hi, i'm phyllis chen

currently

About Me

AI / ML & data engineering

  • email: phyllis2@andrew.cmu.edu
  • city: seattle, washington

I completed my Bachelor of Science in informatics - data science 😄 in June 2024 at the University of Washington. Throughout my undergrad, I explored courses in data science and cybersecurity. With this chance to explore my future passions, I became interested in working with big data. I gradually became more fascinated by AI and machine learning, particularly in how they intersect with our daily lives and progress towards a more comfortable, convenient, and equitable world. I envison myself in roles that involve working with data and machine learning to help others. Now, I am working towards making contributions to improving AI and promoting AI accessibility. Currently, I'm pursuing a Master's at Carnegie Mellon University in AI Engineering, I'm exhilirated to showcase my experiences and share what I've learned.

I love to explore new opportunities, especially to meet and collaborate with different people. In my free time, I enjoy playing the cello, playing videogames, and attending concerts.

Resume

here is a summary of my qualifications and experiences

Education

Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence Engineering

2024 - 2026

Carnegie Mellon University, Information Networking Institute

Relevant Coursework: Systems and Toolchains AI,Information Security, Machine Learning with Adversaries, Deep Learning, Rapid Prototyping, Cloud Security, Telcommunications and Networks, AI Business Modeling, AI Applications in Security, Generative AI, Data Engineering, Trustworthy AI

Bachelor of Science in Informatics, Data Science

2021 - 2024

University of Washington, Information School

Relevant Coursework: Computer Programming, Intermediate Data Programming (Python), Information Systems Analysis and Design, Client-Side Development, Informatics in Healthcare, Databases and Data Modeling, Advanced Methods in Data Science, Cooperative Software Development, Statistical Computing, Information Architecture, Interactive Information Visualizations

International Baccalaureate Diploma Graduate

2017 - 2021

Interlake High School, Bellevue, WA

Languages

  • English - fluent
  • Mandarin - fluent
  • Spanish - intermediate

Award and Certifications

Grace Hopper Celebration Scholarship Award - GHC Attendance scholarship selection from Information Networking Institute, Carnegie Mellon Universty

2025

Participant: SafeWays AI Scam Detector - TartanHacks Hackathon

2025

AnitaB.org Advancing Inclusion Scholarship - Grace Hopper Celebration

2024

Husky 100 Nominee - University of Washington

2024

Tapia Scholarship Award - Tapia Conference Attendance

2023

Annual Dean’s List – University of Washington

2021 - 2024

Finalist – Proseed Hackathon, Devpost

2022

International Baccalaureate Diploma and Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish – Interlake High School

2021

Certificate of Completion – Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program

2020

Anne Hsu Memorial Scholarship – Seattle Chinese School

2019

President's Volunteer Service Award, Bronze (100+ volunteer hours)

2018, 2019, 2020

Information System certification in HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, Bootstrap – Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taiwan University

2017

My Favorite Projects & Descriptions

U-Net Image Generation - Generative AI

  • Engineered DDPM (Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model) with cosine noise schedule; used forward reparameterization for noise injection, and reverse sampling with U-net noise predictor and posterior mean/variance to synthesize unseen cat images
  • Built pipeline by iteratively denoising from pure Gaussian noise to sample new images from learned distribution
  • Generated checkpoint batches of 15,360 novel samples across runs, at 100-step intervals across 10,000 training steps
  • Instrumented reproducible tracking in Weights & Biases, logging L1 loss convergence, sample grids, and FID reductions

  • MQTT Traffic Attack Classification - Systems and Toolchains for AI

  • Implemented multiclass classification system of MQTT network traffic data and deployed traditional models (logistic regression and random forest) and deep learning models (MLP and CNN)
  • Leveraged Spark and Hadoop for big data processing with techniques such as feature engineering, outlier capping, and pipeline automation and integrated SQL database to manage and preprocess large-scale traffic data
  • Deployed model training with Pytorch and Tensorflow on GCP infrastructure, with GPU acceleration
  • Conducted hyperparameter tuning and cross validation with Spark MLlib, improving model performance and achieving > 97% accuracy on test datasets; generated visualizations for error analyses

  • Spotify Top 100 Predictor – Advanced Methods in Data Science

  • Employed machine learning (ML) methods to analyze Spotify Top 100 song to formulate popularity model
  • Used iterative feature selection to find significant contributors of music popularity, assessed model performance with ML metrics

  • Index, Search, Crawl Webpage - Introduction to Search and Recommender Systems

  • Developed text collection system of 1,000+ indexable documents with search functionality from pre-trained models
  • Implemented rank lists, clusters, tag clouds, and integrated with a live web application and logging mechanism with database

  • Data Wrangling - Foundational Skills of Data Science

  • Independently practiced data wrangling and analysis of CO2 Emissions and Music Trends datasets to provide data visualizations and summary of values
  • Created interative data visualizations using R, hosted on shinyapp

