I am Aparnaa
About
I'm a fifth-year Computer Science B.S./M.S. student at RIT with hands-on experience in software engineering, AI, and computer vision. I've worked on object detection systems using PyTorch and transformer-based models such as RT-DETR at Kitware. I've also conducted AI research on model robustness and limitations in pre-training techniques such as CLIP at the Griffiss Institute.
I'm passionate about building practical, real-world machine learning systems and am currently seeking full-time Software Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer, or AI Engineer roles.
Download Computer Science CVSkills
Languages
- Python
- SQL
- Java
- JavaScript
Backend & Infrastructure
- FastAPI
- REST APIs
- Slurm
- GitLab CI/CD
- Linux
- Perforce
Data & Real-Time Systems
- PyTorch
- OpenCV
- MediaPipe
- Pandas
- NumPy
Tools
- Unreal Engine
- TouchDesigner
- Docker
- Git
Experience
Kitware Incorporation
Computer Vision Intern
May 2024 - August 2024 | Carrboro, North Carolina
- Orchestrated distributed data processing workflows using Slurm and multi-GPU environments, optimizing resource allocation for high-throughput model training cycles
- Engineered extensible pipeline components for the YOLOX framework, enabling the seamless injection of new model architectures into existing production systems
- Automated dataset curation and validation using FiftyOne and PyTorch, creating standardized protocols for detecting edge cases in large-scale datasets
Griffiss Institute
Artificial Intelligence Research Intern
July 2023 - December 2023 | Rome, New York
- Designed adversarial stress-testing frameworks to evaluate system reliability, specifically targeting zero-shot classification failures and out-of-distribution data anomalies
- Implemented automated analysis pipelines using cosine similarity and confusion matrices as a way to quantify system robustness against homonyms
- Refactored legacy evaluation scripts into modular components, improving the reproducibility of experiments across ResNet and Vision Transformer model architectures
Northeastern University
Research Student Internship
February 2020 - June 2021
- Revised a mask recognition algorithm on the improvement of public health awareness post-COVID19.
- Presented research findings to NYC-based research competitions and was recognized as a Junior Science and Humanities Symposium 2021 semifinalist.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT Beaver*Works Summer Institute Cog*Works
July 2020 - August 2020
- Trained a model on using 15-second audio snippets and finding wavelength peaks to identify a song using NumPy, SciPy, and Numba.
- Designed a computer vision algorithm to match more than one faces shown on screen with a webcam with those saved in the program's database.
- Created one natural language learning ResNet model to find images using a given caption.
Leadership and Organizations
Computing Organization for Multicultural Students
Public Relations Chair, Active Member
August 2024 - Present
- Led communication and outreach initiatives, coordinating content across cross-functional teams
- Translated technical and event-related information into clear, user-friendly messaging for diverse audiences
Rochester Institute of Technology's Women in Computing
Graduate Coordinator, Active Member, PR Committee Member
August 2024 - Present
- Organized graduate-level technical and networking events to drive community engagement and membership growth
- Mentored elementary and middle school students in JavaScript and object-oriented programming fundamentals
Rochester Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence Club
Events Coordinator
May 2024 - May 2025
- Planned and coordinated company visits to expand student exposure to Artificial Intelligence.
- Captured photos and videos of events to help create recap posts and reels to support the club.
Sigma Sigma Sigma
Active Member, Alumni Relations Chair
February 2024 - May 2025
- Networked with and designed monthly newsletters to send to the alumni.
Projects
Here are my favorite projects that I've done in class, hackathons, extracurriculars, or in my free time:
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Class Team ProjectResoPulse -
VIP XRLive Team Project '25Under the Sea -- Interactive Water Effects -
HACK.COMS'25 Team ProjectVirtual Closet -
Class Solo ProjectVisualDove -
VIP XRLive Team Project '25The Return of Virtual Karaoke -
WiCHacks'25 ProjectMyErgBuddy -
BrickHack 11 Team ProjectBrickStein -
HACK.COMS Team ProjectSecureCheckup -
Class Team ProjectA Certain Convex Hull -
Class Team ProjectEcho Flower Scene Recreation -
Class Team ProjectSpotiphy -
Class Team ProjectFibonacci: Watch Store -
MIT Beaver*Works Summer Institute Team ProjectAre You Social Distancing?
