Profile Photo

I'm Sheldon and I'm

a full-stack engineer

Hello! I'm passionate about harnessing technology to create meaningful social impact. Through my work at Hack4Impact-UMD, I lead an organization dedicated to building software solutions that empower nonprofits to better serve their communities. My unique background combines technical expertise with a deep commitment to ethical innovation. I thrive at the intersection of cutting-edge engineering and purpose-driven technology, bringing together diverse teams to solve complex challenges that make a tangible difference in people's lives.

Experience

Work Experience

University of Maryland - Part-time logo

Artificial Intelligence Researcher

University of Maryland - Part-time

Apr 2024 - Present

  • Built a Multilayer Perceptron model, that when integrated with a SOTA fine-tuned Vision Transformer, improves human vocalization classification accuracy from 70% to 90% compared to baseline methods.
  • Developed an algorithm that utilizes the YOLOv8 computer vision model to detect human movement; this algorithm was ultimately deployed on SPOT robots to be used as part of a DARPA competition.
  • Scraped audio from 25k+ YouTube videos, applying a variety of feature extraction and data engineering methods to develop and test multiple Multilayer Perceptron models.

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Amazon Web Services (AWS) - Internship logo

Software Development Engineer Intern

Amazon Web Services (AWS) - Internship

Jun 2024 - Aug 2024

  • Singlehandedly built full-stack web application for automated permission management using React, TypeScript, Python, and AWS services (DynamoDB, Lambda, API Gateway), automating and securing the current process.
  • Implemented 6 backend REST APIs using Python, Smithy, and FastAPI (1500+ LOC), including advanced error handling, input validation, and comprehensive logging.
  • Used AWS CDK to automatically deploy testing/monitoring stacks and AWS services such as DynamoDB Lambda, enabling seamless deployment of the project infrastructure on production.
  • Built React/TypeScript components (web form and data display table) to handle user data creation and editing, with features like input sanitization, error handling, and pagination.
  • Achieved 90% test code coverage across 70 backend unit tests with Python's unittest library, utilized Jest and testing-library/react for frontend unit tests, and used Cypress for end-to-end integration tests.
  • Integrated APIs with another team's AWS AppSync service using Python Requests library, enabling secure retrieval of user data without having to store sensitive info.
  • AWS Partner Analytics and Insights Team.

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Oracle - Internship logo

Software Engineer Intern

Oracle - Internship

May 2023 - Aug 2023

  • Wrote thousands of lines of production JavaScript code resulting in performance optimization, improved tool integration, shortened build time, and reduced deployment cycles for multiple web applications.
  • Modernized DevOps application crucial to thousands of businesses by writing JavaScript code to update the JavaScript toolkit version of over ~75% of the application's pages.
  • Future-proofed customer-facing reporting and analytics application that serves thousands of businesses by rewriting its administration section to update its JavaScript toolkit version.

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Lockheed Martin - Full-time & Part-time logo

Software/IT Intern

Lockheed Martin - Full-time & Part-time

May 2022 - Apr 2023

  • Built API endpoints that facilitate the transfer of data between microservices using Java and Spring.
  • Deployed microservices application using Docker, and gained exposure to Kubernetes CI/CD pipelines.
  • Created front-end microservice template with Angular and led wireframing for part information application.
  • Wrote technical whitepaper about database ETL job from current provider to AWS GovCloud.
  • Took full courseload while working part-time.
  • Developed C# code and accompanying documentation for a timekeeping system's database outage detection.
  • Collaborated and met with over 30 different team leaders and subject matter experts to collect information critical to company-wide multi-billion-dollar digital transformation.

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Maryland Robotics Center - Internship logo

Undergraduate Research Intern

Maryland Robotics Center - Internship

Oct 2021 - May 2022

  • Enabled live video streaming from a CrazyFlie drone, taking our drones one step closer to computer vision-based autonomous navigation, using Python, OpenCV, C, an AI-Deck, and a JTAG Debugger.
  • Worked under an Amazon Lab126 research grantee in the Collective Dynamics and Control Laboratory as part of work published at the 2023 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA).

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Icomera US - Internship logo

Network System Engineer Intern

Icomera US - Internship

Jun 2021 - Aug 2021

  • Configured and quality-tested routers and modems before shipment using SQLite and Putty.
  • Developed user interface for a tool that cut offline router system logging time by ~50% using Bootstrap.
  • Updated wifi stress testing scripts written with PhantomJS to work with new customer captive portal.
  • Assisted in the transition of all engineering team projects to Agile using Jira.

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Volunteer Experience

Hack4Impact-UMD - Part-time logo

Co-Executive Director

Hack4Impact-UMD - Part-time

Apr 2024 - Present

  • Oversaw high-visibility operations, managing an executive board of 15 directors and driving strategy across all roles. Guided the direction of the organization by providing input on all key initiatives.
  • Spearheaded a Microsoft mentorship program that put DC-area Microsoft employees on our project teams, by ideating and pitching the collaboration, coordinating mentor placements, meeting with Microsoft leadership, improving program based on feedback, and performing other administrative tasks.
  • Built and maintained strategic partnerships with companies (including Microsoft, Uber, Bloomberg), on-campus faculty, and other key stakeholders such as UMD's President and UMD's Do Good Institute.
  • Developed full-stack development workshop for 120+ highschoolers at Microsoft's BAM Minority Students Day (github.com/DevShel/microsoft-workshop).
  • Represented the organization at tabling events/interest meetings and led general body meetings.
  • Represented the organization and spoke at Microsoft's 2025 Global Nonprofit Leaders Summit.
  • Handled high-stakes operations - drafting contract agreements, performing project audits for the national board, and resolving the variety of complex challenges that come with this work.

