Please provide a brief description of your STEP Signature Project. Write two or three sentences describing the main activities your STEP Signature Project entailed.
For my STEP Signature Project, I completed an AI Software Engineering Internship at Resilience, Inc, where I worked on developing a machine learning model designed to analyze audio data and determine users’ emotional states to be used elsewhere within the mobile app being developed. More specifically, I worked on our data preprocessing pipeline to add data augmentation, increase efficiency, and drastically reduce memory and disk space requirements, adjusted model architecture and data loading practices to reduce system requirements for training, and created a website-server pair to more thoroughly test trained models on employee supplied audio clips. I also attended weekly virtual standup meetings to coordinate efforts with other team members.
What about your understanding of yourself, your assumptions, or your view of the world changed/transformed while completing your STEP Signature Project? Write one or two paragraphs to describe the change or transformation that took place.
During my internship, I gained significant technical and interpersonal growth. Initially, I focused mostly on optimizing the accuracy of the machine learning model. However, as I worked on the project, I developed a more holistic understanding of how different components of the machine learning pipeline—such as data preprocessing, model architecture, and resource management—interact to improve overall performance. This broadened my technical perspective and made me more aware of how small changes in one area can impact the efficiency and functionality of the entire system. The technical challenges I faced, especially when I encountered issues with memory consumption and system bottlenecks, forced me to think more about the architecture of machine learning systems, focusing not just on accuracy but also on how the data flows through the system, how to efficiently manage resources, and how to test and iterate on models in a more structured way.
On an interpersonal level, I learned how to better collaborate with other software developers as well as human resources. Good software engineering does not happen in an isolated bubble, so being able to effectively communicate and organize efforts between multiple groups is critical for success. I became more familiar with the less technical aspects such as our weekly virtual standup meetings, where we discussed our progress throughout the week and charted out our path for the coming week, and emailing other divisions such as HR and IT to coordinate and resolve issues.
What events, interactions, relationships, or activities during your STEP Signature Project led to the change/transformation that you discussed in #2, and how did those affect you? Write three or four paragraphs describing the key aspects of your experiences completing your STEP Signature Project that led to this change/transformation.
Several key events during the internship were crucial to my transformation. At the beginning of my internship, I was initially assigned to the wrong division. This made it so that right off the bat, I had to communicate with various other employees, such as HR, the manager of the team I was assigned to, and the manager of the team I was intended for, to coordinate my transfer to the correct division. Although this made for a rockier start, it made me acclimate to working within a larger organization faster and made me more comfortable and confident in emailing others, especially superiors, when needed.
Another significant moment came when I worked on optimizing the data preprocessing pipeline. Early on, the system was slow and inefficient, with high memory and disk usage that made it difficult to train, use, and scale. I focused on implementing data augmentation strategies and improving the efficiency of the pipeline, which led to dramatic reductions in processing time and resource consumption. This experience was eye-opening, as I learned how important it is to optimize every part of the system, not just the model itself, and how to make the overall process more efficient.
Another key experience was when I adjusted the model architecture and data loading practices to reduce the system’s requirements for training. The process of fine-tuning the architecture involved a lot of trial and error, as well as learning how to balance performance with resource constraints. By adjusting how data was loaded into the system and optimizing the model’s layers, I was able to reduce the memory footprint during training without overly compromising on model accuracy. This experience taught me how to approach complex technical problems methodically and how to identify and address performance bottlenecks in machine learning workflows.
Why is this change/transformation significant or valuable for your life? Write one or two paragraphs discussing why this change or development matters and/or relates to your academic, personal, and/or professional goals and future plans.
This development is invaluable for my future professional and personal goals as it is my first foray into an official software development role and is helping me move forward into a career in this domain. Professionally, the internship gave me experience with real-world applications of machine learning, while also teaching me the importance of efficient system design and collaboration. The skills I developed in optimizing data processing and reducing system requirements will be directly applicable in future software engineering roles, especially as I move into positions where scalability and performance are critical. The ability to collaborate across teams and communicate technical details clearly will also be invaluable in my career, as effective teamwork is essential in any engineering role. On a personal level, this project has increased my confidence as a software engineer. I’ve learned how to approach complex technical challenges with persistence and creativity, and how to adapt my skills to new areas like audio processing. The interpersonal skills I developed through team collaboration and communication have also been invaluable in shaping my professional demeanor. Moving forward, I feel more equipped to tackle difficult technical problems, work effectively within teams, and contribute meaningfully to future software development projects.