Mehran Khodabandeh – Machine Learning & AI

Mehran Khodabandeh

Machine learning engineer at Meta, working on safety and alignment of large language models.

Email: mehran.kh.68[@]gmail.com

I am a machine learning engineer at Meta, where I work on the safety and alignment of large language models. My work focuses on improving the reliability of LLMs through better training signals, safety evaluations, and model behavior analysis.

Previously, I co-founded Variational AI, a generative AI drug discovery startup. At Variational AI, we built deep generative models to design novel molecular compounds with the potential to become new medicines, exploring chemical space more efficiently than traditional approaches.

I completed my PhD in Computing Science at Simon Fraser University under Prof. Greg Mori, working on machine learning and computer vision, and spent part of my PhD as a visiting researcher at the National Institute of Informatics in Tokyo. Before that, I earned my B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Iran.

Experience & Education

Machine Learning Engineer

Meta – Superintelligence Lab

Bellevue, WA, USA • 2024 – present
- Work on safety and alignment of large language models.
- Improve reliability via training signals, safety evaluations, and behavior analysis.
Co-founder & ML Researcher

Variational AI

Vancouver, BC, Canada • 2019 – 2024
- Built generative models (VAEs, diffusion) for de novo drug design.
- Developed pipelines to explore chemical space and propose drug-like molecules.
Ph.D., Computing Science

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Research in machine learning and computer vision.
- Supervisor: Prof. Greg Mori.
Internships and visiting research during my PhD:
- Research Intern, Google
  
  Seattle, WA, USA • Fall 2018 • Mentors: Aseem Agarwala, Raviteja Vemulapalli
- Research Intern, D-Wave Systems
  
  Burnaby, BC, Canada • Spring 2018 • Mentors: Arash Vahdat, Mani Ranjbar
- Research Intern, Microsoft
  
  Redmond, WA, USA • Summer 2017 • Mentor: Hamid Vaezi Joze
- Research Intern / Visiting Researcher, NII
  
  National Institute of Informatics, Tokyo, Japan • 2015–2016 • Supervisor: Prof. Shin'ichi Satoh
M.Sc., Computing Science

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, BC, Canada
- Graduate studies in computer vision and machine learning.
B.Sc., Computer Engineering

Sharif University of Technology

Tehran, Iran
- Undergraduate studies in computer engineering and hardware.