KERNEL 2026
Mathematics · Data Science · Open Source
A 7-day workshop series organized by the KU Mathematics Students' Club (KUMSC) — Sept 28 – Oct 4, plus the Hacktoberfest Hack Day Dhulikhel x KUMSC on Oct 9. Seven learning repositories covering programming fundamentals, Lean 4 proofs, visualization & docs, Linux & Git, AI agent workflows, Docker, and edge deployment. Open to all students at Kathmandu University.
Issued to all participants who complete the workshop. Each certificate has a unique ID and can be verified online.
Students & Partner organisations
Kernel is open to all students at Kathmandu University. It is especially designed for 1st and 2nd year students who want to start building things. We are also looking for organisations who want to work with us.
KU Students — all backgrounds
You do not need a CS background to attend. If you are studying mathematics, data science, engineering, or anything adjacent — this workshop was built for you. Day 1 starts from pure logic, no language required, before you write a line of code.
- [x]One learning repository per day — clone it, follow along, build something.
- [x]Digitally verifiable certificate issued on completion.
- [x]Leave with a deployed project and a GitHub profile that shows real work.
- [x]Tools covered: Python, Lean 4, LaTeX & visualization, Linux & Git workflows, AI agents, Docker, edge — plus the Hacktoberfest Hack Day Dhulikhel x KUMSC on Oct 9.
Partner with KUMSC for Kernel
KUMSC is a student club with over 500 active members at Kathmandu University, one of Nepal's leading universities for mathematics, science, and engineering. We have run Infinity (our annual festival), Codewave, and partnered with MLH. Kernel is how we teach students your tools.
- [x]Your tools and documentation included in learning repositories that every participant clones.
- [x]Direct access to 500+ students in mathematics, data science, and engineering.
- [x]Brand placement on certificates, event materials, and our online presence.
- [x]Proven track record — we have run events with MLH, DoraHacks, and Kaggle.
Week at a Glance
Sept 28 – Oct 4: Day 1 Programming fundamentals (pure logic, no language) → Day 2 Lean 4 proofs → Day 3 Viz & Docs → Day 4 Linux, CLI & Git → Day 5 AI agent workflows → Day 6 Docker → Day 7 Edge deployment + showcase. Then Day 08 on Oct 9 — the Hacktoberfest Hack Day Dhulikhel x KUMSC, open to everyone with its own separate registration. Each day has a corresponding repository that you clone and work through during the session.
Programming 101
Foundation day — programming logic taught without any programming language. Everything is variables, decisions, loops, and functions as pure reasoning — pseudocode and flowcharts, not syntax.
Formal Proofs with Lean 4
Mathematics you can verify with code. An introduction to formal proofs and theorem proving with Lean 4 — writing proofs the computer can check, step by step.
Visualization & Documentation
Communicating work well. Day 3 covers data visualization and technical documentation with LaTeX — turning datasets into clear figures and writing reports that hold up.
Linux, CLI & Git Version Control
The essential developer toolkit. We dive into the terminal environment, command-line utilities, and the complete Git & GitHub workflow to build a professional foundation.
AI-Assisted Coding & Agent Workflows
AI coding tools are already part of how software gets written. Day 5 teaches you how to use them well — not as a crutch, but as a genuine accelerator for maths and data science work.
Docker & Containers
If it only runs on your laptop, it's not done. Day 6 introduces Docker — the standard way to package software so it runs the same everywhere.
Edge Deployment
Day 7 takes the project you containerized on Day 6 and puts it on the internet — deploying to a global edge network without managing a server, plus showcase and closing.
Hacktoberfest Hack Day Dhulikhel x KUMSC
Hacktoberfest Hack Day Dhulikhel x KUMSC. Open to everyone — you don't need to have registered for or attended the workshop. Building starts right from the morning — no separate lecture block, since the first 7 days already cover the fundamentals. Pick a project and build it all day, either with open-weight models running locally or through free API calls to open-source models, whichever fits your hardware.
Workshop Day by Day
Each day has a dedicated learning repository on GitHub. You clone it at the start of the session, follow the structured exercises, and build something real. Below is what each day covers.
Programming 101
Foundation day — programming logic taught without any programming language. Everything is variables, decisions, loops, and functions as pure reasoning — pseudocode and flowcharts, not syntax.