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Microsoft - Part-time logo

Hack4Good Engineer

Microsoft - Part-time

Feb 2025 - Mar 2025

  • Architected and built a multilingual RAG agent with vectorizing and indexing documents via Azure AI Search Service and OpenAI's `text-embedding-3-large` model.
  • Developed experiments to refine chatbot translation strategy; created synthetic dataset to improve responses.
  • Hack4Good is an invite-only internal multi-month Microsoft hackathon, where Microsoft employees work with nonprofits to build free software solutions, organized by Hugo Marques and the Tech for Social Impact team.
  • As part of my team's project (led by Parijat Dalal) with Global FoodBanking Network, I defined our project description, led project meetings, and helped coordinate our team's direction.

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Hack4Impact-UMD logo

Director of Project Sourcing

Hack4Impact-UMD

May 2022 - Apr 2024

  • Led a 5-10 person sourcing team over 4 semesters, leading meetings with over 60 nonprofits and securing 5 high-quality projects each semester for our 100-member organization.
  • Built out the Director of Project Sourcing role from scratch - developing onboarding documents, standardized project description templates, and a director's guide for future leaders.
  • Defined and formalized key processes (including project voting, evaluation rubrics, nonprofit collaboration agreements, call scripts) to streamline project intake and selection.
  • Expanded project scope from basic websites to complex web applications, forging partnerships with larger nonprofits such as Leveling the Playing Field, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and The Children's Cancer Foundation.

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University of Maryland logo

IT Advisory Committee (ITAC) Undergraduate Representative

University of Maryland

Aug 2022 - May 2023

  • Represented UMD's undergraduate population in the proposal of enhancements to campus-wide IT services.

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Iribe Initiative for Inclusion and Diversity in Computing logo

Peer Mentor

Iribe Initiative for Inclusion and Diversity in Computing

Feb 2022 - Feb 2023

  • Held position of mentorship in Spring '22 and Winter '23.
  • Mentored multiple students, providing help with internship/scholarship applications, academics, and more.
  • Delivered talk at the Fall 2022 mentorship kickoff (shel.io/mentor-talk).
  • Learned how to become a better communicator, motivator, and leader in a professional environment.

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Awards & Honors

Google Research logo

Google CS Research Mentorship Program

Google Research

2023

Selected for Google's competitive mentorship program...

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Bloomberg logo

Bitcamp 2023 Most Philanthropic Hack

Bloomberg

2023

Recognized for Occupan-See, a computer vision project...

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Amazon logo

2nd Place, Amazon-UMD Design Challenge

Amazon

2022

Led team design of UMD-Next...

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Technical Projects

Technical

Microsoft Hack4Good 3.0

Building an agentic assistant for a nonprofit! Implemented advanced RAG techniques for improved information retrieval.

Azure AI SearchAzure OpenAIText-embedding-3-largeCopilot Studio
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Technical

Microsoft Minority Student Day Workshop

I built a full stack workshop for over 100 kids! Created a complete end-to-end learning experience featuring modern web technologies.

Next.jsReactAzure Cosmos DBTypeScriptTailwind CSS
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ML

Backpropagation From Scratch

Building 3 different simple perceptron-based machine learning models from scratch. Implemented neural network fundamentals without frameworks.

PythonPyTorchNumPyScikit-learn
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Computer Vision

Occupan-See

Using computer vision to identify potentially dangerous occupancy levels in a room. Real-time detection and alerting system.

PythonPyTorchReact JSNode JSMeta Detectron2Google Firebase
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Full Stack

Trade Monitor

A food order creation and tracking tool I created. Deployed on AWS with containerization for reliability and scalability.

PythonTypeScriptReactNextJSMongoDBDockerAWS EC2
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Web App

Food Ordering Tool

A food order creation and tracking tool built with Oracle JavaScript Extension Toolkit and Firebase for real-time updates.

JavaScriptOracle JETHTML/CSSKnockout.jsGoogle Firebase
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Speaking Engagements

Industry Talk

Microsoft Talks and Taps Event

Visited Microsoft's Reston, VA office to recruit Hack4Impact mentors.

MentorshipNonprofit Tech
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Organization

Hack4Impact-UMD Events

Regular speaking at Hack4Impact-UMD on social impact technology.

LeadershipSocial Impact
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Workshop

Technica Workshop

Agile software development workshop at Technica 2023 hackathon.

AgileWorkshop
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Education

Mentorship Kickoff Talk

Shared strategies for effective mentorship at kickoff event.

MentorshipLeadership
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Education

Undergraduate Research Talk

Talks at my former high school about undergraduate research.

ResearchEducation
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Community

Military Scholarship Event Speech

Shared how my father's military service impacted my life.

Personal ExperienceCommunity
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Other Projects & Initiatives

Design

UMD Next

An app reimagined for The Amazon-UMD Design Challenge. Created innovative user experience designs focused on campus connectivity.

UX/UI DesignUser ResearchDesign ThinkingPrototypingFigmaPowerPoint
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Research

Northrop Grumman A.I. Challenge

Presentation about making computer vision more ethical. Addressed bias, privacy concerns, and proposed solutions for responsible AI.

AI EthicsComputer VisionResponsible AIPresentationPowerPoint
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Sustainability

Universitas 21 Challenge

Ideating methods to promote compressed natural gas vehicles in Tanzania. Developed sustainable transportation strategies for emerging markets.

SustainabilityInternational DevelopmentClean EnergyProject PlanningCanva
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