Karen Cao

Software Engineer Intern @ MongoDB | Computer Science + Robotics @ Caltech

Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States

About

Contact: [email protected] Driven undergraduate at Caltech pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science. Passionate about building robust software systems and leveraging artificial intelligence and math modeling to create impactful, real-world solutions! Excited by both industry and research, with additional interests in robotics, quantitative finance, and startups.

Experience

  • Software Engineer Intern at MongoDB
    Apr 2026 - Present · 3 mos

    Incoming Summer 2026

  • Computer Science Teaching Assistant at Caltech
    Sep 2025 - Dec 2025 · 4 mos

    -Host weekly office hours to help students debug code and strengthen their understanding of Python and Java concepts -Facilitate class discussions and answer student questions during lectures -Conduct in-person grading sessions, prompting students to explain their code and reasoning

  • Missile Defense Software Engineer Intern at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
    Jun 2025 - Oct 2025 · 5 mos

    - Develop CNN-based machine learning models to enhance radar target detection and signal processing - Integrate hyperparameter tuning with Bayesian optimization & attention-based transformers to improve model accuracy - Communicate technical progress in weekly team meetings and engage in career development workshops

  • Undergraduate Researcher @ Newman Lab at Caltech
    Mar 2025 - Jun 2025 · 4 mos

    - Second authored paper published in Nature Microbiology on Drought and Antibiotic Resistance - Processed and analyzed large-scale, high-resolution geospatial data in Python to compute changes in the De Martonne aridity index at 0.25° latitude/longitude grids - Transformed shifts in the aridity index into projected changes in hospital antibiotic resistance using a defined linear slope - Programmed global heatmaps to highlight potential climate-driven impacts on antibiotic resistance

  • Susquehanna (SIG) First Year Discovery Day at Susquehanna International Group
    Feb 2025 - Feb 2025 · 1 mo

    -Insight into market making, game theory, and decision science to understand how trading, technology, research, and business teams collaborate in a fast-paced trading environment