Portfolio / v5Est. 2026

GaganShivanna

Computer Science graduate student at USC engineering high-performance backends, distributed systems, and applied machine learning. I don't just write code — I build systems that last.

Selected workRésumé
FALL '26 CO-OP · FULL-TIME 2027 ·
GS
Currently @ USC · MS in Computer Science
Role
Software Engineer
Focus
Systems · ML · Backend
Based in
Los Angeles, CA
Status
Fall '26 Co-op / FT '27
50K+
Teams beaten at SIH
22 MiB/s
Sustained storage throughput
<50 ms
Real-time inference latency
SOFTWARE ENGINEERDISTRIBUTED SYSTEMSMACHINE LEARNINGBACKENDCLOUDWEB3SOFTWARE ENGINEERDISTRIBUTED SYSTEMSMACHINE LEARNINGBACKENDCLOUDWEB3
Scroll to explore
(01) — About

Engineering with intent

I don't just write code — I build systems that last.

I'm a Computer Science graduate student driven by one goal: building systems that operate at scale, speed, and precision. My journey began with a strong foundation in mathematics and problem-solving, which evolved into designing intelligent software systems.

From training computer vision models for automated inspection systems to developing blockchain-based platforms that enhance financial transparency, I focus on solving real-world problems with strong engineering principles.

I've worked across backend development, cloud systems, deep learning, and decentralized technologies — building production-ready systems that process real-time data, integrate secure APIs, and maintain reliability under load.

Currently, I'm strengthening my expertise in backend architecture, distributed systems, and machine learning. My goal is to build high-performance systems in environments that demand excellence and scale.

01

Distributed Systems

Fault-tolerant, self-healing infrastructure built for resilience.

02

Applied ML & AI

Retrieval, ranking, and RAG pipelines tuned for low latency.

03

Backend & Cloud

REST APIs, microservices, and secure, reliable data pipelines.

04

Web3 & Blockchain

Decentralized platforms for transparency and trust.

(02) — Experience

Work log

Internships and leadership roles across backend, cloud, and community.

Dec 2025 – Present01

Viterbi Graduate Orientation Leader

University of Southern California

  • 01Guided incoming graduate students through orientation, providing structured support on academic resources, campus systems, and student life.
  • 02Supported international students in navigating cultural adaptation and university processes, ensuring a smooth transition into the community.
  • 03Collaborated with faculty, staff, and fellow leaders to coordinate orientation activities and improve program effectiveness.
Sept 2024 – Feb 202502

Campus Ambassador

Rooman Technologies

  • 01Represented the organization on campus, acting as the primary point of contact between students and the core team.
  • 02Led a team of student volunteers to plan and execute technical and networking events.
  • 03Increased student engagement by driving awareness campaigns through strategic outreach and social media promotion.
  • 04Coordinated cross-functional communication between event sponsors, organizers, and campus administration.
Feb 2024 – July 202403

Software Engineer Intern

Supraja Technologies

  • 01Built and deployed a backend module for an Automatic Malicious Website Blocker Chrome extension, handling 200+ malicious URLs and reducing page load latency by 30%.
  • 02Designed and implemented RESTful APIs and Python microservices with a team of 4 engineers, fixing 15+ critical security vulnerabilities and improving system reliability.
  • 03Optimized network request handling using asynchronous processing and request batching; implemented mitigations against ARP Poisoning and Clickjacking, reducing the attack surface by 85%.
March 2023 – July 202304

Software Engineer Intern

Cranes Varsity

  • 01Collaborated with hardware engineers to develop Python-based sensor services for real-time cloud integration, streaming 100+ data points per second with zero downtime.
  • 02Designed and deployed a cloud-based leak alert system, reducing detection response time by 70% through optimized event processing and alert pipelines.
  • 03Diagnosed and resolved 15+ cloud synchronization and deployment issues, improving system reliability, fault tolerance, and production stability.
(03) — Projects

Selected work

Academic and personal systems spanning distributed infrastructure, applied ML, and full-stack engineering.

F1 / Distributed Systems

Fault-Tolerant Distributed Storage System

A distributed peer-to-peer file system in Go with content-addressable storage, 3× replication, and automatic repair for resilient data recovery across a multi-node cluster.

