Hello! 👋

I'm Benjamin Thomas

Undergradute Senior @ University of Maryland - College Park

About Me

I'm an Information Science major with a focus in AI/ML and software development. I learn by building - turning ideas into tools others can use. I gravitate toward personal projects because they allow me to solve problems I care about while pushing me beyond my current knowledge level. Whether it's fine-tuning a transformer model, developing full stack applications, or architecting a browser extension from scratch, I approach every challenge with perseverance and resilience. I'm actively seeking entry level positions where I can learn from experienced professionals and keep building things that matter.

PythonJavaScript/TypeScriptSQLPyTorchTransformersScikit-learnNumPyTensorflowTrainer APITransformers.jsHugging FaceFastAPIGemini APINode.jsReact.jsMV3Vite

Projects

01

Investi-gator Extension (in development)

An Edge/Chrome extension that helps users take back control of their social media experiences. Will passively detect if posts on social media platforms contain AI images/text, were posted by bots or is a likely scam when users scroll.

PyTorchTypeScriptReact.jsTransformersTrainer APIScikit-learnHugging FaceGemini APIPandasNumPyMV3Vite
02

Student Mental Health Scoring System

A full-stack mental health rating system that helps users keep track of their mental health and habits. Generates mental health ratings based on user-submitted habit data, and provides user-tailored visualizations.

Node.jsPythonJavaScriptScikit-learnSQLPandasNumPyREST APIsNormalizationMatplotlib
03

GroupMe Scam Bot Detector

A scam detector bot that flags high-risk messages with 98% accuracy, and sends automated alerts to admins and chat members.

PythonFlaskScikit-learnMatplotlibSupervised Learning

Experience

Software Developer (Volunteer)

CIB Mango Tree

August 2026 - Present
  • Collaborate on an open-source interactive data analysis tool to help journalists detect bot patterns within social media datasets.
  • Developed a popup feature that allows users to view all posts in a dataset made by a specific account.

Inclusion Companion

Howard County Recreation & Parks

June 2024 - Aug 2025
  • Actively supervised campers with disabilities to foster inclusive environments in summer camps.
  • Coordinated with leadership to enhance participation through activity modifications tailored to camper needs.
  • Maintained safety and adherence to duties: set-up, managing activities, and enforcing protocols.

Seasonal Event Staff

Merriweather Post Pavillion

June 2023 - August 2024
  • Scanned tickets, checked bags, and screened patrons at venue points of entry.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Information Science

University of Maryland - College Park

2023 - 2027
  • GPA: 3.235
  • Dean's List: Spring 2025, Spring 2026
  • Student Orgs: Campus Coder Crew, Code: Black

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

2026 - 2029
  • Topics: AWS Cloud Concepts, Core AWS Services, Security & Compliance, and Costs

Machine Learning Specialization

Coursera | DeepLearning.AI | Standford Online

2025
  • Completed 95+ hours of coursework
  • Topics: Supervised Learning, Unsupervised Learning, Recommender Systems, Reinforcement Learning, Neural Networks, Decision Trees