[Nomination] Sahdev Zala

[spzala]

Select one:

• I am nominating myself for the PyTorch Ambassador Program.
• I am nominating someone else to become a PyTorch Ambassador.

Please confirm that the nominee meets the following requirements:

• The nominee is 18 years of age or older.
• The nominee agrees to abide by the PyTorch Code of Conduct.
• The nominee agrees to comply with the Linux Foundation Antitrust Policy.
• The nominee meets at least one of the qualifications listed in the PyTorch Ambassador Program Requirements.

Nominee Name

Sahdev Zala

Nominee Email

spzala@us.ibm.com

Nominee's GitHub or GitLab Handle

https://github.com/spzala

(Optional) Organization / Affiliation

IBM

City, State/Province, Country

Raleigh, NC, USA

Your Name

No response

Your Email (Optional)

No response

How has the nominee contributed to PyTorch?

• An active contributor to PyTorch repositories (e.g., commits, PRs, discussions).
• A speaker at PyTorch events or workshops.
• A PyTorch user group organizer or meetup host.
• A researcher or educator using PyTorch in academic work or training.
• An active leader in the PyTorch community with at least one year of experience in:
• Organizing events (virtual/in-person).
• Speaking at AI/ML conferences.
• Mentoring others in PyTorch.
• Creating technical content (e.g., blogs, videos, tutorials).

🏆 How Would the Nominee Contribute as an Ambassador?

I have been contributing to PyTorch for over two years as an open source contributor, as a speaker, as an author, and as a mentor to many new contributors. 

I am a recipient of the "PyTorch Community Awards: PyTorch Ambassador Nominee" badge from Linux Foundation. For my contributions to PyTorch and other ecosystem projects, I am also a recipient of the "PyTorch 2024 Contributors Nominee Award" which was announced at the PyTorch Conference 2024. As part of my contributions to the PyTorch, I have earned first place in Docathon H2 2023. One of my mentees also won a 2nd place in Docathon H2 2024. 

I have provided links to my awards and various talks, articles, and videos on PyTorch, and details on mentoring in the "Additional Information" section. In general, I have over a decade of significant open source contributions in various projects such as PyTorch, Kubernetes, OpenStack, and OASIS TOSCA.

As an PyTorch Ambassador, I will build on top of my ongoing work on PyTorch as below:
- Work with PyTorch Foundation to help where and when needed. For example, travel to conference or events if needed by PyTorch Foundation to talk about PyTorch or help at the Foundation booth (as permitted by my current work).
- Seek speaking opportunities to share PyTorch latest development with the broader open source community through intro and deep dive sessions at various conferences.
- Seek opportunities to run PyTorch contribution sessions or workshop to help onboard new contributors.
- Organize/host a local meetup in Raleigh, NC. I am deeply involved with the thriving open source community in the area for over a decade and I host general open source Meetup every quarter for past seven years.
- Provide help to PyTorch Conferences organizing team as needed e.g. leverage my expertise and experience of serving on the Program Committee for more than ten KubeCons as well as Open Source Summit to review submitted proposals for conference talks.
- Continue to create content on PyTorch (Articles, Videos, etc.)
- Continue contributing to PyTorch upstream code and participate in the community events (e.g. Docathon, PyTorch Conferences etc.)
- Mentor new contributors.

Any additional details you'd like to share?

Details of my talks, videos, blogs, and accomplishments on PyTorch are provided below.

Conference talks on PyTorch:
- Open Source Summit 2024, Seattle, WA: Get to Know PyTorch, A Cutting Edge Open Source Al Framework for Deep Learning - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ca06hCv2ko 
- All Things Open 2024, Raleigh, NC - Democratizing AI Model training: GPU agnostic Deep Learning techniques with PyTorch - https://2024.allthingsopen.org/sessions/2-for-1-democratizing-ai-model-training-gpu-agnostic-deep-learning-techniques-with-pytorch-welcome-to-the-machine
- IBM TechXchange Conference 2024, Las Vegas, NV: Intro and Deep Dive into PyTorch - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/spzala_pytorch-ibmtechxchange-activity-7251618129376681986-z2Pg
- IBM TechXchange Day AI and Automation Webinar, 2024: Introduction to PyTorch - https://ibm-ai-automationday.bemyapp.com/
- All Things Open 2023, Raleigh, NC: GET TO KNOW PYTORCH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ_NmSDZzBU 

