Michael Zhao

Hi! I'm Michael, a graduate student studying computer science at UTD. On my own time, I like to work on personal projects through code and art :D

Current Interests

fact_check

Creating a desktop app with Qt6

hotel_class

Researching Rank Aggregation

draw

Writing more Blog Posts

menu_book

Reading more nonfiction books

skillet

Cooking good food

explosion

Taking a class on Quantum Computing

Projects

Dec 2022 - Present

Jury

Creator, Developer

A project designed to create a new pairwise judging system using modern technologies aimed at optimizing the user experience of judges and admin users. Using the same underlying statistical models and paper as Gavel, Jury is trying to deliver the best possible experience to everyone at the end of a grueling hackathon.

Dec 2020 - Aug 2023

TAMS Club Calendar

Creator, Developer, Designer

The TAMS Club Calendar is a fully contained event tracker, club/volunteering database, and general resource center. This is the unofficial club event calendar for the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) student organizations!

Jun 2022 - Feb 2023

HackPortal

Contributor

HackPortal is a platform for user-friendly hackathon event management. Developed by the HackUTD team with ACM Development, HackPortal features its own login system, QR code scanner, announcement notifications, and fully customizable event site.

Sep 2022

EyeAlert

Contributor, Hacker

Tracking human eye movement patterns in order to proactively alert people in high stake situations to reduce fatigue-based accidents. This hackathon project for HackDFW 2022 uses a machine learning model (in Python) to track the user's eye movements and determine if the user is showing fatigue. The React frontend uses a websocket to communicate with the backend's model and relay alerts to the user. The React Native mobile app records the user's history of fatigue for later analysis.

Feb 2022

Stickerinator

Creator, Developer

Remove backgrounds and add a border to your images to turn them into stickers!

Feb 2022

BrainF*ck Interpreter

Creator, Developer

A crude but effective Brainfuck interpreter written in C

Nov 2021

DIVI

Contributor, Hacker

Digital Insurance for Virtual Investments -- A simple portal that assists employees in risk analysis, pricing, and comparison of digital assets! This project for HackUTD VIII (2021) was a simple React app that used analytical models to determine risk, aimed at extending the services of State Farm.

Mar 2021 - Aug 2021

aTab

Creator, Developer

aTab is an extension that will replace your new tab into a more productive and useful interface! The interface features an aesthetic dark material theme, a news feed (from the News API), a list of customizable links on a sidebar, a place to jot down quick notes that can sync across devices, and a nice date/time display.

Dec 2020 - Jan 2021

Discord PR Notifs

Creator, Developer

Listens to new pull requests from a Github repository and sends a message to a Discord text channel when a pull request is created. This is done through Github Webhooks, the Github API, and the Discordjs Bot Library.

...and a lot more :D

See my Github for ALL the lil projects and unfinished code bits I've done!

"For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness." - Ralph Waldo Emerson