Reason through a problem in plain logic and pseudocode, and trace an algorithm's steps by hand — no programming language required.
- [x]Programming logic without syntax: variables, data types, and operators explained through pseudocode
- [x]Control flow as flowcharts: conditionals (if/else) and loops (for/while) — reasoning before syntax
- [x]Functions and modular thinking: breaking a problem down into steps before writing any code
- [x]Tracing through algorithms by hand: following logic step-by-step the way a computer would
Formal Proofs with Lean 4
Mathematics you can verify with code. An introduction to formal proofs and theorem proving with Lean 4 — writing proofs the computer can check, step by step.
Write and machine-verify your first formal proofs in Lean 4 from the Day 2 repository.
- [x]What formal verification means and why mathematicians care about it
- [x]Lean 4 basics — types, propositions, and proof structure
- [x]Writing your first verified proofs: tactics, rewriting, and induction
- [x]From paper proof to machine-checked proof — workflow with Lake & VS Code
Visualization & Documentation
Communicating work well. Day 3 covers data visualization and technical documentation with LaTeX — turning datasets into clear figures and writing reports that hold up.
Build a visualized report compiled in LaTeX with publication-ready figures.
- [x]Data visualization — turning datasets into clear, publication-ready figures (Python / Power BI)
- [x]LaTeX for mathematical typesetting — equations, figures, tables, and reports
- [x]Using Overleaf and compiling locally with TexLive — templates & workflows
- [x]From notebook to report: reproducible docs and figure pipelines
Linux, CLI & Git Version Control
The essential developer toolkit. We dive into the terminal environment, command-line utilities, and the complete Git & GitHub workflow to build a professional foundation.
Master the command line, manage code with Git, and confidently contribute via GitHub pull requests.
- [x]Linux file system, permissions, and basic bash navigation
- [x]CLI tools and text processing (cd, ls, grep, piping)
- [x]Git essentials: commits, branches, merges, and resolving conflicts
- [x]GitHub workflow: forks, pull requests, code reviews, and remote collaboration
AI-Assisted Coding & Agent Workflows
AI coding tools are already part of how software gets written. Day 5 teaches you how to use them well — not as a crutch, but as a genuine accelerator for maths and data science work.
Work through mathematical problems faster using AI tools and understand where to trust (and not trust) the output.
- [x]Using Gemini Notebooks for interactive mathematical exploration
- [x]OpenCode and AI-assisted code generation for data scripts
- [x]Agent workflows — debugging, refactoring, documentation with AI
- [x]Where AI tools fall short and when to rely on your own understanding
Docker & Containers
If it only runs on your laptop, it's not done. Day 6 introduces Docker — the standard way to package software so it runs the same everywhere.
Containerize a project from the Day 6 repository into a portable Docker image that runs on any machine.
- [x]What containers are and why they matter for reproducible science & software
- [x]Writing Dockerfiles — from simple builds to multi-stage optimization
- [x]Docker Compose for multi-container apps, volumes, env vars, and networking
- [x]Registries, image sharing, and running your app anywhere
Edge Deployment
Day 7 takes the project you containerized on Day 6 and puts it on the internet — deploying to a global edge network without managing a server, plus showcase and closing.
Deploy your containerized project live with a public URL and present it at the closing showcase.
- [x]How edge networks work and why they're different from traditional hosting
- [x]Deploying static sites and apps to edge platforms
- [x]Serverless functions at the edge — how they work and when to use them
- [x]Custom domains, DNS, HTTPS — plus participant showcase and certificate closing
Hacktoberfest Hack Day Dhulikhel x KUMSC
Hacktoberfest Hack Day Dhulikhel x KUMSC. Open to everyone — you don't need to have registered for or attended the workshop. Building starts right from the morning — no separate lecture block, since the first 7 days already cover the fundamentals. Pick a project and build it all day, either with open-weight models running locally or through free API calls to open-source models, whichever fits your hardware.
Event Page ↗Ship a working open-source AI project built during the day, using local open-weight models or free API access — whichever fits your hardware.