SecureCheckup
A website/database display program that my team coded during HACK.COMS of 2024. The program aims to secure and display hospital data to better represent underrepresented communities. I contributed to the project by finding ways to connect the database back-end to the Python front-end using REST API.
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A Certain Convex Hull
A website and an interactive program that started out as a team project for our Computational Geometry class. The program allows users to input points on the input space and manipulate the accompanying matrix to create a convex hull. It can be used as a pedagogical aid to help professors, students, and teachers understand the functionality of a convex hull, including Jarvis's March algorithm that we used to create the program.
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Echo Flower Scene Recreation
A 3D replica of the Echo Flower scene in Undertale's Waterfall area
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Spotiphy
A database command system which was my group project for the class "Principles of Data Management". I learned a lot about SQL and how to develop a very efficient database system that handles a specific domain. My major contributions to this project were writing and debugging SQL statements for some of our database functions such as the login and the top artists by most plays functions.
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Fibonacci: Watch Store
A watch e-store that was developed as a team project for the class "Intro to Software Engineering". I learned how to use programming languages and development programs like JSON, HTML, and Angular while working on the project. My main contributions to this project were working on the front-end web design and developing parts of the back-end such as watch classes and their relationships with the store. In the end, I enjoyed being able to get the opportunity to be familiar with front-end development and how much freedom I got with using visual elements to make our e-store website pop!
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Are You Social Distancing?
"Are You Social Distancing" is a mask-recognition program that my group did during the MIT Beaver*Works Summer Institute. It uses CNN models and an ML algorithm to identify faces and masks.
My main contributions to this project are creating the mask and no mask datasets as well as working on face/mask identification using a video/webcam using Python libraries.
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BrickStein
BrickStein is a chatbot that assists students with math homework struggles. Created as a team project for BrickHack 11, BrickStein uses a LangChain-powered GPT agent, APIs, and AI-focused Python libraries such as OpenCV and Manim to provide ease-of-use features and visualizations for better guidance. Some of the features that BrickStein can use are taking screenshots with a simple button press and providing suggestions from those, and creating a video incorporating diagrams and audio to elaborate on the context.
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MyErgBuddy
Developed as a team project for WiCHacks '25, MyErgBuddy is an analytical program that uses computer vision to analyze a rower's posture and provide feedback for the rower. We created a pose estimation model to detect and measure landmarks to determine the correct postures.
My contributions involve developing functions that measure and compare each of the body landmarks' positions using math. I also worked on developing parts of the OpenCV fancam model such as getting the program to print statements.
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XRLive: The Return of Virtual Karaoke
Engineered functionality for the virtual avatar's thirty morph targets and motion capture using Unreal Engine and RADICAL Motion
Identified two bugs with facial animations in motion capture when retargeting avatars
Modeled the user interface to switch between six avatars by pressing the spacebar
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VisualDove
An interactive audio-visual engine developed in Python. Utilizes Librosa for real-time frequency analysis and PyGame to render dynamic, synchronized graphics based on audio input.
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Virtual Closet
AI-driven virtual wardrobe assistant that helps users organize their closet and generate stylish outfit ideas in seconds.
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Under the Sea -- Interactive Water Effects
"Under the Sea -- Interactive Water Effects" is a real-time interactive effects demo that projects water, shadow, and fabric effects on the big screen! This is done using computer vision, TouchDesigner, MediaPipe, and the Azure Kinect camera! This demo also includes self-produced music done with Ableton to enhance the water and forest environments
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ResoPulse
A web-based audio-reactive experience built with Three.js. Features custom peak detection algorithms that drive particle systems and camera movement in real-time based on user-uploaded audio tracks.
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Get In Touch
I'd love to hear from you.