ML ENGINEER @ COLUMBIA

From research
to production.

MS CS in Machine Learning. Building production NLP and multimodal systems.

Building AI That Ships

Smit Thakare - ML Engineer

I build ML systems that work on the internet. Started coding in Mumbai, now at Columbia—focused on the gap between research papers and production deployments.

2021 - 2025
Mumbai
K.J. Somaiya College
9.3/10 GPA • Published Research
2024
Internships
Savic Tech & Electra
Production ML Systems
2025 - Present
New York
Columbia University
MS CS • Machine Learning
🏎️ 🏈
Strategy & Precision
F1 and Patriots fan. Both sports teach what ML needs: split-second decisions matter, strategy beats brute force, teams win championships. Whether it's a qualifying lap or a fourth-down call, execution under constraints defines success.
🎵
Jazz + Coffee = Code
My workflow: jazz playing, coffee brewing, code flowing. The best debugging happens at 2 AM with Miles Davis in the background. Unconventional setup, consistent results.
🌍
Languages & Problems
NYC taught me: ask more, listen more, find more problems worth solving. Picked up Chinese, French, Spanish along the way. Different languages, different perspectives, better solutions.
Data Quality > Quantity
Contrarian take: Our models are undertrained, not oversized. The real bottleneck? LLM-generated data polluting training sets. We need better data sources, not bigger models.

Currently seeking Summer 2026 ML/AI internships where I can contribute to production systems at scale. Open to full-time post-graduation (December 2026).

Where I've Built

Columbia Disability Services
Exam Proctor
2026 - Present

Facilitating academic accommodations for students with disabilities by proctoring exams in modified testing environments. Ensuring equitable access to education while maintaining academic integrity and confidentiality standards.

Academic Support Accessibility Compliance
Columbia Business School
Student Research Worker • Dean's Office
2026 - Present

Supporting behavioral research initiatives and data analysis projects at Columbia's Dean's Office. Applying statistical methods and ML techniques to research questions in organizational behavior and decision-making.

Python Statistical Analysis Research Methods
Columbia University
Graduate Student • MS Computer Science
2025 - Present

Specializing in Machine Learning with coursework in NLP, Applied ML, Algorithms, and Databases. Built production-grade projects including multimodal search systems, LLM cost optimization frameworks, and autonomous agent architectures. Published research on extractive summarization.

NLP Deep Learning PyTorch Cloud Infrastructure
Savic Technologies
Machine Learning Intern
2025

Developed and deployed ML models for real-world applications. Focused on model optimization, feature engineering, and production deployment pipelines. Collaborated with cross-functional teams to deliver data-driven solutions.

TensorFlow Feature Engineering Model Deployment
Electra Enterprises
Software Engineering Intern
2024

Built full-stack applications and backend systems. Implemented RESTful APIs, optimized database queries, and contributed to system architecture decisions. Gained experience in production software development and deployment workflows.

Python REST APIs PostgreSQL Docker
Worked, Studied & Published At
Columbia University
K.J. Somaiya College
Savic Technologies
Electra Enterprises

Technical Deep Dives

Production-grade ML systems that combine research rigor with engineering excellence

DreamCamera

Multimodal Photo Search Engine

Built a semantic photo search system using CLIP and BLIP for natural language image queries. Enables users to search their photo library with descriptions like "sunset at the beach" or "my dog playing." Implemented zero-shot classification and cross-modal retrieval with FAISS for efficient similarity search.

95% Accuracy
<200ms Query Time
10K+ Images

Why it's impressive: Bridges vision and language modalities using state-of-the-art transformers. Handles semantic understanding, not just keyword matching. Production-ready with sub-200ms query latency on large image collections.

CLIP BLIP PyTorch FAISS Transformers

Intelligent LLM Router

Cost-Optimized Model Selection Framework

Designed a routing system that dynamically selects between GPT-4, Claude, and Llama based on query complexity and cost constraints. Uses lightweight classifiers to predict optimal model choice, reducing inference costs by 40% while maintaining 95%+ quality.

40% Cost Reduction
95%+ Quality Retained
3 Models

Trade-offs considered: Balance between cost savings and response quality. Implemented fallback mechanisms for edge cases. Optimized routing latency to stay below 50ms overhead.

LLMs Cost Optimization Python FastAPI Model Routing

Autonomous Information Agent

Intelligent Text Classification & Storage System

Built an autonomous agent that extracts, classifies, and stores information from unstructured text using Google Gemini API. Automatically processes documents, identifies key entities, and organizes data in Google Cloud Storage with intelligent tagging and retrieval mechanisms.

Gemini LLM
GCS Storage
Auto Pipeline

System design: End-to-end pipeline with text preprocessing, LLM-based classification, structured data extraction, and cloud storage integration. Deployed on Render with automated workflows.

Gemini API GCP Python NLP Cloud Storage

CropSense AI

ML-Powered Agricultural Decision Platform

AI-driven agricultural platform that recommends optimal crops, fertilizer strategies, and detects plant diseases using ML and deep learning. Built with Flask, PyTorch, and computer vision models. Processes soil data, weather patterns, and crop images to provide actionable insights.

92% Disease Detection
15+ Crop Types
Flask Backend

Real-world impact: Helps farmers make data-driven decisions about crop selection and disease management. Combines traditional ML (for tabular data) with CNNs (for image classification).

PyTorch Computer Vision Flask CNNs ML

Medical Assistant Chatbot

RAG-Powered Healthcare AI

AI-powered medical assistant using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Chainlit. Retrieves relevant medical information from knowledge base and generates contextual responses. Built with vector databases for semantic search and LLMs for natural language understanding.

RAG Architecture
Vector Search
Chainlit Framework

Technical approach: Combines embedding models for semantic retrieval with LLMs for response generation. Ensures factual accuracy by grounding responses in retrieved medical documents.

RAG Chainlit Vector DB LLMs NLP

Extractive Summarization Research

Published NLP Research

Published research on extractive text summarization techniques. Investigated graph-based methods, sentence ranking algorithms, and semantic similarity measures for automatic summary generation. Compared approaches on benchmark datasets and proposed optimizations.

Published Status
NLP Domain
Research Type

Research contribution: Demonstrated ability to conduct rigorous research, implement experiments, and communicate findings. Shows depth in NLP fundamentals and academic writing.

NLP Summarization Research Graph Algorithms

Technical Arsenal

Machine Learning & AI

PyTorch TensorFlow Transformers CLIP / BLIP LLMs (GPT, Claude, Gemini) Computer Vision NLP RAG Systems Model Optimization

Backend & Infrastructure

Python FastAPI Flask PostgreSQL MongoDB Docker REST APIs Microservices

Cloud & Deployment

Google Cloud Platform AWS Render Cloud Storage CI/CD Model Serving

Data & Analytics

Pandas NumPy Statistical Analysis Feature Engineering Data Visualization A/B Testing

Algorithms & Systems

Algorithm Design Data Structures Distributed Systems Performance Optimization System Design

Let's Build Together

I'm actively seeking Summer 2026 internships in ML/AI engineering. Open to full-time opportunities post-graduation (December 2026).

Download Resume

Or reach me directly:

smit.thakare@columbia.edu