hello!

I'm Cindy Zhang, a fourth year at UC Berkeley majoring in Computer Science. Out of all the classes I've taken, I've enjoyed CS 170 (algorithms) and CS 61B (data structures) the most. I'm also currently a CS 170 TA and previously I've taught CS 61B.

Outside of academics, one of my main hobbies is wushu (Chinese martial arts). I love spontaneous adventures, and more specifically, I have an unhealthy obsession with going to the beach. Whenever I get the chance, I enjoy spending my time outdoors and exploring new places, capturing picturesque views on my phone.

CS 170 Teaching Materials

Feel free to contact me at cindyxzhang@berkeley.edu!

projects

gRoutes

React, Java Servlets, Datastore

Picture-based attractions explorer and day trip planner.

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StackOverflow Scraper

React, Flask

Scrape StackOverflow posts for bug, error, and implementation solutions.

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Min Dominating Network

Python

Approximation algorithm for an NP-Hard problem related to dominating sets.

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Pintos

Educational opertating system supporting primitive versions of select features.

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UPE Voting System

React, Flask

Voting system for users to create or join elections.

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experience

Citadel

SWE Intern | May - August 2021

As a SWE intern on the Data Strategies team in Citadel's Global Fixed Income. I redesigned a distributed compute system that allows users to submit an arbitrary chain of functions and a list of inputs to execute in parallel on kubernetes.

This was my most fulfilling internship, as I was handed a real project with significant impact and I also had the ownership to design a reliable and scalable system based on the business needs that were communicated to me. I worked with various technologies, including Docker, Kubernetes, MongoDB, as well as many internal tools. Every day I was doing something I've never done before. Citadel's work culture is definitely more intense than a traditional tech company, but it's true when they say that I'll never get bored. There's always interesting problems to solve and brilliant people to learn from.

Google

STEP Intern | May - August 2020

As a STEP intern in Google Travel, I worked with two other interns to build a webapp with React frontend and Java Servlet backend that increases exploration of non mainstream attractions and streamlines the trip planning process. View demo video here!

Various Google APIs were integrated to query nearby attractions, display their images, render maps with pins and directions, and autocomplete searches. The route between selected attractions could be customized with drag and drop rearrangement or optimized with a 2-approximate Traveling Salesman algorithm. Finally, once the trip is created, it can be saved and shared.

Needless to say, this was an amazing internship. I experienced the entire development process from ideation to deployment. I learned how to write a good design document, the code review process, git workflows, and proper unit testing. Even though this was a virtual internship, I felt very connected with my team and Google in general. There were so many intern events, and I took advantage of the ease of virtual coffee chats to connect with Googlers to learn about their experiences.

CUBES

Undergraduate Researcher | March - December 2020

At CUBES (Center for the Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space), I worked on the Systems Design and Integration Division to build object oriented models to simulate and optimize a biologically-driven Mars exploration mission.

I designed and implemented a dynamic inventory to keep track of all objects in the system and their states.PyCATSHOO is used to model hybrid systems and simulate processes that would take place on a long-term human mission to Mars.

Triton

Part Time Intern | November 2019 - February 2020

I redesigned a revamped Triton's webite using React with Redux. On the website, customers can sign up for their service or request a demo, and this automatically sends a slackbot notification to Triton.

This was my first experience working at a startup, and the fast pace of the company was a nice break to the routine of classes. At the time of my internship, Triton had two full time employees and one other intern. As a result, I felt the importance of my work and clearly saw its impact.

Berkeley EECS Department

CS 61B TA (sp21), CS 170 Reader (sp21, fa20), CS 61B Tutor (sp20, fa19) | August 2019 - Present

As a part of course staff at Berkeley, I've mostly taught weekly sections to guide students towards a better understanding of the material. I also hold office hours, grade assignments, and develop course material.

It's super rewarding to teach an introductory CS course at Berkeley, as I can make an impact on students' decisions to pursue the field. CS 61B and CS 170 were the courses that really convinced me that I chose the right major. (Plus, is it just me, or is it really satisfying to write on white boards?)

Dolby

QA Intern | May - August 2019

I was on the Dolby Vision team, where I wrote Python scripts to verify their video compression algorithm. I adapted scripts to be more scalable and versatile, and Pytest was used to automate the tests.

The scripts parsed out config files provided by the research team that specified information such as the video frames and compression type. In the end, tiff files were generated to compare the compressed versions against the original at high resolution TVs.

This was my first internship, and it was great to experience workplace culture and I had an amazing mentor to guide me through (we went on boba runs too). One regret though, was not talking more to the people working around me. I missed out on the opportunity to learn more about their work and to feel more included in the workplace.

about

Wushu

Wushu (Chinese martial arts) can be thought of as a combination of traditional martial arts and acrobatics, and it involves everything from kicks to stances to flips. I started wushu when I was 8, and since then, wushu has been not only an outlet for stress, but it has also given me a community of supportive and hilarious friends. I did tear my ACL doing it though, unfortunately, but I'm trying to get back into it ASAP!

Traveling

I love exploring new places. One of my favorite trips was backpacking through Plumas National Forest, where our surroundings actually matched the pictures on the packaging of our freeze dried dinner. Even though my current broke-college-student definition of traveling mainly involves visiting nearby parks, I'm always eager to spend the day outside. I'm particularly obsessed with beach trips and finding nice places to watch the sunset.