Vance Schaefer

COMPUTER SCIENCE @ UMN

Hi, I'm Vance.

I'm a sophomore at the University of Minnesota studying Computer Science. I got started on the backend with FastAPI, then moved to Express and picked up other frameworks along the way. Lately I've been deep in AI, training models with PyTorch and Hugging Face and building stuff on top of them.

Right now I'm looking for internships in software engineering or AI/ML.

See My WorkContact Me
Vance Schaefer

Experience

Software Developer

2024 to 2025

NASA HUNCH Program

  • Built SpaceSync with a team of 3, a web app that converts time across every planet for mission scheduling
  • Picked from a national pool to fly to Houston and present it to NASA engineers at Johnson Space Center

Freelance Web Developer

2024 to now

Independent

  • Built and shipped 2+ client sites end to end with Next.js, FastAPI, and MongoDB
  • Handle hosting and upkeep on Cloudflare and Vercel

Crew Member & Trainer

2024 to now

Culver's

  • Train new hires on the register and front-of-house
  • Work part-time alongside classes and freelance projects

AI / ML Self-Study

Ongoing

Side project

  • Training and fine-tuning models with PyTorch and Hugging Face, and running open-source models like LLaMA and Mistral locally with Ollama
  • Building small apps and agents on top of LLMs to see what they can actually do

Skills & Tools

AI & ML

PyTorchHugging FaceModel trainingFine-tuningOllamaLLaMA / MistralAI agentsClaude / GPT APIsPrompt engineering

Languages

PythonTypeScriptJavaScriptC++HTML / CSS

Web

ReactNext.jsNode / ExpressFastAPIMongoDBJWT Auth

Tools

Git / GitHubLinuxCloudflareVercel

Projects

FeedToVote

Started as a research paper on how social media feeds affect whether people vote. Instead of a slideshow I turned it into a real site. Built solo in Next.js, mobile-first.

FeedToVote

SpaceSync

Time converter for scientists and astronauts on other planets, using real orbital data. Team of 3 for NASA HUNCH. I did the frontend and we presented it to NASA engineers in Houston.

SpaceSync

Say Hi

Looking for internships in software engineering or AI/ML. Email is best, DMs work too.

scha1202@umn.edu
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