Now

Below is a little bit of what I’m working on and doing now, updated every once in a while.

Professionally

After spending the last five years working with renewables, pricing, and energy efficiency data, I’ve been embracing a new role at the Tennessee Valley Authority. My new team focuses on analytics and AI strategy for the enterprise and takes on cutting-edge proofs of concept. Right now, we’re focusing heavily on generative AI (including constraints and governance), so I’ve been working on improving our enterprise CMS search using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), estimating project costs using FAISS and TF-IDF embeddings to retrieve similar projects, and piloting Microsoft Copilot.

Academically

This summer, I’m completing my 8th semester (of ten) in my Master’s of Computer Science at Georgia Tech. I’m taking Natural Language Processing, which walks through traditioanl NLP techniques as well as modern architectures. This nicely compliments my work at TVA, giving me a more formal education in some previously self-taught areas. It also compliments a seminar that I’m taking this semester: Agentic AI Essentials. This is my first experience with OMSCS seminars, and I’m enjoying it so far. It’s a bit less rigourous than traditional courses and is more self-guided. The NVIDIA coursework has been interesting so far - again formalizing concepts that I’ve learned on my own and rounding out my understanding.

Personally

I’ve been slowly reading ‘A Game of Thrones,’ the first book in George R. R. Martin’s Ice and Fire Saga, and I’m slowly getting closer to finishing it. I’m hoping that a lighter courseload in OMSCS this summer will enable some time at the pool on the weekends which might also result in a bit more reading.

My yearly theme, the Year of Holding Things Loosely, is going well so far. The first half of the year has been filled with uncertainty in my professional life as the federal government adapts to various executive orders, particularly with respect to return-to-office. At the same time, we’ve been waiting to learn specifics about an organizational re-design. I often struggle with change, but I’m trying my best to “hold things loosely”, get the work done, and not fret about anything I can’t control.

As I target some athletic goals this year, I’m also trying to hold my training schedule loosely: prioritizing other types of training besides just running. As a lifelong runner, it’s a bit difficult to admit that by the age of 25 my body is already telling me that it can’t run quite like it used to. I’ve been enjoying cross training, though, and I’m hoping that my lighter courseload will also translate to a bit more consistent training this summer.

Oh, and check out my Letterboxd if you want to see what movies I’ve watched recently!