Hi there! I am

Brahmnoor Chawla

I am a

(Scroll down to learn more)

I am currently a senior studying Computer Science at Drexel University (graduating in June 2021), where I am part of the Honors Program under the Pennoni Honors College. I've previously worked twice at Google as a Software Engineering intern, once with YouTube Ads, and once with the Machine Intelligence team at Google Photos. In Fall 2020, I'll be doing a full-time internship with Nuro, working as a Software Engineering intern in their Infrastructure team, where I'd be working on in-car and off-car infrastructure for their autonomous vehicles. In Spring 2019, I was at Princeton University on exchange, where I took advanced courses in computer science, and did research in Human-Computer Interaction.

Since high school, I have a deep interest in solving complex problems using computer algorithms. In 2019, I transferred from The University of Hong Kong to Drexel University. In the past, I've represented The University of Hong Kong regionally in Association for Computing Machinery's ICPC competitive programming competitions. I also enjoy teaching this stuff, and that's why I was a teaching assistant for Machine Learning (CS 383 at Drexel University), Computer Programming in Python, and Everyday Computing & Internet (at HKU).

In the past, I've had a change to work on some cool projects during hackathons or sometimes just for fun! Moreover, in 2016, I was among the top 25 students in India to be selected for the International Olympiad in Informatics training camp, where I studied about data structures and algorithms from the finest Computer Science professors across India.

Work.

Google

June '20 - Sept '20
Software Engineering Intern - Google Photos

I worked at Google Photos working to bring interesting clips to N-years ago memories. Within Google Photos, N-years ago is the flagship reminisces feature that showcases the best pictures from this week, but in the last few years. I used Machine Learning APIs to introduce filters to pick out the best clips from a longer video. While building this, I worked with C++ and Java, building an end-to-end pipeline, and introducing new algorithms to improve curation.

Nuro

Sept '20 - Jan '21
Software Engineering Intern - Infrastructure

Nuro is an autonomous vehicle unicorn founded by Jiajun Zhu and Dave Ferguson, both of whom were principle engineers at Waymo, Google's self-driving devision. I would be working on the infrastructure team, improving in-car and off-car data pipelines and integrating them with the Computer Vision & Perception APIs.

Google

June '19 - Sept '19
Software Engineering Intern - YouTube Ads

I worked at YouTube Ads, where I built an internal dashboard for YouTube’s ads team to track data backfill tasks for ads targeting, which reduced time from data generation to running the machine learning models by 12 hours. I also consolidated the user data generation & profile pipeline by adding a new, automatically invoked, testing phase which reduced redundant tasks and decreased processing time from 2 hours to 45 minutes. I worked with C++ & Spanner for the data pipeline, and with Typescript & Angular for the internal dashboard.

Princeton University

Jan '19 - Mar '19
Research Assistant

During my time at Princeton University, I worked in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab, working on studying how the use of privacy is impacted by how the settings screen is represented in different social media apps.

Research Paper : ‘I have too much respect for my elders’: Understanding South African Mobile Users’ Perceptions of Privacy and Current Behaviors on Facebook and WhatsApp. Jake Reichel, Brahmnoor Chawla, Fleming Peck, Mikako Inaba, Bisrat Moges, Marshini Chetty. Proceedings of the 29th USENIX Security Symposium. Boston, MA, August 2020.

The University of Hong Kong

Mar '18 - Mar '19
Software Developer

During my time here, I helped developed a speech detection web app from ground up, using Google Speech API based on NodeJS, Express & SocketIO. I worked with web AudioContext to provide audio recording compatibility across multiple browsers. Moreover, I worked extensively in multiple teams as a software development engineer, building reusable components from scratch to deployment, which are currently being used by over 28,000 students.

Education.

Drexel University

Sept 19' - June 21'

I’m currently a senior in my undergraduate degree in computer science here - in the city of Philadelphia. It's a privilege to be part of such a vibrant community both as a student and a teaching/research assistant.

