Welcome to My Space!

CURRENT Date & Time:

"As me avoiding it becoming just another mundane and forgettable personal website, I want to make it alive and round. I call it a space for me and for you — my readers!"

Here's where you can start:

Home About Me Research Experience Skiing Trading Contact

[last update: Jan 2025]

About Me

I am [Benjamin Cheng] and nice to meet you! As I'm holding precious memories of my childhood spent in the meadow under the shadow of high-rise buildings and the sycamore tree in Shanghai, in Mandarine the abbreviation of my legal name [Cheng Cheng] is [C.C.], the one my friends used to call me by. [Benjamin] has been a part of my identity for nearly 20 years and now serves as my English name.

Either [Benjamin Cheng/Cheng Cheng/C.C.] are fine with me

I'm having too many interests and often feel that in the reality there's not enough time to explore them all.

Skiing downhill
Flying airplanes (first flight with instructor in Los Angeles in 2019 with aircraft type of DA-40)

If there's one thing I truly dislike, it's the feeling of hesitation—wavering back and forth on decisions and wasting precious time.

As for my academic and professional journey, I am currently a student at the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Class of 2026, studying Data Science within the Department of EECS. During my undergraduate years, I dedicate much of my time to research. My current interests in Computer Science span across AI, Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Data Science, Large Language Models (LLMs), Visualization (VIS), Databases, Security, Software Engineering (SWE), and Web Development. I also have a keen interest in Mathematics and Statistics, particularly in linear algebra, regression, modeling, and strategy.

Research

Undergrad Researcher | LLM, NLP, Visualization

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Information and EECS | 09/2024 - Present

Leaded and developed systems to explore connections between text-based data and structured representations.
Designed and evaluated systems with the power of LLMs for automating text generation and retrieval.
Created website to deploy the system and handle data visualization for user.

Research Assistant | LLM, VLM, Memory

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, EECS | 09/2024 - 01/2025

Collaborated on projects involving AI models for visual understanding and spatial reasoning.
Explored methods to combine memory systems with LLMs for real-time data processing.
Developed components for dynamic interpretation of visual and textual data.

Undergrad Researcher | Applied Mathematics

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Mathematics | 08/2023 - 12/2023

Participated in projects exploring mathematical models for ranking and predictions.
Analyzed data from various domains to validate theoretical findings.
Developed computational tools to support data-driven research approaches.

Experience

Intraco | Software Engineer Intern

June 2023 - August 2023 | Singapore

Developed a scalable CRM database backend utilizing Django for RESTful API development and ensuring high performance and security.
Automated ETL processes for CSV data, significantly improving database management efficiency.
Revolutionized database operations with Python (Pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib) for sophisticated data processing and analytics.
Built a dynamic web dashboard for real-time data visualization using React, D3, and AJAX.

University of Michigan Hackathon

April 2024 | Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Led development of an interactive tour guide application using Google's Gemini 1.5 Pro API for image analysis and text generation.
Implemented the frontend with React.js and deployed it on Vercel, while deploying the Node.js backend on Heroku.
Engineered MongoDB integration for seamless data storage and retrieval operations.

IMC Prosperity 2024 | Trading Competition

March 2024

Built linear regression models to predict future prices and developed pair trading algorithms to exploit market inefficiencies.
Designed an autonomous Trader class to dynamically manage trading actions based on real-time market data.
Applied moving averages and volatility measures to calculate optimal order prices and capitalize on market-making opportunities.

MIT 6.824 | Distributed Systems

January 2024 - March 2024

Built a MapReduce distributed computing framework in Go, implementing RPC interfaces for distributed communication.
Developed a fault-tolerant key-value store based on the Raft consensus algorithm with log compaction and client session management.

UIUC CS233/Michigan EECS370 | Computer Architecture

August 2023 - December 2023 | Champaign, IL, USA

Built mini-computer architecture in Verilog with components such as Register File, ALU, and Memory.
Implemented a water-fetching and window-cleaning robot in Assembly, optimizing completion time.
Optimized C++ codes using cache and pipelining techniques to minimize cache misses.

Blood Cell Detection

July 2023

Implemented a YOLOv8-based system with data augmentation for detecting blood cells in medical imagery.

Satellite Crop Type Images Classification

June 2024

Utilized EDA, Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP), and Random Forest models for crop classification from satellite imagery.

Real-time Roleplay AI Conversation Chatbot

April 2023 - August 2023

Developed a chatbot using GPT-2-6B-16FP, P-Tuning, and Transformer architecture for dynamic, real-time interactions.

Skiing, Downhill

I love the view all the way down the hill, really enjoy the snow, wind, and freedom passing by my face and ear.

Always being chill & adventurous
Exploring and Staying SAFE