Michael
Zhao
programmer · student · artist
About Me
Who Am I?
Hi! I'm Michael, an undergraduate student studying computer science at UTD. On my own time, I like to work on personal projects through code and art :DD
Coding
Ever since I've started learning how to code, I've never stopped learning and building new things. I've worked with various languages, frameworks, and libraries across multiple disciplines of computer science. Currently, I'm exploring the intricacies behind Rust and its unique approach to language design. I've listed an assortment of my projects below, and you can find all of my projects on Github!
Hackathons
I have gone to most of the largest hackathons in Texas, and it's one of the most incredible experiences that any computer science student can have. A hackathon is a huge event where you and a team have 24 hours to build an innovative project and present it to judges. I've been to my fair share of hackathons (and won a couple), so I decided to settle down and help organize HackUTD. I currently serve as the director, and I hope to make this year's event the best we've ever had.
Other Stuff!
Besides coding and attending hackathons, I also enjoy making art — traditional sketching will always be my favorite, but I have been doing a lot more digital art/design; reading books — science fiction is definitely top tier; DnD — I play as a cleric weekly in an awesome campaign with an even more awesome group of people; and working out!
Projects
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.
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!
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.
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 2023 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.
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.
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.
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.
Stickerinator
Creator, Developer
Remove backgrounds and add a border to your images to turn them into stickers!
BrainF*ck Interpreter
Creator, Developer
A crude but effective Brainfuck interpreter written in C