Troy Wu software engineer

I build backend systems and full-stack platforms for high-constraint, real-world problems, from geospatial analytics to fleet optimization.

Move your cursor over the city to sample the contour map, nine points at a time.

Manhattan from Top of the Rock, my photo

About

I'm a Cornell M.Eng Computer Science student focused on backend engineering, systems design and applied optimization. I like turning modeling work, from REST API architecture to PostGIS spatial queries and Gurobi decision models, into infrastructure people can actually use.

Recently I built a geospatial analytics platform on NASA-supported satellite data for Cornell's School of Integrative Plant Science, contributed to a Django and Gurobi system that schedules electric bus charging on real transit data, and shipped backend and mobile features at Splitz and SkyIT Services. I like the unglamorous parts of those systems best, like the cache that keeps a rate-limited API inside its quota, or the transaction that stops a half-finished data load from corrupting a solver run.

I'm most interested in backend and API architecture at scale, optimization-driven decision engines, and financial and operational infrastructure.

Looking for
Full-time backend and full-stack roles
Available
December 2026, after I graduate
Where
New York City and other cities, on-site, hybrid or remote
Strongest in
Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, REST APIs

Selected work

In design

Urban digital twin for NYC waste containerization

New York is moving trash off the curb and into sealed Empire Bins. Our team is building a tool that shows policymakers where that rollout could go wrong and why.

  • Mapping the feedback loops and tradeoffs between waste generation, curb space, collection reliability and neighborhood equity with the URIS systems-mapping method
  • Exploring NYC open data (DSNY, 311, PLUTO, the LION street network) to find spatial disparities and pick what the model should predict
  • Designing the geospatial data pipeline and PostGIS data layer that combine NYC street, building-lot, and 311 data behind a FastAPI backend
  • Planning an interpretable LightGBM model with SHAP explanations, so a policymaker can see which factors drive predicted risk at each location
Role
ML and geospatial data researcher
Where
AI for Cities group (Dynamic Cities Studio), Cornell Engineering, 5-person team
When
September 2026 to now
Stack
Python, PostgreSQL, PostGIS, FastAPI, LightGBM, SHAP
Completed

Electric bus fleet charging scheduler

Electric buses have to charge between routes without blowing the electricity bill. An eight-person team built a system that finds the cheapest schedule that still keeps every bus on time.

  • Django REST endpoint that bulk-loads real GTFS transit data into PostgreSQL for the Gurobi optimizer
  • Dataset-prefixing scheme to merge several GTFS datasets into one solver run without key collisions, wrapped in atomic transactions so a failed load never leaves partial data
  • Time-slot sizing and minimum charging-window constraints in the team's linear program
Role
Full-stack engineer
Where
Cornell Engineering, 8-person M.Eng team
When
January to May 2026
Stack
Python, Django REST Framework, Gurobi, PostgreSQL, React
Code
My GTFS loader pull request
Completed

Archived, a marketplace for independent music

Friends of mine who make music had nowhere good to sell beats or finish half-written tracks together. I designed and built an iOS app for them on my own as my senior project.

  • Producers list beats for instant purchase or auction, and artists buy beats and unfinished "opens" to complete
  • Group-buy lets fans pool money to purchase an unreleased track
  • Direct messages and requests so artists and producers can find collaborators
Where
Senior project, Loyola Marymount University
When
Spring 2025, solo
Stack
Swift, SwiftUI, Firebase

More things I've built

All repositories on GitHub

Experience

  1. ML and Geospatial Data Researcher, AI for Cities

    Cornell Engineering, Ithaca. September 2026 to now

    Urban digital twin for New York's Empire Bins waste-containerization program: systems mapping, NYC open-data analysis and interpretable ML for city policymakers.

  2. Full-Stack Engineer, OpenET Water-Use Platform

    Yang Lab, Cornell CALS, Ithaca. April to August 2026

    FastAPI, PostgreSQL/PostGIS and Leaflet.js platform on satellite evapotranspiration data, with anomaly detection and a Claude-powered chat assistant. Demoed live to New York farmers.

  3. Full-Stack Engineer, Electric Bus Charging Scheduler

    Cornell Engineering, Ithaca. January to May 2026

    Django REST ingestion of real GTFS transit data into a Gurobi linear program that minimizes fleet charging cost.

  4. Mobile Engineer Intern, Splitz

    Los Angeles, remote. September to December 2025

    Built the underwriting module's React Native app from scratch for a fintech startup that scores creator contracts: document upload for PDF, DOCX and images, extracted-data review, and a deal review screen that prefills forms from JSON to cut manual entry for underwriters.

  5. Backend Software Engineer Intern, SkyIT Services (GBCS Group)

    Calgary, remote. May to September 2025. Ranked 2nd of 30 interns.

    Built a Puppeteer and pdf-lib export pipeline for the Voop proposal platform, shipped CRUD and CSV-export APIs with Node.js, Express and Prisma on Azure SQL, and fixed a version-restore feature the team had flagged as broken.

  6. M.Eng Computer Science, Cornell University

    Graduating December 2026

  7. B.S. Computer Science, Loyola Marymount University

    2021 to 2025

    Minor in Statistics and Data Science. Dean's List three semesters.

Tools I use

Languages

Python, Java, C, TypeScript, JavaScript, SQL, Swift

Backend

FastAPI, Django REST Framework, Node.js, Express, Prisma

Data and maps

PostgreSQL, PostGIS, Azure SQL, geospatial pipelines, API caching

Optimization and frontend

Linear programming, Gurobi, React, React Native, SwiftUI, Leaflet.js

Away from the keyboard

I grew up in Taipei, Taiwan, which explains my two lifelong habits: eating well and playing sports. I played varsity basketball in high school, got into bodybuilding in college, and joined Cornell Rugby when I started my master's.

#6NCR Division II
2026 preseason

Cornell Rugby

I joined the Big Red when I started my M.Eng, and the team is ranked sixth in National Collegiate Rugby's 2026 Division II preseason power rankings. Off the pitch I built the site our team uses for film days and workout logs.

From Taipei

Taipei is home. If you ever want a restaurant recommendation there, from night-market stalls to beef noodle soup, ask me. I speak Mandarin and English.

Basketball, lifting, rugby

Varsity basketball in high school, bodybuilding through college, and now rugby at Cornell. Lifting is also why I helped build MyCampusGym, an app for finding a workout partner on campus.

Gaelic games in Bangkok

In 2025 I joined the Taiwan Celts and traveled with them to the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok, where clubs from across Asia compete. We won our championship final.

Travel

I've lived and worked in Taipei, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Ithaca, and Puerto Rico is my favorite place I've ever been. Most of the photos above are from trips like that.

Music

EDM, hip-hop and reggaeton, ideally live at a festival with friends. Music is also why I built Archived, a marketplace for independent artists.

On my watchlist

I've rewatched Friends, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory more times than I'll admit, and I'll watch almost anything A24 puts out.

Get in touch

yw2888@cornell.edu

I'm happy to talk about backend roles, geospatial data, optimization, or anything on this page.

Phone
(213) 644-1573
Instagram
@troythetre
LinkedIn
in/wu-troy
GitHub
troythetre