Articles/Courses/Videos on PyTorch:
- Tutorial/Course: “Getting Started with Machine Learning with PyTorch” - https://cognitiveclass.ai/courses/getting-started-with-machine-learning-with-pytorch 
- Blog (archived)on IBM Developer on Model Training with PyTorch
- One of my YouTube videos has near 50K views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ40w_2h8kk (Unsolicited public comment from a viewer, “Thanks for providing this video IBM, Sahdev and Brad. It really helped me understand what is PyTorch and how I can use it.”)
- Exploring PyTorch and open source AI tools with Sahdev Zala - https://allthingsopen.org/articles/pytorch-open-source-ai-tools

Recipient of PyTorch Community Awards: PyTorch Ambassador Nominee badge from Linux Foundation, https://www.credly.com/earner/earned/badge/52e8dba0-b695-41ac-9afc-985338814c81

Recipient of the PyTorch 2024 Contributors Nominee award, which was announced at the PyTorch Conference 2024 https://pytorch.org/ecosystem/contributor-awards-2024

Participated in the PyTorch Docathon H1 2023, H2 2023 and H1 2024. Earned first place in Docathon H2 2023 - https://pytorch.org/blog/pytorch-docathon-h2-2023-wrap

I have mentored many contributors (e.g., IBM contributors plus students at the Georgia Institute of Technology). Below is an unsolicited public post on LinkedIn from one of my mentees: “Excited to share that I got a 2nd place in the PyTorch Docathon... A big thanks to my mentor, Sahdev Zala, who pushed me to join the competition.”

PyTorch Conference participation:
I have attended PyTorch Conference 2022, New Orleans, and PyTorch Conference 2024, San Francisco.

[github-actions]

👋 Thank you for submitting a nomination for the PyTorch Ambassador Program! 🎉

Your nomination is currently under review. A team member will evaluate the submission and update the status accordingly.

🔹 Review Process & Next Steps:

1️⃣ Initial Review – The nomination will be reviewed by the team.

2️⃣ Scoring & Selection – Reviewers will assign scores based on eligibility and impact.

3️⃣ One-on-One Review – If shortlisted, the nominee will have a session with the Executive Director.

4️⃣ Final Decision – Selected ambassadors will receive an official invitation. ✅

📖 Program Details: View Documentation

💬 Have questions? Please submit a Feedback or Inquiry and reference this nomination issue number.

Thank you for helping grow the PyTorch community! 🚀

[github-actions]

Please note: This conversation is now locked and limited to PyTorch Foundation team members only to maintain the integrity of the submission process.

[github-actions]

Hello Sahdev Zala,

Congratulations! 🎉 We're excited to inform you that you have been selected as a 2025 PyTorch Ambassador. Your contributions, impact, and commitment to the PyTorch community stood out during the review process.

You should also have received an invitation to join our private program management repository, where onboarding details and next steps will be shared. If you do not see the invite, please comment here and we will assist you.

Best regards,
The PyTorch PMO

[reginankenchor]

Hello Sahdev Zala,

You’ve been invited to join the private Ambassador Program Management Repository:
👉 pytorch-fdn/ambassador-program-management

Once you accept the invitation, you’ll find important information in the discussion thread — including instructions to submit a new issue using the “Ambassador Confirmation & Details” template.

To confirm your participation in the 2025 PyTorch Ambassador Program, please open a new issue using the “Ambassador Confirmation & Details” template here:
👉 Create your confirmation issue

Completing this step will confirm your role and get you ready for onboarding 🚀

As part of onboarding, we’ll be hosting a Kick-Off Call where we’ll share important program details, expectations, and next steps:

📅 Date: Monday, September 8
🕒 Time: 5:30 PM CEST / 8:30 AM PDT

Once you confirm your role, you will also receive a calendar invite with the meeting link.

We’re truly excited to welcome you into the PyTorch Ambassador Program and look forward to the impact you’ll continue to make in the community.

Best regards,
The PyTorch PMO