Boston, MA · 2026
Kurdish-American · Greater Boston

Build. Teach. Run.

I'm Dastan — an AI & Automation Engineer at WilmerHale working on Power Platform, an award-winning educator, and a 50-state half marathoner. Living the American dream the long way around: building software, teaching the next generation, and investing in the country that took me in.

Now
AI & Automation @ WilmerHale
Teaching
Excellence in Teaching '23
Running
23 / 50 half marathons
Investments
Jacksonville · NH · Boston
00 — Who

A Kurdish kid who showed up in 2012 with a backpack and a plan — and got to live the American dream.

Figure out how things work. Then help someone else find their way through them.

I came to the United States in 2012 to finish my education — a bachelor's in software engineering and a master's in IT, both from Southern New Hampshire University. Today I'm an AI & Automation Engineer at WilmerHale, working on Power Platform across one of the largest law firms in the country.

Along the way I taught for six years at SNHU and Simmons University, won the 2023 Excellence in Teaching Award, and started a 50-state half marathon journey that's currently somewhere in the middle. I've also built a small real estate portfolio: investment properties in Jacksonville, Florida and New Hampshire, while I live in Boston.

The American dream isn't a slogan to me — it's a series of receipts. A first apartment, a first classroom, a first race, a first deed. I'm grateful for every one of them, and not done yet.

Currently — Boston, MA · Open to interesting things
Property · Jacksonville, FL

Sunbelt rental

Long-term rental income in a fast-growing Florida metro on the St. Johns River.
Property · New Hampshire

New England base

The state that gave me my degrees and my first running club — still home in the White Mountains.
Home · Boston, MA

Where the work happens

Engineering, teaching, training. Most early mornings start near the Charles River.
01 — Build

AI & Automation — the boring word is "engineering." The truer word is craft.

A decade of shipping software people actually use. Today I focus on Power Platform, AI workflows, and process automation that takes repetitive work off humans' plates.

Now · 2024—

AI & Automation Engineer

WilmerHale · Boston · Power Platform Focus

Building Power Platform applications, Copilot agents, SharePoint integrations, and AI-assisted automation across one of the largest law firms in the U.S. Focus on developer experience, maintainability, and turning fragile manual processes into systems people actually trust.

Power AppsPower AutomateCopilot Studio DataverseSharePointAzureLLMs
2018 — 2024

Power Platform Developer

Southern New Hampshire University

Built internal applications across SNHU — improving UX, integrating PowerApps with external systems, and shipping code that ~135,000 online learners and 3,000 campus students never had to think about.

PowerAppsJS / TSC#REST
Speaking · Microsoft Community

Power Platform, in public.

A 2023 community demo with designer Elizabeth Karam: we took an open-enrollment HR process — the kind everyone dreads — and rebuilt it in Power Apps, Power Automate, and SharePoint into something employees actually wanted to use. Nine minutes. The pattern travels.

9 min · Microsoft Power Platform Community
Ph.D

Next Chapter

Planning doctoral studies in Artificial Intelligence — focused on practical, applied AI for organizational and educational systems, and the question of how teams trust the things they build with LLMs.

→

Cross-Border

Advising on AI strategy and university partnerships between the Kurdistan Region and U.S. institutions — pulling threads home and helping the universities I grew up near plug into a global AI conversation.

02 — Teach

The classroom is where the engineering actually matters.

Six years teaching at SNHU and Simmons University — mostly software engineering, mobile app development, and the fundamentals nobody warns you are hard until you're standing in front of thirty students who need you to make it click.

Student-Nominated
'23

Excellence in Teaching Award

Announced at the SNHU commencement ceremony in front of thousands. The nominees were chosen by students — which is the only kind of recognition that actually matters. The award went to me; the credit goes to everyone who showed up to class and pushed me to be better at the front of the room.
Awarded bySNHU
Year2023
SelectionStudent Vote
SchoolSETA
Dastan is the kind of professor you nominate. Project-based, patient, and genuinely invested in whether you actually understand what you just shipped.
— Paraphrased from Nicholas LeBoeuf '23, BS Computer Science, SNHU

Courses taught

  • Mobile Application Development CS-360
  • Software Engineering Fundamentals SNHU
  • Programming Concepts SNHU
  • Computer Science Topics Simmons U.
SNHU Feature · 2024

My story at SNHU.

The university filmed a short feature on the Excellence in Teaching Award and the journey that led there — from arriving in 2012 to standing on the commencement stage.