Princeton University

Jan 19' - Jul 19'

I was selected as the only student from the Faculty of Engineering at The University of Hong Kong for a semester long exchange at Princeton University. I travelled to New Jersey in the spring of 2019, and did advanced courses in computer science. With such a beautiful campus, it was just a beautiful experience!

The University of Hong Kong

Sept 17' - Dec 18'

I did the first couple of years of my undergraduate studies in computer science here - in the city of Hong Kong. It was a vividly amazing experience. Over the time that I’ve spent here – I’ve learnt, researched, created amazing projects and walked a lot!

KAIST, South Korea

Jul 18' - Aug 18'

I travelled to South Korea to study for a summer program in KAIST, where I did Discrete Mathematics. It was a wonderful experience, and South Korea is a beautiful country with a vividly amazing culture. The most difficult part was to speak Korean to the locals, but apart from that - it was an unforgettable trip.

Leadership Development Program, Philippines

Jun 18' - Jul 18'

I attended a leadership development program organised by Common Purpose in Manila, Philippines where we had some fun workshops, followed by a month-long internship in a non-profit organization. I experienced a totally different culture in the Philippines and exponentially increased my cultural intelligence here.

IISER Kolkata

Nov 16' - Dec 16'

I was selected among the top 0.01% students from all over India for the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana scholarship, where I attended a pure sciences training camp in the city of Kolkata.

Chennai Mathematical Institute

Jan 17' - Feb 17'

I was selected among the top 25 programmers from all over India for the International Olympiad in Informatics training camp, which was organised in Chennai Mathematical Institute in beautiful Indian city of Chennai. The coursework included advanced data structures and algorithms.

Delhi Public School, New Delhi

May 06' - May 16'

I attended my high school here, in the centre of India - New Delhi. A beautiful place to learn, the school was founded in 1949.

Featured Projects.

LoveLang

Mar '20
DragonHacks Spring 2020 Winner

A Google Chrome extension that smartly replaces words on the websites you browse with words from a new language that you want to learn - so that you learn a new language as you browse the web. Built using Google Translate API, Javascript, Express and MongoDB.

Highlight Reel

Mar '19
HackRU Spring 2019 Winner

Webapp that uses a peak signal detection algorithm to automatically pick out highlight moments in online livestreams based on the time-series of chat frequencies. Built using Python & Javascript and designed with Material UI.

Real-Time Multiplayer Chess

April '20
Best Project - Drexel CCI

An online real-time chess platform with a matchmaking lobby, and multiplayer access, where two players can play chess in real-time. Built with complete move validity checks, and GUI built from ground-up. Built using React, Socket.io, & Express.

Real-time Speech to Text in Browser

Dec 18'

A real-time self-correcting speech to text in-browser module for Cantonese built using Node and Socket.io. Used by over 15,000 students in The University of Hong Kong, and starred and forked multiple times on GitHub.

PreBook

Dec 18'

A movie booking website, with user login, a seat booking page (showing the available seats), commenting, and movie history. Built using Express and MongoDB.

WordYo.ga

Aug 16'

A word guessing game made on PHP, where you get 10 chances to guess a word, with each chance giving you newer hints that help you find the actual word.

Tech Junction

Jan 15' - Feb 16'

As a high-school student I was very passionate with technology and the latest gadgets, hence I came up with this blog where I regularly posted my opinions about the latest gadgets in the market. The blog was insanely famous and was listed among the top 10 most-visited tech blogs in India in 2015.

Me.

I love travelling and experiencing different cultures. I've travelled for fun, work and studies to South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, China, Thailand and India. Before coming to Hong Kong for my undergraduate studies, I was a high student at Delhi Public School in New Delhi (India) where I was among the 0.01% students from all over India who were awarded the Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana scholarship by the Government of India for showing excellent aptitude in research.

There’s so much stuff I love apart from programming. Deeply passionate about cricket – I’m great at hitting the ball out of the field. Tennis and badminton are the two games I can play any time. When it comes to movies, novels and TV shows – I love watching and reading intriguing stuff which makes me think deeply afterwards.