About Me

Hey! I'm Sia.

I'm a senior at UC San Diego majoring in Cognitive Science with a specialization in Machine Learning and Neural Computation, and minoring in Computer Science. My passions lie in the space where technology meets people in meaningful ways — whether that's through software development, AI, HCI, or data-driven research.

I love tackling real-world problems, whether it's building intuitive applications, training and fine-tuning ML models, or digging into data to uncover meaningful insights.

Scroll down to check out my journey and what I've been working on!

Projects

Skills and Toolkit

Machine Learning

PyTorch
TensorFlow
Supervised ML
Unsupervised ML
Neural Networks
NLP
LLM Integration
Prompt Engineering
LoRA Fine-tuning
FAISS
Hugging Face
Scikit-Learn
Pandas
NumPy
Reinforcement Learning
Evolutionary Algorithms

Software Engineering

Python
Java
C++
Git
FastAPI
REST API
SwiftUI
Firebase
Algorithms
Data Structures
HTML5
CSS3
JavaScript
React

Cognitive Science

Neural Computation
HCI
Research Methods
Cognitive Models
Experimental Design
Data Analysis

Other

Data Visualization
Agile/Scrum
Project Management
Figma
UI/UX Design
UI/UX Research

Experience

Course Designer / Instructional Assistant

UC San Diego | September 2024 - June 2025


COGS 150: Large Language Models and Cognitive Science
● Facilitate discussions and office hours on the mechanics of large language models, their cognitive science implications, and societal impact.
● Assist in developing and grading coding labs and assignments that integrate AI ethics, machine learning concepts, and multimodal cognition.
● Collaborate with faculty to refine course materials and foster critical discussions on AI and human cognition.



COGS 10: Cognitive Consequences of Technology
● Led discussion sections for 100+ students, exploring real-world applications of technology and cognitive science.
● Worked with esteemed professor Jim Hollan to design and evaluate projects, ensuring high academic standards and engagement.

Website Developer

Personal Portfolio| December 2024 - February 2025


● Designed and developed a responsive portfolio website using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript
● Implemented a seamless dark/light mode toggle with localStorage persistence for user preference
● Created interactive UI elements including 3D tilt effects, scroll animations, and text transformations for engaging user experience
● Detailed project pages with responsive layouts and consistent visual language across the site
● Mobile-optimized interfaces with performance considerations including lazy loading, and animation simplification
● Integrated GitHub linking for project source code along with interactive galleries and feature showcases
● Source code available here.