Week 7 & 8
The last two weeks have been packed in the best way possible. Between conferences, workshops, and classes, I’ve been learning from people who are not only shaping AI but also rethinking how we build, communicate, and grow through it.
Colorado Startup Week: AI Builders Meetup
One of my favorite events recently was Colorado Startup Week’s AI Builders meetup, where the local AI community, now over 2,500 strong, came together to share demos, ideas, and lessons learned.
We heard from founders and engineers like Matt Holden (Capset Labs) and Paige Bailey (Google DeepMind), each bringing a different lens to how AI is being applied across industries. From building AI research assistants to redefining multi-agent systems, the conversations were equal parts ambitious and practical.
It was energizing to see how tight-knit and curious the Colorado tech scene is. It is definitely a reminder that Boulder and Denver are quietly becoming serious AI hubs. Huge thanks to Colorado Startup Week and Kalen Jesse Photography for the photos; perfectly sums up the energy of the day.
Agentic AI Conference
I also tuned into sessions from the Agentic AI Conference 2025, a five-day virtual event focused on how intelligent, goal-driven systems are shaping the next stage of AI.
It was packed with sessions on everything from designing intelligent agents and multi-agent workflows to security, governance, and graph-based retrieval systems. I especially liked the tutorials on Agentic Document Extraction with LandingAI and GraphRAG with Neo4j; both gave practical insight into how we can connect structured and unstructured data to make AI systems more adaptive.
It is interesting to see that the field is shifting toward autonomous systems that can reason, collaborate, and improve over time. It feels like we’re moving from building models to building digital teammates, and that’s both exciting and a little humbling to think about.
Apple Engineering Experience
I also attended the Apple Engineering Experience Event at CU Boulder, where top engineers shared how multidisciplinary teams are shaping the future of audio technology at Apple.
I got to speak one-on-one with a few of them, hearing firsthand how they got into Apple, what their day-to-day looks like, and how collaboration across hardware, software, and AI teams actually works in practice. It was amazing to hear how much AI and ML are reshaping the way Apple approaches design and sound; not replacing creativity, but amplifying it.
With Apple continuing to expand in Boulder, it’s exciting to think about the kind of opportunities this could open up for students and early-career engineers in the area.
NASA Day at CU Boulder
Handshake x Google Gemini
This event celebrated Google Gemini Pro, giving students a year of free access to the tool (and a very cool Owala bottle). It was a casual, on-campus event that introduced what’s now available to us, and honestly, a fun way to kick off the semester.
Afterward, I spent some time exploring Gemini myself: testing its multimodal features like generating text, analyzing images, summarizing PDFs, and brainstorming project ideas all in one place. I especially liked how easily it fits into everyday work; a tool that quietly enhances how we study, research, and create.
AI Career Boost: Leveraging AI for Job Search and Development
A few days later, I attended AI Career Boost webinar, which focused on how students can use AI tools to make career prep smarter and more efficient.
CU shared a curated list of approved AI tools, including:
Microsoft Copilot & 365 Copilot: productivity and writing support
Adobe Firefly: creative workflows
Google NotebookLM: an AI research assistant powered by Gemini
Zoom AI Companion: meeting summaries and smart collaboration
What stood out to me was how intentional CU is about AI ethics and data security. Every tool has clear guidelines for data classification and use, which shows how innovation and responsibility can go hand in hand.
Goldman Sachs: Internships & Mock Interviews
This session was another standout. It was a mix of honest career advice and real examples from employees who started where many of us are now.
We talked about:
• Approaching commonly asked interview questions
• Best practices for resume formatting
• What the work culture at Goldman Sachs is really like
It was a great opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with Goldman Sachs employees and hear directly from their experiences; the kind of insights that don’t always make it into online guides.
RIO Workshop: Developing a Broader Impacts Identity
I was also a part of organizing the first Fall 2025 Broader Impacts workshop hosted by CU Boulder’s Research & Innovation Office (RIO), where I currently work as an Impact Intern. The session focused on helping researchers explore their “broader impacts identity”, which translates to how their work connects to community, inclusivity, and long-term societal value.
It hit a little closer to home this time, since part of my work at RIO involves studying how broader impact priorities are evolving across federal agencies and how universities can better support faculty in aligning their research with these goals. Seeing those ideas come to life in real-time during the workshop was both grounding and motivating.
It reminded me that data and research are tools for connection and change when used thoughtfully.
Coursework:
Classes continue to stretch me in the best way.
NLP has been full of hands-on learning: from embeddings, TF-IDF, and PMI scores to Word2Vec, skip-gram models, and recurrent neural networks. We’ve also been exploring autoregressive completion; the kind of stuff that powers models like GPT.
In Neural Networks, we moved from logistic regression to categorical cross-entropy, softmax, and even proved derivatives by hand. I recently built a small neural network to predict XOR. It is simple in concept, but surprisingly elegant in execution.
Information Visualization has taken a more design-centered turn. We’ve been reading Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic and started a “50 Visualization Challenge”: analyzing and redesigning real-world charts to communicate better. It’s changed how I think about data communication: every pixel has a purpose.
If there’s a theme for these two weeks, it’s connection. Between people, ideas, and disciplines. From NASA and Apple to Colorado Startup Week, each experience added a new perspective on how technology, design, and research overlap.
I’m grateful to everyone who organizes and shows up for these events, from CU’s RIO and Career Services to the larger Colorado AI community. There’s something special about being surrounded by people who build, teach, and share not because they have to, but because they care.
Onward to the next few weeks. With more learning, building, and showing up.
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