Northeastern graduate finds success and comfort in computer codes

Surya Sai Brahmendra Ramoju, a 2024 Northeastern University graduate with a master's degree in data analytics engineering, now works at Amazon's Artificial General Intelligence division in Boston developing AI programs for digital interfaces like Alexa and Nova platforms. He also founded the startup Arch AI Research Laboratory and the social media site Finder @ Social, which is used by over 190 universities across 12 nations and earned him Northeastern's 2024 Alpha Fund Award for Entrepreneurship and the College of Engineering's Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2025.

Codes don’t lie. A Northeastern graduate finds success and comfort from writing computer software. He tooled around with computers as a kid. Now he’s working on next-gen AI. Even as a 12-year-old in his native India, Surya Sai Brahmendra Ramoju was so fascinated by computers that he, one time, cracked his big brother’s Microsoft computer open and dismantled its internal components to see what made it go. He risked a big scolding if his parents saw the mess he made with circuit boards and wires strewn across the floor, and he wasn’t able to make the computer work again. It worked after all his tinkering and he reassembled it with his big brother’s help before the adults saw. But he wanted to learn more. “What drew me in was the idea that there was a language you could learn to actually speak to it, to communicate with it,” said Ramoju, 27. “That felt like magic to me as a kid, and that curiosity never left.” That computer fascination beat out his youthful aspiration to be a pop star, like Justin Bieber, and ultimately it led him from his native coastal city of Visakhapatnam, a port city on the Bay of Bengal, to Northeastern’s Boston campus. In 2024, he earned a master’s degree in data analytics engineering from Northeastern’s College of Engineering. He said that Northeastern was the only university he applied to, after doing a careful study of the courses offered, along with the reputation and rankings. Ramoju now works in Amazon’s Artificial General Intelligence division in Boston, developing AI computer programs designed to operate digital interfaces in the real world, such as the Alexa home aid that, among other things, plays your favorite song on command or tells you the weather forecast. At Amazon, Ramoju also works on various Nova interactive computer platforms that can assist with everything from helping customers write code, create images or videos, or even help writers talk their way out of “writer’s block.” “My job is to be on the front line of getting data of the highest qualities to make systems run better,” Ramoju said, adding that the AI computer systems he works on are almost human-like. He also founded the startup Arch AI Research Laboratory in Boston, which is an independent Artificial Intelligence research lab, and “ Finder @ Social https://finderatsocial.com/welcome ,” a social media site that helps college students safely link and network with others for social and career networking without anonymous users invading the site. Editor’s Picks Marc Meyer, https://damore-mckim.northeastern.edu/people/marc-h-meyer/ a Northeastern professor who serves as a mentor for student innovation teams and entrepreneurs at the university’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business https://damore-mckim.northeastern.edu/ , said that Ramoju presented his social media project to him for advice while he was a student. Meyer said Ramoju was on to something, but the social media project needed a little work. “There was a clear need for a safe friend-finder on the web, but he needed to be more focused,” Meyer said. “He needed to see how he could differentiate it from Facebook or Instagram. That was my criticism of it. But he is extremely quick and competent with software development.” Romaju tweaked his platform to be used by college students instead of anonymous users that other systems allow. It is now used by more than 190 universities across 12 nations, and it helped him earn Northeastern’s 2024 Alpha Fund Award f https://coe.northeastern.edu/news/dae-student-secures-esteemed-alpha-fund-award-pioneering-innovation-with-finder-social/ or Entrepreneurship and later, the College of Engineering’s Outstanding Graduate Student Award in 2025. Along the way, he also had a co-op session at One Autism Health in Boston, where he worked on code for the Boston-based platform and designed an app to help autistic individuals and their caregivers manage care, resources, and find local, autism-friendly service providers. Daniela Ottaiano, a former co-op adviser at Northeastern who now works as an educator coach in the Boston area, remembers Ramoju as a sincere and intensely focused student. “I’m not surprised that he’s doing so well, nothing would surprise me about Surya” she said. “He was very goal-oriented, organized, but was always open to suggestions, advice.” A friend from Northeastern, Ben Brackenwagen, remembers Ramoju as, “One of the most excited people I ever met. At his core, there was a genuine belief in himself. His level of sincerity was rare.” Through all of his successes in the tech world, Ramoju never forgot his love of music. He writes and plays rhythm and blues music, renting studio time nearby. He has 20,000 subscribers on YouTube and a new single, “Salt Water Kisses,” was just released, which is a song he both wrote and performed. But it’s computer programming that still has him captivated. Writing computer programs is like “chasing a very specific kind of freedom,” he said, adding, “The freedom to build something from nothing and watch it become real exactly as I imagined it.”