Hi, I'm Michael Li.

A
Curious, quick-learning, and passionate researcher who enjoys crafting creative solutions to complex real-world problems using cutting-edge technologies.

About

I am a graduate computer science student at Carnegie Mellon University, studying for a Masters of Intelligent Information Systems. My main interests are machine learning and cloud systems: specifically, interactive data analysis and reinforcement learning, as well as architecting and engineering big-data cloud systems at scale.

  • General Skills: Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Full-Stack Development
  • Languages: Java, Python, JavaScript, C++, C, HTML/CSS
  • Data Science: PyTorch, NumPy, Scikit-Learn, SciPy, Matplotlib, Pandas
  • Frameworks: Spring Boot, Express.js, Flask, Next.js, Ionic Capacitor, React.js, Vue.js, jQuery, EJS, Bootstrap, Material UI, Junit, Jest, Gatling, Cypress
  • Services: Azure Kubernetes Service, HashiCorp Consul, Redis, NGINX, Apache Kafka, Keycloak, HashiCorp Terraform, Helm, GitHub Actions
  • Databases: MongoDB, PostgreSQL, H2

I'm always looking for opportunities to collaborate and innovate. Let's get in touch and build something amazing!

Experience

Software Development Engineer Intern
  • Worked with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Reimbursement team
  • Designed, implemented, and deployed a full-stack internal chatbot to answer reimbursement related questions with an internal knowledge base, using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
  • Engineered prompts to optimize retrieval and generation, aligning with Helpful Honest Harmless (HHH) principle
  • Skills: AWS, Bedrock, Java, TypeScript, Kendra Knowledge Base, Prompt Engineering
Jun 2025 - Aug 2025 | Seattle, USA
Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • Conducted research in the Social Reinforcement Learning lab, advised by Prof. Natasha Jaques
  • Led project on improving neural combinatorial solver robustness to different distributions on the traveling salesman problem, published at NeurIPS MATH-AI
  • Worked on adversarial robotic manipulation project, funded by Amazon grant
  • Skills: Machine Learning, Robotics, Python, PyTorch, NumPy, Matplotlib, Isaac Lab
Sep 2024 - Jun 2025 | Seattle, USA
Machine Learning Engineer Intern
  • Developed an innovative study plan system, using bandits-based algorithms to optimize educational outcomes
  • Engineered an adaptive reading recommendation system which personalizes readings based on difficulty and topics, using aggregate user data tracked in up to 8 different ways
  • Exposed 3 groups of Flask RESTful APIs for seamless communication between microservices
  • Skills: Machine Learning, Python, PyTorch, NumPy, Matplotlib, Flask, Pandas
Jun 2024 - Sep 2024 | Seattle, USA
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant
  • Worked with around 150 students in the course, teaching core machine learning concepts such as regression, classification, and clustering
  • Taught weekly quiz section for assigned group of 20 students to review and practice
  • Held weekly office hours to clarify concepts and answer questions
  • Skills: Machine Learning, Python, PyTorch, NumPy, Matplotlib, Pandas
Mar 2024 - Jun 2024 | Seattle, USA

Projects

Screenshot of web app
TSP Curriculum

Designed a genetic curriculum for improving TSP model robustness on distributions of practical interest.

Accomplishments
  • Proposed TSPLib50 dataset for measuring performance on "realistic" distributions
  • Improved robustness of neural models on the travelling salesman problem
  • Presented at NeurIPS MATH-AI 2024
Screenshot of web app
ImPose

Get feedback on your routines, from basketball combos to dance moves, by comparing to an expert demo.

Accomplishments
  • Compare pose frames by using a body segmentation model and weighted cosine similarity
  • Time-invariant video sequence mapping via use of dynamic time warping
Screenshot of web app
Mutorials

A free, adaptive, open-source natural science (physics / bio / chem) trainer for motivated secondary school students.

Accomplishments
  • Adaptively recommend questions appropriate for each students' level
  • Database of 4000+ questions, differentiated by 400+ unique tags
  • Live at mutorials.org

Education

Carnegie Mellon University

Degree: M.S. in Intelligent Information Systems
GPA: N/A

Aug 2025 - Present | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

University of Washington

Degree: B.S. in Computer Science
GPA: 3.96/4.0

Relevant Coursework: Reinforcement Learning (579), Social Reinforcement Learning (599J), Interactive Learning (541), Deep Learning (493G), Machine Learning (446), Distributed Systems (452), Modern Algorithms (422), Computer Vision (455)

Sep 2022 - Jun 2025 | Seattle, Washington, USA

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