Derek Andersen

Computational Linguist

View My GitHub Profile

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About

I hold a Master’s in Computational Linguistics from Stony Brook University, where I focused on the intersection of language technology and natural language understanding (NLU). My background includes hands-on experience enhancing NLU models and improving their accuracy for voice assistant applications. I’ve developed and optimized models using techniques such as context-free grammars (CFG) in the Java Speech Grammar Format (JSGF) and supported model training through error analysis and accuracy evaluation.

I bring a strong technical toolkit, including Python for scripting and tool development, the Linux command line, and Git for version control. I’ve also worked with language modeling approaches like n-grams and probabilistic context-free grammars (PCFGs) and utilized content-based filtering to develop recommendation systems.

Alongside my work in NLU, I’ve developed websites and web applications using JavaScript, Node.js, Express, jQuery, HTML/CSS, Mustache, and MongoDB, further expanding my software development skill set. I’m passionate about applying my skills to new challenges in programming and web development.

Education

Year Degree Earned Institution
2019 – 2021 M.A. in Computational Linguistics, Summa Cum Laude Stony Brook University
2016 – 2018 B.A. in Linguistics, Summa Cum Laude Stony Brook University
2013 – 2016 Coursework in Computer Science & Japanese Suffolk County College

Personal Projects

Project Description
Headline Snap Toolkit a toolkit for creating and interfacing with a database of news headlines created with Snapchat
Studying Saturdays an automated weekly learning event that takes place in a Discord server
Custom blog engine the backend for my blog, utilizing Node.js, Showdown.js, and Mustache.js
buzzrec (Master’s thesis) a recommendation engine for academic papers in linguistics, utilizing content-based filtering
Language modeling a comparison of two different language modeling techniques: n-grams and PCFGs
banjospeedruns.com the community website for the Banjo-Kazooie speedrunning community
Bingo-Toolie a companion web app for Banjo-Tooie speedrun bingo written with jQuery
PokeQuiz a Python package for command-line Pokémon knowledge quizzes
speedrunb0t an IRC chatbot for Twitch.tv with Speedrun.com API integration

Publications

Coursework