I graduated from Dartmouth College as a Computer Science and Philosophy major in 2017, and now I work at Facebook. For me, the motive of philosophy is to think out all the views of the universe and of humanity's place in it, and decide what should we do to be better humans. Accordingly, the goal of computer science is implementing things that we want to do to be better humans. My goal is to not forget how closely these two objectives align: it's easy to both get lost in code and lost in thoughts.
I've had some experience coding. I really enjoy doing it. I find myself coding until 4am sometimes. The only other thing that I've done until 4am and enjoyed doing was talking with a friend or two about Grigoryan chants, religion, and anime. And there aren't many friends to do that every weekend... anyways, here are some coding projects I've done, for companies or with smaller groups.
Thesis
(Fall 2016 - Spring 2017)
In my thesis
Using Computational Models to Understand ASD Facial Expression Recognition Patterns, I applied two computer vision techniques to try and classify a dataset of facial expressions: I extracted Gabor Jet features coupled with LDA, and also used a convolutional neural network. I manipulated both of these models to see whether I could verify hypotheses of how individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder see faces.
BoomSync was a product of a 12-hour hackathon with friends. It is an interactive game in which each level teaches people with the knowledge of javascript basics to code asynchronously. There are various levels, starting from executing a function immediately, to creating callbacks, making promises, and also dealing with rejections. We used the React framework (the designs were made by my friend in Illustrator) to create the game.
I built a website for a pair of Dartmouth professors which allows linguists to upload audio/text files and receive further linguistic analysis on the audio, such as vowel formants. We have servers running in Apache and lighttpd. I used python (via the webpy library) to write the static server-side code. I also wrote bash and cron scripts to run the linguistic analysis files for batch processing.
I pulled, cleaned, then stored data from Wonder Workshop's Android and iOS apps into a postgreSQL RDBS. I made queries to track overall application usage across different pivots (os platforms, device sizes, and calculated user demographics) as well as user behavior within the application to help drive content revision/bug fixes in the apps. I created a website written in NodeJS + Typescript to display some of the data. The dashboard is
viewable for those with authorization (i.e. part of the Wonder Workshop team).
I and a few other programmers teamed up with Dartmouth business school students to work on Heartstring, a music-discovery app that unites video and sound. It is an app that allows users to take videos/multiple photos and pick different track clips to best accompany the shots. I implemented the Google Cloud Vision API to guess the facial expressions in the shots and match them to music in the app's existing library. I also initiated the move from housing the music files in-app to storing them in a Firebase database.
I helped build an internal staff website application for Girl Rising that allowed for self-hosted resources and statistics, increasing organization and file-versioning. We housed metadata with MongoDB and stored files in AWS S3 buckets. I worked full-stack on this application, with server written in Scala and client with the AngularJS framework. What I really enjoyed about this experience is that while building the application, I got direct feedback from my coworkers for improvement on features we implement. I even got to use the application myself after collecting demographic research for the company's film launch in India.
As a software developer intern, I designed modules for a web-based application that manages Electronic Health Records for physicians, running on the Microsoft SQL Server and .NET framework. I got full stack development experience, building in C# and using Microsoft Visual Studio for the front end.
I collect lots of quotes! Here are some of the ones I've kept with me over the years.
How wide is the present? How deep? How much of it is yours to keep?
- Kurt Vonnegut,Slaughterhouse-Five
The person who looks forgets that people may look at him.
- Jean Paul Sartre,Baudelaire
Even pain can be confessed, but to confess happiness is to stand naked, delivered to the witness.
- Ayn Rand,The Fountainhead
In an age when we have more choice, more mobility, more information, more opportunity to fulfill ourselves, how is it that people can prefer to be identical?
- John Brunner,The Shockwave Rider
Integrity cannot be purchased. Show up and have the courage to do the right thing.
- Leymah Gbowee
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,The Little Prince
When we live such fragile lives, it's the best way we survive.
- All American Rejects,Dirty Little Secret
To love without knowing how to love wounds the people we love.
- Thích Nhat Hanh
We do not know if love or hatred scorch us.
- Goethe,Faust
I have therefore found it necessary to deny knowledge, in order to make room for faith.
- Immanuel Kant,Critique of Pure Reason
Send me goodies of your own (names of books, movies, mangas, awesome people, anything really) if you want!
I play piano and oboe. In the realm of classical music, Debussy is my man. Stravinsky is making moves on me though. I also listen to a lot of other genres too. Here's an assorted list of old favorites and new loves:
Vampire Weekend
- Modern Vampires of the City,each song, in order
- I think Ur a Contra,Contra
- Walcott,Vampire Weekend
Punch Brothers
- Lots fromWho's Feeling Young Now?esp. Kid A cover and Don't Get Married Without Me
Sufjan Stevens
- He is beautiful. Every single piece is beautiful.
- For more folksy:Seven Swans, Carrie and Lowell
- For more weird:Age of Adz
Portugal. the Man
- Creep in a T-Shirt,Evil Friends
The Sound Defects
- The Iron Horse
- New artist for me!
Nujabes
- Luv(sic) -Yeah I know. Basic.
Local Natives
- They're an old band but I'm just starting to listen.
- Camera Talk, World News, and Airplane,Gorilla Manor
Arcade Fire
- I used to fall asleep toFuneralsans Neighborhood #2. Still hate it.
- Joan of Arc, Reflektor, and Oh Orpheus,Reflektor
Hellogoodbye
- Something You Misplaced, The Thoughts That Give Me the CreepsWould it Kill You?
- Emo rock always has song titles that are too long.
Besides music, I like hiking and climbing. Being from Illinois and going to New Hampshire for school makes one always in awe of mountains. Check out where I've been on Mountain Project!