Studio Ikostra is the digital brand of Nikita Ostrander, a software developer and hobbyist photographer currently based in Portland, Oregon.

I have been mucking about in the internals of computers since my childhood years. After spending several years exploring my artistic side, I eventually, discovered that what I really wanted to do is to become a software engineer. I was inspired by the developments in machine learning and computational intelligence that made headlines in the first half of the 2010’s, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of building that future.

To further that goal, I re-enrolled in school. I went to community college part-time at first (while working full-time to pay the bills). Eventually I transferred to Washington State University. to complete my BS degree. WSU was a tremendous experience and I learned a great deal as I pursued my computer science degree with a specialization in data science and machine learning.

After graduation, I began working in the energy industry, working to build a smarter power grid. I have worked in this industry since 2021 and I am happy that I can say my professional work has a positive impact on our planet.