Russell Semsem
Software Engineer
calhacks snowboarding Tower Hall Image of myself
Hello! 👋
I'm Russell
or Russ,
Welcome to my website! I'm a computer science student at San Jose State University, graduating in May 2025. I'm passionate about solving real-world problems through software engineering. In my free time, I enjoy competing in hackathons, snowboarding, and watching sports.
Feel free to scroll through my internships, projects, and leadership below!
November 2024

Convene AI

Software Engineer

Hackathon Project

Convene AI
At the AI Tinkerers Hackathon, my team of 4 developed Convene AI, a full-stack web application designed for real-time note-taking during video meetings. The platform leveraged Gemini and LlamaIndex to power its AI models, enabling live video summaries and the retrieval of relevant emails and documents during meetings. It also featured a post-meeting section with a readable transcript and an AI chat interface for follow-up questions.

While I developed the frontend and API integrations, I implemented key features such as Daily for video integration, live transcription powered by Deepgram, and an AI-driven component to generate concise video notes. Users could seamlessly access a post-meeting section that provided both an interactive chat interface and a detailed transcript display.

Convene AI was recognized by Daily's CEO as the most creative use of Daily's technology among 30+ teams competing at the event.
Technology Stack
  • React.js
  • Flask
  • Daily
  • Deepgram
  • Gemini
  • LlamaIndex
October 2024

Retain

Software Engineer

Hackathon Project

Retain
At Cal Hacks 2024, my team of 3 students built Retain, an educational platform application that turns your academic material (research papers, class notes, etc.) into personalized audio lectures.

Retain uses a Flask-based retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system designed to process prompts and PDFs efficiently. This system generated OpenAI embeddings, which were stored in a Pinecone vector database to enable fast and accurate retrieval. Leveraging the AutoGen multi-agent framework and GPT-4, the system delivered comprehensive and contextually rich transcripts.

I designed the system architecture using PostgreSQL for data management, Amazon S3 for storing PDFs, and Express.js for creating API endpoints. These endpoints handled client requests, integrated with the Flask-based RAG service for transcript retrieval, and managed text-to-speech functionality through the Cartesia API.
Technology Stack
  • React.js
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Express.js
  • Flask
  • PostgreSQL
  • Pinecone
  • GPT-4o
  • Amazon S3
  • Cartesia API
June 2024 - July 2024

West Monroe

Product Manager

Software Engineer

Internship

West Monroe Building
I had the incredible opportunity to work at West Monroe in their New York City office. West Monroe is a digital services firm providing a wide range of digital solutions to clients, from mid-size businesses to high-profile companies. In my role, I worked as both a Product Manager and Software Engineer within their Product Experience and Engineering Lab practice.

In my first project, I collaborated with a team of product managers, software engineers, and designers to recreate the employee portal for our client, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. As a Product Manager, I led user research throughout the engagement, performing data analysis on user activities and conducting user interviews. This information guided the development of the product roadmap for my team and informed the creation of essential metrics to evaluate our product's success. Other responsibilities included QA, stress testing, and presenting demos to the client.

In my second project, I collaborated with a different team of software engineers to develop an internal case study repository for all of the firm's client engagements. The tech stack included Next.js for the frontend and .NET with C# for the backend. I enhanced the design and style of the case dashboard and added filtering functionality to streamline case retrieval. This project reduced the time spent on case research by over 90%, significantly improving client delivery presentations for over 2,000 consultants across the firm.
Skills
  • Next.js
  • HTML/CSS
  • .NET
  • C#
  • Client Communication
  • User Research
  • Data Analysis
  • Product Quality Assurance
  • Product Mapping
  • Product Demoing
  • UAT
  • KPI
June 2023 - August 2023

Deloitte

Cybersecurity Analyst

Internship

Deloitte University
At Deloitte, I worked as a Cybersecurity Analyst in their Risk and Financial Advisory practice. During my internship, my team and I built and maintained the SAP security system for a $XX billion global chemical and materials company, enabling effective management of user access and authorizations for business transactions and essential tasks. One initiative I led was laying the groundwork for a new SAP Fiori security system interface by converting 11,000 security codes from the client's existing SAP S/4HANA system.
Skills
  • SAP S/4HANA
  • SAP Fiori
  • Data Analysis
  • Client Communication
May 2022 - August 2022

NextFlex

Software Engineer

Internship

NextFlex PCB
My first internship that kickstarted my career. At NextFlex, I worked as a Software Engineer, building full-stack applications to detect defects on printed circuit boards. I developed the frontend dashboard with React.js and the backend with Express.js. In addition, I ran virtual simulations of a robotic arm capturing images using Unity and C#. These scripts were designed to operate a real robotic arm, enabling it to capture images of multiple printed circuit boards.
Skills
  • React.js
  • Express.js
  • Javascript
  • JSON
  • Python
  • C#
  • Unity
August 2021 - Present

Theta Tau

Regional Delegate

President

New Member Director

Service Director

Leadership

Theta Tau Chapter Photo, Fall '22
The one extracurricular I dedicated as much time to as my studies was Theta Tau. It became a place where I built my confidence over time, developing both my technical and interpersonal skills. When I started college, I wanted to meet like-minded engineers and have fun along the way, and Theta Tau did not disappoint. I learned from some of the most driven and accomplished upperclassmen, both academically and professionally. Now, I do my best to pass on the same advice and knowledge to newer members.

Throughout my time, I held various roles, including Service Director, New Member Director, President, and Regional Delegate. Each position brought unique challenges and opportunities to help grow the chapter. One of my proudest achievements was revamping our professional development approach, helping members secure their first internships.

I learned to execute a vision for professional and community growth while collaborating with a highly motivated team.
Skills
  • Leadership & Vision
  • Decision-Making
  • Communication
  • Strategic Planning
  • Financial Budgeting
  • Problem Solving
  • Outreach Engagement
  • Relationship Building
  • Adaptability
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