  • +Redesigned file transfers with io.Pipe/io.Copy streaming, cutting memory complexity from O(N) to O(1) and enabling 1 GiB uploads on resource-constrained Kubernetes pods without buffering entire files.
  • +Validated fault tolerance via chaos testing and Prometheus/Grafana, sustaining 22 MiB/s across 10 concurrent streams.
GoKubernetesgRPCPrometheusGrafana
F2 / Machine Learning

Real-Time Session-Aware Recommendation System

A real-time, session-aware recommender using Two-Tower neural retrieval and MLP reranking to generate personalized movie and top-10 song recommendations across a 62K+ item catalog.

  • +Accelerated candidate generation with FAISS Approximate Nearest Neighbor search and Redis-backed embedding caching.
  • +Reduced end-to-end recommendation latency from ~200 ms to under 50 ms for responsive real-time inference.
PyTorchFAISSRedisTwo-TowerPython
F3 / LLM / GenAI

Hallucination-Aware RAG System

A Retrieval-Augmented Generation pipeline over SEC 10-K filings using the OpenAI GPT API, indexing 22K+ vectors with a DeBERTa-based NLI layer to verify generated responses.

  • +Integrated a Natural Language Inference layer to detect and reduce hallucinations in generated answers.
  • +Cached frequently accessed retrieval contexts in Redis, minimizing redundant vector searches and improving latency under concurrent workloads.
RAGOpenAIDeBERTaVector DBRedis

The Archive

6 entries
04

Blockchain-Based Financial Transparency for NGOs

Web3

A decentralized platform ensuring financial transparency for NGOs by recording donations on-chain with government-verified registration and full donor visibility.

05

Automated PCB Defect Detection

Computer Vision

An automated optical inspection system detecting PCB defects with efficient classification and detailed reporting.

06

Scalable E-Commerce Platform

Full-Stack

A scalable full-stack e-commerce system supporting secure payments and high concurrent transactions.

07

Secure Sky Connect — Blood Delivery

Mobile / Web3

A drone-based emergency blood delivery system integrating blockchain for secure tracking and transparency.

08

Sentiment Analysis System

NLP

A sentiment classification system for analyzing customer feedback and social media opinions.

09

Mulberry Leaf Deficiency Detection

Computer Vision

An ML model detecting leaf nutrient deficiencies to help farmers improve crop yield through early detection.

(04) — Skills

The toolkit

Technologies I reach for to design, build, and ship reliable systems.

01

Languages

PythonJavaGoCSQLSolidityJavaScriptTypeScript
02

Backend & Web

ReactNode.jsDjangoGraphQLREST APIsAuth0Stripe API
03

Machine Learning & AI

PyTorchTensorFlowKerasscikit-learnOpenCVNLPFAISSRAG
04

Cloud & DevOps

AWSDockerKubernetesCI/CDTerraformPrometheusGrafanaGit
05

Blockchain & Web3

EthereumSolidityMetamaskGanacheTruffle
PythonJavaGoCSQLSolidityJavaScriptTypeScriptReactNode.jsDjangoGraphQLREST APIsAuth0Stripe APIPyTorchTensorFlowKerasscikit-learnOpenCVNLPFAISSRAGAWSDockerKubernetesCI/CDTerraformPrometheusGrafanaGitEthereumSolidityMetamaskGanacheTrufflePythonJavaGoCSQLSolidityJavaScriptTypeScriptReactNode.jsDjangoGraphQLREST APIsAuth0Stripe APIPyTorchTensorFlowKerasscikit-learnOpenCVNLPFAISSRAGAWSDockerKubernetesCI/CDTerraformPrometheusGrafanaGitEthereumSolidityMetamaskGanacheTruffle
(05) — Achievements

On the record

Highlights from hackathons, competitions, and innovation challenges.

01

#1 of 500 finalist teams

Smart India Hackathon — Grand Finale Winner

Led Team Pegasus to first place in the Blockchain domain, shortlisted from over 50,000 teams nationwide.

02

Top 25 of 400 teams

FKCCI Manthan Business Plan — Top 25

Recognized for designing Secure Sky Connect, a drone-based blood delivery solution integrating blockchain.

03

USC TiE Hub · Sponsored by Google

Origin Impact Weekend — Winner

Led a cross-functional team to build and present a rapid prototype within 48 hours, securing first place.

(06) — Contact

Say hello

Looking for a Fall 2026 co-op and full-time SWE opportunities for 2027, plus collaborations and interesting problems.

Let's buildsomethingexceptional.

gshivann@usc.eduRésumé
GET IN TOUCH · SAY HELLO · GET IN TOUCH ·
✳
Email
gshivann@usc.edu
Location
Los Angeles, CA
University
USC