ABOUT ME
I am a junior at Columbia University studying Operations Research, with a minor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I love working at the intersection between technology and people through the lens of data, optimization, and management. Over the past few years, I've exposed myself to creative problem-solving across a variety of fields including defense, music, infrastructure, and cryptoassets. Moving forward, I hope to continue my exploration in developing diverse solutions for diverse users.
TECHNICAL SKILLS: Python, R, SQL, C, C++, Java, HTML/CSS, Javascript, MATLAB, Bash, Git, Tableau, Excel, Adobe Suite
OTHER SKILLS: Human-Centered Design, UI/UX, Strategic Planning, Product Design, Agile, Project Management
WORK
Based in NYC
Dec. 2017 - Present
View sample case studies below, more coming soon.
I manage projects for clients across a variety of industries. As of Fall 2018, I have expanded my operations to multiple people (other independent contractors), with continual growth planned for 2019. Below are some project highlights!
Operations Intern
June 2018 - Aug. 2018
Wachsman is a leading professional services agency in the blockchain industry.
Royalties & Licensing Intern
Sept. 2017 - Dec. 2017
Shapiro Bernstein is one of the oldest independent music publishers in the United States.
I proposed, developed, and implemented software to increase operational efficiency. Programs include:
In addition, I assisted in general income organizing and office support.
Software Engineering Intern
June 2017 - Aug. 2017
Advanced Acoustic Concepts is a naval defense contractor owned by DRS/Thales.
I worked in a team of four to program a prototype to automate tactical simulation data collection, eliminating the need for people to be present when simulations are run.
By the end of the summer, the prototype was deemed successful and viable, moving to a partial implementation phase.
Administrative Assistant
Sept. 2016 - April 2018
The Columbia Graduate School of Chemistry Office handles all operations and administration related to chemistry graduate students at Columbia University.
As an administrative assistant, I perform a wide range of administrative and office support activities including creating large-scale digital databases and organizing student materials to facilitate efficient running of the office.
Research Intern
July 2015 - Aug. 2015
The Forsyth Institute is a leader in oral and systemic disease research. I proposed and conducted an original experiment involving C. elegans and M. smegmatis, a mycobacterium closely related to M. tuberculosis, with a focus on studying how C. elegans impact the unique cell wall and mycolic acid lattice of M. smegmatis.
My work eventually held a provisional patent.
TEAMS
Co-Founder, Executive Board
Nov 2018 - Present
LionBase works to foster inclusivity at the intersection of data science and product development by connecting students and companies through impactful data products.
This is a bit of passion project of mine that is an extension of my freelance data product experience. I hope to give more students the opportunity to work with companies and to build a community of data scientists and product developers at Columbia.
President
May 2018 - Present
The Columbia Vietnamese Students Association works to foster a community for the Vietnamese and Vietnamese-American community at Columbia University, and also on sharing Vietnamese culture within NYC.
As president, I oversee and coordinate all of our events, projects, and initiatives. Additionally, I handle communications with the university. I also made the VSA website.
Board Member
Oct. 2018 - Present
The Columbia Data Science Society (CDSS) is an interdisciplinary society that promotes data science across Columbia University and the New York City community.
As a board member, I help organize and execute events related to data science.
Morocco Program Manager
Oct. 2017 - Oct. 2018
Engineers Without Borders is an organization consisting of various collegiate and professional chapters that work on designing and implementing infrastructural solutions to developing communities. As Columbia's Engineers Without Borders-Morocco program manager, my responsibility was to coordinate and direct the efforts of all EWB-Morocco project teams:
I also coordinated with:
The ultimate goal of the EWB-Morocco program is to build a sustainable bridge and extensive clean water distribution system to the Bizdad region of Essasouria. All work must meet a strict quality standard.
Recruitment Liaison
Sept. 2018 - Present
Muse House is Columbia University's music-focused residence community, new this year. As the Muse House recruitment liaison, I am responsible for handling all events and communications related to ensuring the sustainability of the house.
Studio Member
Sept. 2016 - Apr. 2018
The Barnard-Columbia Design for America is a consulting club that works with local non-profits in NYC to develop human-centered design solutions to pain points within each organization. Past work I've done through DFA includes:
Micro-G Outreach Lead & Design Member
Sept. 2016 - June 2017
As a part of the Micro-G NeXT team, I worked on a small team to develop a subsurface sampling device for asteroid use. Given a set of design criteria, the device was expected to be able to collect both regolith (similar to sand/gravel) and rock core samples while maintaining stratification.
After design approval, the device was manufactured and presented at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab in June 2017. There, it was the most successful device at collecting regolith.
I also acted as the team's outreach lead, organizing several aerospace workshops and presentations within NYC.
Studio Engineer
Jan. 2017 - Present
CU Records is a student-run recording studio at Columbia whose mission is to provide a free and open studio for local artists. As one of the earliest studio engineers for CU records, I work on maintaining and improving the studio. I also work with musicians, filmmakers, and other artists to make high quality recordings, and to mix and master songs.
PROJECTS
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT
Data Product
A modular crypto asset exploration application to iterate trading strategies, portfolio optimizations, risk mitigations, client pricing strategies, and other data insights
This is a project I developed to better understand how to use crypto asset portoflios.
The software application contains two main sections: a General section and a Playground section. The General section is designed for the business person. It simply shows visuals and simplified outputs that are immediately relevant to financial decisions. The Playground section is designed for the researcher. It provides granular inputs and a wide variety of modular mathematical methods and backtesting. Both sections are completely interactive, allowing any user to quickly and easily experiment as desired.
