Daniel Palencia

Daniel Palencia

NASA Intern
Computer Science B.S.

They/Them/Theirs

Hello! My name is Daniel and I am a Computer Science graduate from California State University, Northridge currently working as a summer intern for NASA Armstrong.

I worked as the technical consultant for a small graphic design agency before deciding to commit to studying computer science to further my technical skills. My work there involved collaborating with my graphic designer colleagues to build and troubleshoot WordPress and Shopify websites.

I participated in the 2020 NSF Data Science summer bootcamp in which I was also introduced to data science and machine learning concepts. I spent time working on a computer vision project involving a NASA dataset of HiRISE images, where I worked with PyTorch to implement a convolutional neural network into a pipeline that identifies surface features on Mars.

Skills

Software Engineering

Worked with the following languages in a professional or academic setting: Python, Java, Kotlin, PHP, Dart, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, C#. Experience with software engineering practices such as unit testing, CI/CD, versioncontrol, project management, and team collaboration with tools such as GitHub, GitLab, GitKraken, and Travis.

Libraries, Frameworks, CMS

Scikit-Learn, Pandas, Numpy, Pytorch, Matplotlib, Seaborn, Android SDK, WordPress, Flutter, BootStrap, React.

Data Science & Machine Learning

Experience with SQL/SQLite databases. Data Cleaning/Analysis with Python and Jupyter Notebooks. Working with machine learning frameworks including Scikit-Learn and Pytorch to train and evaluate machine learning models including deep learning models such as CNNs. Evaluating classification models by looking at metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, ROC AUC.

Highlighted Projects

MarsVision

NSF year-long data science project. A Python-based computer vision tool utilizing classification algorithms to identify surface features on Mars from NASA HiRISE images.

See Repo

APP-A

CSUN senior design project. An android navigation app targeted at blind and visually impaired CSUN students to help them get around campus.

See Repo

Education

California State University, Northridge

2019 - 2021

B.S. Computer Science. 3.96 GPA. Expected graduation in May 2021. Dean's List Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021.

Los Angeles Pierce College

2012- 2019

3.17 GPA. Transferred to CSUN.

Relevant Coursework

Introduction to Software Engineering

CSUN Coursework involved building an app in a team setting for the purpose of learning software engineering practices using GitLab. The app itself was a recipe app built on a Flutter/Firebase stack.

Data Mining

Coursework included a group project in which weanalyzed US voting data to identify gerrymandered states and used machine learning models to predict gerrymandering from voting results.

Senior Design Project

Two semester long senior design project. Worked with a team to create APP-A, an Android application that assists visually impaired students with navigation around the CSUN campus.

Work Experience

Design Spinners

Web Developer / Technical Support

2012 - 2020

A small graphic design agency. My work for them involved collaborating with graphic designers to produce and maintain websites for company clients.

  • Performed regular maintenance of WP Engine hosted WordPress websites for company clients
  • Troubleshooted and resolved technical issues with client websites
  • Provided research, recommendations, and time estimates to integrate website features
  • Implemented WordPress and Shopify template customizations and front-end functionality

Awards

NSF 2020-2021 Certificate of Completion

Recognized for completion of the 2020-2021 NSF Data Science Program. Bootcamp introduced students to data science as a career. Program included a year long data science project. My project was MarsVision, a computer vision project that aimed to detect surface features on Mars using machine learning methods.