  • Get Home Safe - Cooperative Software Development

  • Coded interactive web application using HTML, CSS, Javascript, React, and Node framework that allows users to login, connect and build a network to raise awareness for campus safety
  • Hosted web application on firebase
  • Experience

    Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Engineering Intern for RADA Technologies Leonardo DRS

    May 2025 - August 2026

    AI/Systems Team

    (Details Proprietary) Radar perception & classification using ML: Developed end-to-end classification pipeline in Conda, using Redis server interface to access big-data streams for data preprocessing, feature engineering with LSTM, and optimizing live classification capability with SVM and LSTM, conducted live system testing of radar systems to gather detection data; Documented observations to iteratively refine classifier robustness and reliability in operational environments

    Graduate Teaching Assistant for 14-757 Introduction to ML with Adversaries, 14-795 AI Applications in Information Security

    Aug 2025 - Dec 2025

    Information Networking Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

    Grading Assignments focused on adversarial machine learning practices, such as training and attacking traditional machine learning models, feature selection methods, and simple neural network practices for 130+ students, ,grading and reviewing literature reviews relevant to current AI attack implementations, supervising projects focused on AI Applications in information security for 50+ students ,hold regular office hour sessions to support graduate level students and support course staff

    Principal Data Engineer of ArenaSports - Sponsored Capstone Project

    Dec 2023 - June 2024

    UW Information School

    Automated an ELT process with Fivetran and DBT Core, boosting business intelligence accessibility by 7x, developed a star schema data warehouse and data mart to streamline data access and analysis, analyzed business trends to create custom PowerBI dashboards for informed data-driven decision making

    Teaching Assistant for Foundational Skills of Data Science

    Sep 2022 - June 2024

    UW Information School

    Conduct weekly lab sections and office hours, grade assignments, maintain grading records, present course material for students through relevant slideshows and demos in coding language R, collaborate with other teaching assistants and professor

    President

    March 2023 - April 2024

    Informatics Undergraduate Association, UW Information School

    Lead weekly Meetings and represent Informatics to faculty and staff. Guide newly elected IUGA Officers during annual transition, designate the Informatics Representative On the iSchool Program Committee and act as liaison to other iSchool student organizations.

    Data Science Research Intern

    Jun 2023 - July 2023

    Humanities Data Lab

    Conducted data cleaning, visualization, and analysis using Dask and Pandas python packages, implemented language processing techniques of large datasets from Twitter APIs of 10+ years with categorization, extraction of patterns, and documentation of field notes on key metrics and language patterns. Participated in workshops for Python, Documentation, Mapping, and Graphing

    Teaching Assistant for Informatics in Healthcare

    December 2023 - March 2024

    UW School of Medicine, Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education

    Organize and plan weekly lab sections and office hours, grade assignments, maintain grading records, create engaging PowerPoint presentations and lab exercises weekly, collaborate with professor to organize course structure

    Research Assistant

    Dec 2022 - Feb 2023

    Center for an Informed Public, University of Washington

    Performed quantitative data analysis of system log data, interpretive qualitative analysis of chat logs and system log data. Research performed for 2022 Election Integrity Partnership, using quantitative data analysis in Python and descriptive data analysis and visualization methods, also using interpretative qualitative research.

    Director of Finance

    May 2022 - June 2023

    Informatics Undergraduate Association, UW Information School

    Plan student engagement events and collaborated with registered student organization across the university for 400+ undergraduate students, managed finances of undergraduate program events, maintain financial records, practiced financial reporting, designated a Student Representative for Informatics on the iSchool Student Leadership Committee, organize the financial vectors of fundraising efforts, report on Yearly Budget to program administration, act as the primary account holder for all financial accounts

    Project Lead

    Sep 2022 - June 2023

    Design for America UW

    Utilize project management skills to interview, recruit, research, and create a mobile application, leading a team of 5 members.

    Project Details: Build an educational board game targeted towards elementary school students for the problem space of improving and educating children on mental health: How might we create an accessible board game to reduce stigma around anxiety and depression so young children and parents can improve their mental health early on?

    Online Network Officer

    March 2022 - June 2023

    Applied Analytics Club at UW (AACUW)

    Planned and held conferences and speaker events, updated student organization website, wrote, and delivered weekly newsletters, and created organizational promotions

    Hackathon Committee Member WINFO 10th Annual Hackathon

    Oct 2021 - Feb 2022

    UW Women in Info

    Planned and executed school-wide annual Hackathon, instructed prototyping and user interface design workshop and demos for 250+ participants

    portfolio

    projects and hackathons that I have had the privilege to be a part of...

    My thoughts

    Rating how much i love these Programming Languages

    Python
    R
    SQL
    Javascript, HTML, CSS
    Java