Hello! I’m a 4th year at Columbia University studying computer science and linguistics, while also taking classes in mathematics. My academic interests are in probability theory, statistical learning, and theoretical machine learning.

Outside of academics, I like trying new restaurants, playing video games (Brawl Stars, Minecraft, Egg Inc.), playing chess, watching football or basketball, working out, watching cooking videos (even though I don’t cook), and listening to music.

Career

I am an incoming quantitative trader at Jane Street. This past summer, I was a quantitative trading intern at Jane Street in New York City. The previous summer, I worked as a quantitative trading intern at SIG in Bala Cynwyd, PA.

Research

Currently, I am not conducting research. Previously, I was part of the ROAM Lab, conducting deep reinforcement learning research (e.g. PPO) for robotic manipulation.

Before that, I was part of an ongoing research project at Columbia University, studying how we can use machine learning for preeclampsia detection from retinal images. The work was published and presented at the 2023 International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI) here.

Before that, I worked as an intern at Oak Ridge National Lab, using autoencoders to compress neutron spectroscopy data for direct prediction. I presented my results in a poster that you can view here. My work resulted in a publication into the Machine Learning: Science and Technology journal.

Programming

Broadly, I work on web development, tooling, UI/UX, and analyzing and storing data. I’m interested in learning how things work and in writing code that is readable and maintainable. Check out my Github. Below are my favorite…

Languages: Python · HTML/CSS · Javascript · Rust (currently learning)
Frameworks: ExpressJS · ReactJS · Bootstrap · Pug · PyTorch
Tools/Services: VSCode · MongoDB · Heroku · Git/Github · fish shell

Quizbowl

I currently serve as vice president of PACE, a 501(c)(3) non-profit quizbowl organization that runs the National Scholastic Championship (NSC), an annual national high school quizbowl tournament. As vice president, I am the head editor and logistics person of the question set that is used for that tournament.

I am also the vice president of the e-board of Columbia University’s Quizbowl Club, where I am in charge of hosting tournaments. I’m the creator of qbreader.org, including geoword and the Quizbowl Packet Parser.

Learn more about my participation in quizbowl.

Science Bowl

I was the webmaster, organizer, and question writer for the first National Science Bowl League. I formerly taught Science Bowl classes through Summit Scibowl, which I cofounded and managed the website for. I created a popular Science Bowl program to calculate aggregate team and category stats.

I wrote for/helped run the following competitions: 2021 MIT Science Bowl, MOSFET, CCWTWO, MOOSE, and WISC.

The Mysterious Bug in qbreader's Answer Checker, and How I Fixed It

Geoffrey Wu published on 2024-12-30

For the longest time, qbreader.org would mysteriously crash once every week or so1 for reasons that I could not explain. Every time I checked the logs, I saw something like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 TypeError: tokens[i].endsWith is not a function at tokenize (file:///app/node_modules/qb-answer-checker/lib/tokenize.js:170:19) at checkAnswer (file:///app/node_modules/qb-answer-checker/lib/check-answer.js:34:29) at file:///app/routes/api/check-answer.js:8:41 at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (/app/node_modules/express/lib/router/layer.js:95:5) at next (/app/node_modules/express/lib/router/route.js:149:13) at Route.dispatch (/app/node_modules/express/lib/router/route.js:119:3) at Layer.handle [as handle_request] (/app/node_modules/express/lib/router/layer.

Zygmunt Bauman

Geoffrey Wu published on 2023-11-05 included in Quizbowl

Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Zygmunt-Bauman#ref1272416 Polish-born sociologist Professor at the University of Leeds until he retired in 1990 Liquid Modernity Sources: https://routledgesoc.com/category/profile-tags/liquid-modernity Examined the effects of: Consumption-based economies Disappearance of social institutions Rise of globalization Felt that the term “postmodern” was problematic Started using the term liquid modernity to better describe the condition of constant mobility and change he sees in relationships, identities, and global economics within contemporary society Writes of a transition from solid modernity to a more liquid form of social life Cloakroom Community Source: https://viewfromthebasement.

Harold Innis

Geoffrey Wu published on 2023-03-18 included in Quizbowl

Canadian communication theorist and economist, the “father of Canadian Economic History” Canadian Pacific Railway Wrote his PhD thesis on the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) Insists that the project was sustained by fears of American annexation Staples Thesis Known for the staple thesis of Canadian economic development Held that the development of Canada was due to the export of staples, such as fur, fish, wood, wheat, and fossil fuels Used “dirt” experience / “dirt” research by padding a canoe to explore the wilderness, gaining knowledge to form a basis for his thesis Developed the thesis in two books: The History of the Fur Trade in Canada (1930) Held that Canada grew because, not in spite of, its geography Argued for the importance of First Nation peoples The Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy (1940) Communication Theories Source: https://www.

Graphviz for FSM

Geoffrey Wu published on 0001-01-01 included in Notes

Quick Guide 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 digraph finite_state_machine { rankdir=LR; size="8,5" node [shape = circle ]; q0, q1, q2 node [shape = doublecircle]; q3 node [shape = point ]; qi qi -> q0; q0 -> q0 [ label = "0, 1" ]; q0 -> q1 [ label = "1" ]; q1:n -> q2 [ label = "0" ]; q1:s -> q2 [ label = "ε" ]; q2 -> q3 [ label = "1" ]; q3 -> q3 [ label = "0, 1" ]; } Command:

How to Configure SSH Keys

Geoffrey Wu published on 2023-01-12 included in Notes

Overview SSH keys allow you to login to a remote computer without using your password. This guide is the culmination of frustrations of a lack of a guide (that I could find) that has all the information I need in one place. Here are some good resources: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-configure-ssh-key-based-authentication-on-a-linux-server https://www.ssh.com/academy/ssh/config Generating SSH Keys We will use ssh-keygen to generate the keys. Open the terminal and type the following: 1 2 $ cd ~/.

Clifford Geertz

Geoffrey Wu published on 2022-12-25 included in Quizbowl

American cultural anthropologist at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (1926-2006) Agricultural Involution Involution: Centuries of intensifying wet-rice cultivation in Indonesia produced greater social complexity without significant technological or political change Outside pressure from the Dutch led to labor intensification, increasing rice per area but not rice per person Geertz credits the term to Alexander Goldenweiser Two dominant forms of agriculture in Indonesia: Swidden: slash and burn Found in less central regions Sawah: irrigated rice paddies Found in Java and Bali Part of the Modjokuto Project, a CIA funded program for CENIS at MIT The Interpretation of Cultures Original text: https://is.