- [x]Pick a project and start building immediately: chatbot, RAG app, or CLI tool, using open-source AI
- [x]Two paths, pick by hardware: run open-weight models locally (Ollama, quantized formats, e.g. on a GPU like the GTX 1650), or call open-source models via free APIs (Hugging Face Inference, Groq, OpenRouter) if you're on lighter hardware
- [x]Full-day build block with mentors circulating for debugging and guidance
- [x]Evening: project demos, closing, and optional open-source PR for anyone who wants it counted toward Hacktoberfest
What you will walk out with
Practical experience, a deployed project, a certificate, and a GitHub profile that shows you can actually build things.
Kathmandu University Mathematics Students' Club
Certificate of Completion
Presented to verified participant
For completing the 7-day Kernel 2026 open-source workshop series at Kathmandu University, October 2026.
Digitally verifiable, issued by KUMSC
Every participant who completes the workshop receives an official certificate from the Kathmandu University Mathematics Students' Club. Each certificate carries a unique serial number and can be verified online — something you can link to from a resume or LinkedIn.
A deployed project
By Day 7 you will have containerized a project in Docker and deployed it live on a global edge network. A real URL, not a screenshot.
Tools professionals actually use
Git, Docker, LaTeX, AI coding assistants, Lean 4, Power BI — taught properly, not just mentioned in passing.
First contribution confidence
Most students never contribute to open source because getting started feels intimidating. Our structured workflows remove that barrier for good.
People doing the same thing
Five hundred KUMSC members, the organising team, and anyone the club has worked with — you are joining that network.
About KUMSC
The Kathmandu University Mathematics Students' Club (KUMSC) is a student-run club at Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel. We focus on mathematics, data science, and open-source software — and we run actual events, not just meetups. Infinity is our annual festival. Codewave is its flagship hackathon. Kernel is how we teach students to actually build things.
Students across mathematics, data science, engineering, and adjacent departments.
Events we have run
Hacktoberfest Hack Day Dhulikhel x KUMSC
Full-day Hack Day · Oct 9, 2026
A full-day Hacktoberfest Hack Day hosted at Kathmandu University as part of Kernel 2026 — building and learning with open-source and open-weight AI models, in step with Hacktoberfest's 2026 shift away from raw pull-request counts. Open to everyone, with its own separate registration — no workshop attendance required.
Infinity
Annual event of KUMSC
Infinity is the annual flagship event of KUMSC — a festival of mathematics, data science, and technology featuring competitions, expositions, and community events.
Codewave
Flagship hackathon of Infinity
Codewave is the flagship event of Infinity. An open-source hackathon focused on mathematical computing and real-world software building, hosted on DoraHacks.
Infinity Hackday
Student hackathon, MLH partnered
A 24-hour student hackathon hosted under the Infinity event umbrella, run in partnership with Major League Hacking (MLH).
Margadarshan
Data science competition
A Kaggle-hosted data science competition organized by KUMSC, open to students across the university. Participants work with real datasets and build predictive models.
Partner with Kernel 2026
We are looking for organisations — companies, open-source projects, developer tool providers — who want to reach technically-minded students at Kathmandu University. This is not a logo-on-a-banner deal. Your tools can go directly into the learning repositories every participant works with.
500+ students in Nepal
KUMSC has over 500 active members at Kathmandu University — students studying mathematics, data science, and engineering. Kernel puts your tools in front of the most technically engaged subset of that group.
In the learning repos
Each day has a GitHub repository that participants clone and follow. Partner tools, documentation, and starter code can be included directly in those repos — not a slide in a deck, but something participants actually run.
Certificates & materials
Partner branding on participant certificates, event banners, and our digital channels. The certificates go out to every student who completes the workshop.
Partner with KUMSC for Kernel 2026
We are an active student community with a real track record — Infinity, Codewave (on DoraHacks), Infinity Hackday (MLH), and Margadarshan (Kaggle). Reach out to discuss what a partnership looks like for your organisation.
Email us about partneringRegister & get in touch
Sign up for Kernel 2026 or send us a message if you have questions.
Sign up to attend
Registration is through a Google Form. Open to all students — especially welcome if you are in your 1st or 2nd year at KU. The Hacktoberfest Hack Day on Oct 9 has its own separate registration.
Hack Day on Oct 9 uses MLH — no Google Form. Separate registration required.