Hi, my name is

Taro ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

(tah-roh)

Data scientist, gamer, mixed martial artist, and animal lover.

About me

AI’s taking over, I’m just here to ride the wave. Having an AI-focused education from UCLA, experience managing innovative projects, and having engineered complex LLM systems, I’m uniquely qualified to transform entire industries.

Otherwise, I’m into wrestling (the olympic/collegiate kind), BJJ, boxing, comedy, and spending a degenerate amount of hours doomscrolling YT Shorts :D

Oh, I also like to lift💪
  • 525 lb Deadlift
  • 315 lb Bench
  • 465 lb Squat
  • 3 pickle jars

Experience

Machine Learning Engineer - Truth Systems
May 2023 - Feb 2024

TruthSystems develops advanced hallucination detection systems for large language models, ensuring safe and reliable AI use in the legal domain.

  • Led data strategy and structural planning as the sole data scientist, enabling a successful $50k pre-seed raise.
  • Designed and deployed a real-time fact verification system to address AI hallucinations and improve model reliability.
  • Prototyped, trained, and productionized dozens of ML models within the AWS ecosystem to accelerate development cycles.
Lead Data Scientist - SocialSmyths
Sep 2023 - Nov 2023

After interning for AI Camp in the Summer, I was invited to lead a 5-person team to build a LinkedIn analytics dashboard for SocialSmyths.

  • Developed a LLM-powered webscraping pipeline to automatically collect data (LangChain, Selenium).
  • Conducted feature importance analysis using Lasso, Ridge, and Random Forest algorithms.
  • Generated personalized strategic recommendations with OpenAI’s GPT-4.
Data Science Intern - AI Camp
May 2023 - Sep 2023

AI Camp equips high school students with advanced AI knowledge and hands-on skills, empowering them to build real-world AI products without requiring a college degree.

  • As an instructor, I:
    • Led three teams through the computer vision MLOps cycle, including data collection with SerpAPI, training image classification and object detection models (CNN, ViT, OpenCV), monitoring metrics with Weight and Biases, and deploying MVPs through HF Inference API.
  • As a data scientist, I:
    • Cut hallucination rates by 50% in a GPT-powered Q/A application by leveraging retrieval augmented generation (RAG) with LangChain.
    • Enabled LLMs to use tools such as vector databases (Chroma), calculators, Wikipedia, etc. to drastically increase our gen AI’s capabilities.
Marketing Intern - RippleMatch
Feb 2023 - May 2023

RippleMatch is the recruitment automation platform changing how Gen Z finds work. By replacing job boards with matching and automation, RippleMatch eliminates the most time-intensive parts of the recruitment process for both employers and job seekers. Leading employers such as Amazon, eBay, and Teach For America leverage RippleMatch to build diverse, high-performing teams and Gen Z job seekers across the country trust RippleMatch to launch and grow their careers.

  • Contributed to RippleMatch’s marketing campaign by:
    • Automating lead sourcing and student outreach with Selenium (i.e. creating bots to do the work for me).
    • Leveraging social media, email marketing, presentations, and peer and faculty member networking to grow brand awareness.
  • Recognized by RippleMatch’s Leadership Team as top 15% in terms of intern performance out of a class of 500+ active interns.
Pharmaceutical Intern - Aviva Pharmacy
Feb 2021 - Apr 2021
  • Provided 100+ under-served patients with vital Covid vaccines.
  • Compiled 100+ patients’ data into Aviva Pharamcy’s database.
  • Optimized patients’ benefits based on their insurance options.
  • Created 10+ professional relationships between Aviva and local businesses.
  • Scheduled 10+ vaccination appointments for new patients.
  • Assisted senior citizens with online vaccine application process.
Business Analyst Intern - Ejento
Jun 2018 - Aug 2018
  • Sourced 300+ job candidates through LinkedIn Recruiter.
  • Cleaned and visualized data using Excel.
  • Implemented data visualizations to the company website.

Projects

How to Become a Ranked Demon🔫
Clustering Predictive Modeling
How to Become a Ranked Demon🔫
What sets top VALORANT players apart? Using clustering, predictive modeling, and gameplay data analysis, I uncovered patterns and traits shared by elite players.
Grades & Grit: What Shapes Student Success?🔍
Data Analysis Regression R
Grades & Grit: What Shapes Student Success?🔍
Exploring how educational and socioeconomic factors influence student performance using data analysis and visualization.
Curriculum Generator📖
Deep Learning NLP Python
Curriculum Generator📖
Using Siamese Networks and Natural Language Processing to generate personalized curriculums for teachers.
U.S. Car Crash Analysis🚗💥🚙
Random Forests XGBoost KNN R
U.S. Car Crash Analysis🚗💥🚙
How Bad Was It? Using machine learning to predict car accident outcomes.
Tracking the Opioid Epidemic💊
Data Analysis Regression R
Tracking the Opioid Epidemic💊
Modeled the origin and spread of opioid use across U.S. states using drug data and predictive algorithms to inform potential interventions.
Minecraft Chemistry: Polar vs Non-Polar Bonds🧪🧊
Chemistry After Effects Blender
Minecraft Chemistry: Polar vs Non-Polar Bonds🧪🧊
An educational video explaining chemical bonding concepts through Minecraft — turning science into a game.

Education

2020 - 2024
B.S. in Data Theory
University of California, Los Angeles
GPA: 3.85

Extracurricular Activities:

  • 2x ACM DataFest Runner Up (2022, 2023)
  • UCLA VALORANT team (2020-2022)
  • UCLA Wrestling team (2020-2021)

Get in touch!

My inbox is always open. Whether you have a question or just want to say hi, I’ll try my best to get back to you!