Produced by Southern New Hampshire University
03 — Run

Half marathon. Every state. One starting line at a time.

Member of the Greater Manchester Running Club. The goal is 13.1 miles in all 50 states. The reason is simpler than the goal: keep showing up.

23 / 50

Finishing isn't the point. Showing up is.

Every state is a weekend, a flight, a pasta dinner with strangers, a 5:30 alarm, and the same thirteen-point-one miles waiting at the other end. Twenty-three down, twenty-seven to go.

I share photos and recaps along the way. If you want to come run a state with me — the door's open.

Race moments ····· 23 states · 2 marathon majors · the journey so far
Old Port Half
Old Port Half Portland, ME
TD Beach to Beacon 10K
TD Beach to Beacon 10K Cape Elizabeth, ME · '23
San Francisco Marathon
San Francisco Marathon San Francisco, CA
TCS London Marathon
TCS London Marathon London · '25
United Airlines NYC Half
United Airlines NYC Half New York, NY
Marathon de Paris
Marathon de Paris Paris · '24
Madison Mini Half
Madison Mini Half Madison, WI
TCS London Marathon
TCS London Marathon London · '25
Completed Next up Still to come
Follow the journey
#50StatesWithDBanae

Click the hashtag on LinkedIn for every state — race recaps, finish-line photos, the wins and the cramps.

04 — Press

In the news. And the alumni magazine. And the student paper.

A few pieces that have been written about my work, my teaching, and the journey from Kurdistan to Boston.

Kurdistan ChronicleJuly 2024

Empowering Change Through Education

A feature on the journey from Kurdistan to Boston, the Excellence in Teaching Award, and using technology to give back to the home region. Interview by Goran Shakhawan.

Read profile →
SNHU NewsroomJuly 2024

The Student Who Made the Nomination

SNHU's spotlight on graduate Nicholas LeBoeuf — who nominated me for the Excellence in Teaching Award before walking the stage himself. The recognition that started here.

Read article →
The Penmen PressJanuary 2025

Students Speak Up

SNHU's student paper covered the mid-semester staffing changes and the classes affected. The students who showed up to advocate — that's the part of teaching that meant the most to me.

Read article →
SNHU AlumniApril 2019

Global Days of Service

A spring day spent helping the Center for New Americans in Manchester — a community that mirrors my own arrival story. Cleanup, painting, and preparing the space for the kids' theatre camp.

View project →
05 — Interviews

On Kurdish channels. And other featured appearances.

Conversations and interviews — talking about engineering, teaching, running, and the journey from Kurdistan to Boston. Most are in Kurdish; all are linked back to the original source.

Featured

Watch the story.

A short video covering the journey — from Kurdistan, to engineering and teaching in the U.S., to the 50-state half marathon goal. Hosted right here on the site, plays directly in your browser.

Download video ↓
On Kurdish Channels
NRT HDMay 2023

NRT News — Morning Live

Watch on YouTube ↗
Kurdish Channel

Interview · Kurdish Media

Watch on Facebook ↗
Kurdish Channel

Interview · Kurdish Media

Watch on Facebook ↗
Kurdish Channel

Featured Post

View post on Facebook ↗
06 — Read

On the nightstand. And on the shelf I keep coming back to.

What I'm reading right now — and the book I keep recommending no matter how many years pass.

The Jesus
Discoveries
Johnston
The Jesus Discoveries by Jeremiah J. Johnston
Now Reading

The Jesus Discoveries

10 Historic Finds That Bring Us Face-To-Face with Jesus · Jeremiah J. Johnston

An accessible deep-dive into ten archaeological and historical discoveries that reshape how we understand the historical Jesus — written for thoughtful readers who want evidence alongside their faith.

Find on Bookshop.org ↗
Where the
Crawdads
Sing
Owens · 2018
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
All-Time Favorite

Where the Crawdads Sing

A 2018 coming-of-age murder mystery · Delia Owens, American zoologist

Owens — a wildlife biologist by training — writes the marshlands of North Carolina like a scientist who learned the soft trick of also being a poet. It's a coming-of-age story, a murder mystery, and a love letter to staying curious about the natural world. The one I keep recommending.

Find on Bookshop.org ↗
07 — Support

Run with me.

No sponsors, no agency. Just race entries, flights, and Holiday Inn breakfasts adding up. If the journey means something to you, you can chip in below.