Diego Calderon

Highly adaptable and lifelong learner.

Diego Calderon

Highly adaptable, curious, and lifelong learner. Google Scholar
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LinkedIn

Education

  • University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    MS in Computer Science (Expected 2024)
    Completed 23/32 credits, GPA: 3.66/4.0

  • University of Arkansas
    BS in Computer Science, Magna Cum Laude (May 2018)
    Minor in Mathematics, GPA: 3.85/4.0

Skills

Programming Languages: Python, R, SQL, C++, Java, Go, JavaScript
Frameworks/Tools: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Pandas, Numpy, ArcGIS, Apache Airflow, MATLAB, H3, Jupyter, Matplotlib, ggplot2, MicroPython, Unreal, Unity, HTML, CSS, D3.js, Git
Relevant Coursework: Applied Linear Algebra, Probability and Statistics, Human-Computer Interaction, Database Management Systems, High Performance Geospatial Computing

Research Experience

Research Associate
DPRG Lab, UIUC (June 2023 - Dec 2024)

  • Collected weather data to compute and visualize heat island indexes across 150 Chicago sites
  • Built LoRa-based ultra-low-power data loggers
  • Secured pilot deployment through a proposal to city officials

Research Associate
iSENS Group, UIUC (Aug 2022 - May 2023)

  • Built MATLAB and Python pipelines for FMCW and UWB radar data
  • Extended tag detection pipelines
  • Designed safety protocols for indoor drone flight

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Prof. Civelli, Economics, University of Arkansas (Jan 2017 – Oct 2018)

  • Developed a GIS toolkit and MATLAB GUI for a cognitive assessment study (paper)

Undergraduate Research Assistant
Prof. Datta, Statistics, University of Arkansas (Aug 2017 – Aug 2018)

  • Debugged 3D printer robot control issues
  • Built a Shiny app for crime hotspot visualization

Undergraduate Research Fellow
Washington University in St. Louis (May 2017 – July 2017)

  • Designed an algorithm for conditional linear regression
  • PI: Prof. Brendan Juba

Work Experience

Produce Team Member
Whole Foods Market, Boston, MA (Jan 2025 – Present)

  • Provided customer service and maintained displays and backstock
  • Maximized sales through effective preparation and storage

Bus Operator
Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District (Mar 2024 – Jun 2024)

  • Operated 40/60 ft buses on fixed routes
  • Conducted safety inspections

Gameplay Software Engineer
The Studio, UIUC (Apr 2023 – Aug 2023)

  • Built inventory system for VR game
  • Set up Perforce server and trained students

Research Programmer
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (Dec 2018 – Jul 2022)

  • Developed open-source tools for civil engineering, economics, and environmental science
  • Added Airflow-based fault tolerance to ingestion workflows
  • Built APIs and integrated water-quality sensors
  • Implemented OpenID Connect for the IN-CORE platform

Gameplay and Tools Programmer
Tesseract Center, U of Arkansas (Jul 2017 – May 2018)

  • Designed the game Being, inspired by puzzle games and mental health themes
  • Created prototypes and Doxygen-based C# documentation

Game Designer
Tesseract Center, U of Arkansas (Jan 2016 – May 2017)

  • Designed and tested level spaces
  • Balanced gameplay and designed dev tools

Publications

  1. Sinchi, Calderon et al. (2023). Under-Canopy Biomass Sensing Using UAS-Mounted Radar. IGARSS 2023. DOI
  2. Wang, Calderon et al. (2021). Effect of Residential Wind Retrofits on Community Resilience. J. of Infrastructure Systems. DOI
  3. Wang, Calderon et al. (2021). Community Resilience Assessment of EF-5 Tornado. In Life-Cycle Civil Engineering. DOI
  4. Calderon, Juba et al. (2020). Conditional Linear Regression. AISTATS 2020.
  5. Marini, Calderon et al. (2020). Semantic Annotation of Data Using JSON-LD. EarthCube. DOI

Awards

  • Fiddler Innovation Fellowship Finalist (Apr 2024): Honorable mention for heat island project
  • Illinois Green Fund (Jan 2023): $40,000 grant for urban heat island research
  • Honors College Research Grant (Fall 2017): $3,000 for macroeconomic game development
  • Florence McKee Scholarship (Fall 2017): $4,000
  • FIES Scholarship (Fall 2017): $3,000
  • WashU Summer Engineering Fellowship (Summer 2017): $5,000
  • Maria Teresa Frans Scholarship (Fall 2016): $750

Presentations

  • Nov 2019: Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ — Architecture and data-flow of IML CZO
  • Feb 2018: AAAI-32, New Orleans, LA — Conditional Linear Regression (poster)

Conference Proceedings

  • Lee, Navarro, Tolbert, Kim, Naraharisetty, Wang, Ondrejcek, Calderon, Bradley, Fredricksen. IN-CORE: Interdependent Networked Community Resilience Modeling. PEARC 2019. DOI

Mentoring & Outreach

  • Summer 2020: NCSA SPIN — Co-mentored a student on Clowder extractors and object detection API
  • Oct 2019: IN-CORE Annual Meeting — Led support sessions and assisted with software installation and setup

Workshops

  • May 2017: SAMSI Workshop on Data Assimilation for NWP, Raleigh, NC
    • Worked with Dr. Ahmed Attia on a Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter

Personal Projects

To download full CV, please click here