywords: Quantitative Finance, Optimization, Backtesting, On-chain Metrics

This research develops a quantitative optimization framework to find the ideal combination of trading parameters based on historical data. It optimizes buying and selling thresholds and asset allocation using the CBBI indicator to maximize Total Return and Sharpe Ratio while minimizing Maximum Drawdown. The study validates performance through In-Sample and Out-of-Sample testing and involves an interactive simulation dashboard.

View Research Repo

FitMate: An Innovative Mandarin Herbal Medicine Label Scanner

Ongoing PKM-KC Research

Keywords: Health-Tech, Chatbot, Python, WhatsApp API, Patient Safety

An interdisciplinary research project funded under the national Student Creativity Program (PKM-Karsa Cipta). FitMate is an innovative scanner and translation tool for Mandarin herbal medicine (TCM) labels. Accompanied by a website database and WhatsApp chatbot, it aims to prevent medication errors, educate users on side effects and drug interactions, and help screen products containing undisclosed medicinal chemicals (BKO) to improve patient safety.

Download Whitepaper

Optimizing Sign Language Recognition from Sensor Glove Data

Academic Manuscript

Keywords: Applied Intelligence Systems, Python, XGBoost, MLP, Sensor Data

A research project aimed at improving the classification accuracy of sign language numbers using data collected from a sensor-equipped glove. Analyzing a dataset of 45,000 samples across 20 distinct classes and 16 physical sensor features, the study implements XGBoost and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) networks to exceed the baseline 98.9% kNN accuracy and resolve overlapping classes.

Download Manuscript

Comparing CNN Architectures for Pneumonia Classification

Academic Manuscript

Keywords: Deep Learning, EfficientNet, Transfer Learning, Progressive Resizing

A comparative study on training strategies for classifying Bacterial vs. Viral Pneumonia using Pediatric Chest X-Rays. The research demonstrated that fixed-size resolution training outperformed progressive resizing, achieving a final accuracy of 87.14% and an ROC AUC of 0.9431, optimizing computer-aided diagnostic reliability.

Download Manuscript View Research Repo

Revitalizing the River Kids SLB Autism E-Commerce Website

Academic Manuscript

Keywords: UI/UX Design, System Usability Scale (SUS), Web Accessibility

Conducted a participatory UI/UX redesign of an e-commerce platform for special needs students' crafts. Through quantitative evaluation using the System Usability Scale, the intervention yielded a 25.4% improvement (from 57.81 to 72.50), elevating the platform's category from 'Marginal' to 'Good' and improving public visibility.

Download Manuscript

Survey of Language Style Usage in Informatics Engineering Slides

Course Research Report

Benedict
Pepper.

About Me

Driven by Curiosity, Defined by Code.

Experiences

Technical Researcher (PKM-KC)

Quantitative Research Intern (PKL)

Coding Instructor

Treasurer & Event Manager

Project Manager & Lead Dev

Community & Event Volunteer

Selected Works

FitMate: TCM Safety Scanner

Pneumonia Classifier

Brain Tumor FCM Segmentation

CBBI Strategy Lab

CNN Batik Motifs Detector

Queueing System Simulator

Academic Research

Optimizing Threshold Parameters and Asset Allocation Based on CBBI Indicators for Maximizing Bitcoin Portfolio Performance

FitMate: An Innovative Mandarin Herbal Medicine Label Scanner

Optimizing Sign Language Recognition from Sensor Glove Data

Comparing CNN Architectures for Pneumonia Classification

Revitalizing the River Kids SLB Autism E-Commerce Website

Survey of Language Style Usage in Informatics Engineering Slides

Let's Connect

Send a Message

BenedictPepper.

About Me

Driven by Curiosity, Defined by Code.

Experiences

Technical Researcher (PKM-KC)

Quantitative Research Intern (PKL)

Coding Instructor

Treasurer & Event Manager

Project Manager & Lead Dev

Community & Event Volunteer

Selected Works

FitMate: TCM Safety Scanner

Pneumonia Classifier

Brain Tumor FCM Segmentation

CBBI Strategy Lab

CNN Batik Motifs Detector

Queueing System Simulator

Academic Research

Optimizing Threshold Parameters and Asset Allocation Based on CBBI Indicators for Maximizing Bitcoin Portfolio Performance

FitMate: An Innovative Mandarin Herbal Medicine Label Scanner

Optimizing Sign Language Recognition from Sensor Glove Data

Comparing CNN Architectures for Pneumonia Classification

Revitalizing the River Kids SLB Autism E-Commerce Website

Survey of Language Style Usage in Informatics Engineering Slides

Let's Connect

Send a Message

Benedict
Pepper.