During the development of this tool, I was able to effectively advise people on key financial decisions related to crypto assets.
Data Product
Fast, robust, no-frills data management for licensing companies
This is a project I initially developed as a consultant for Shapiro, Bersntein, & Co, a music publisher. As an over 100 year old company, their song data was expansive to the point of intense inefficiency. A single search could take several minutes to process.
I developed a new data management system and database for the company to use. The software allowed Shapiro Bernstein to reorganize their data, sync data between files and the database, add metadata easily and quickly, and to use more flexible and in-depth searching. A single search went from taking several minutes to happening instantaneously.
This is a modular solution that can apply to similar companies.
Infrastructure Product
The world's first high-density polymer simple suspension footbridge
This is one of the two projects I manage for Engineers Without Borders. The community of Ait Bayoud is separated from a set of schools, markets, clinics, and hospitals by a ravine which floods during the rainy season. The goal of the bridge was to provide a way to traverse the ravine during this season, opening up the community to resources and education.
One of the challenges we faced was the inability to set up a traditional steel bridge. Instead, we worked with a new material that was cheaper and ultimately more effective.
Infrastructure Product
A 7 km potable water pipeline
When Engineers Without Borders was working on the Ait Bayoud bridge, two remote dwars in the area -- Ilguiloda and Izgouaren -- reached out to us for help on increasing water accessibility. Currently, women and children must walk for hours each day back and forth to retrieve water. In 2015, a well was drilled on the outskirts of the region (the only area with a sufficient aquifer). Now, we are working on powering the system and on implementing a 7 km pipeline.
Aerospace Product
A subsurface sampling device for asteroids, presented to NASA
The Lion Drill was designed and manufactured as a part of the NASA Micro-G NExT competition. The challenge was to create a single mechanical device that could collect samples from different layers of an asteroid while maintaining stratification. It was tested at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab.
Education Product
Original engineering curricula and a public MakerSpace for Lexington, MA
I designed new engineering curricula and teacher training materials for the Lexington, MA public school system, culminating in a $10,000 initiative to transition the curricula to all elementary schools. After a successful pilot year at 1/3 of the elementary schools in Lexington, $20,000 was added to its funding, and I transitioned the project to a new team. Today, the curriculum has expanded and is fully integrated across all six Lexington elementary public school systems, impacting several thousand students.
Additionally, I established a $5,000 MakerSpace called "OpenSource" for students and faculty to create whatever, whenever. After a successful pilot year, $10,000 was added to funding, and I transitioned the project to a new team.
Magazine Product
A publication focusing on sharing Southeast Asian and Southeast Asian American voices.
unSEAled is a zine publication I founded as president of the Vietnamese Students Association alongside numerous other Southeast Asian groups at Columbia University. There is both a print and online version, featuring art, music, writing, film, photography, and more.
Web Development Product
A custom website for the Columbia Vietnamese Students Association
When I joined the Vietnamese Students Association in 2017, the overall format of the VSA website had not been updated since 2008, although information in it could still be modified. I decided to make a completely new website that was welcoming and friendly -- much like our community!
RESEARCH PROJECTS
What Wikipedia data reveals about society
The Pantheon dataset is curated by MIT, and contains information about historical figures from around the world documented in Wikipedia with associated popularity indices. I explored the following questions:
My interest in studying this is on a social and cultural level. I believe historical figures (or what we consider historical figures) and their popularity are indicative of what different societies value. Furthermore, Wikipedia is directly curated by, and accessible to, the public, further making it a solid source for gaining insights about historical figures as a reflection of society.
Exploring an old wive's tale in stocks
The Super Bowl Indicator is a superstition that says that the stock market's performance in a given year can be predicted based on the outcome of the Super Bowl of that year. More specifically, a win from the American Football Conference (AFC) foretells a decline in the stock market for the coming year, and a win for a team from the National Football Conference (NFC), or the old National Football League (NFL) before the merger of NFL and American Football League (AFL) in 1966, means the stock market will be up for the year.
A classmate and I decided to explore this indicator on a statistical level for a school project. We also developed an interactive web application that allows users to learn about different stocks and stock relationships through various dynamic tests.
Studying the interaction between C. elegans and M. smegmatis
As an intern at Forsyth, a partner and I explored an original research proposal designed by us. We studied the interaction between C. elegans and M. smegmatis, which is closely related to tuberculosis. Our work eventually held a provisional patent.
EVENT MANAGEMENT
Columbia's first medical-themed hackathon
HealthHacks NYC was Columbia's first ever medical-themed hackathon. It was a 36 hour event bringing in hundreds of college students from around the country to program and build solutions to today's health problems. As the branding lead, I was responsible for creating branded material for marketing and communication purposes, as well as helping to define the vision for the event. The total valuation of the event in the end was $30,000.
One of the earliest public high school hackathons in the U.S.
I co-founded and led an annual 150+ student high school hackathon in the Greater Boston Area from 2014-2016. It has since transitioned to a new team.
MISC. PROJECTS
Captain of 2 Bits and a Byte, 2016 World Championship division semi-finalists
I was the captain of 2 Bits and a Byte (FTC 4029), the LHS robotics team from 2014-2016. During both years of my captainship the team qualified to the FTC World Championship and made it to World Division Semi-Finals in the 2015-2016 season.
Influenced by rock and classical
Since I was a kid, I have been playing piano. I started writing my own music when I was 14, and it's a passion of mine that I do for fun in my free time to destress. I like to view it as my audio diary. Stylistically, I'm most influenced by rock and classical music.
Sample Recording: