A summer’s worth of opportunities

Computer science major Noah Gallego makes the most of his break

By California State University, Bakersfield

August 28^th, 2024

When computer science major Noah Gallego finished his first year of college at California State University, Bakersfield, he didn’t have three months of relaxation waiting for him on the other side. Instead, he was determined to make the most of the time “off,” squeezing in as many internships, summer classes and other opportunities as he could.

Highlights of Gallego’s busy summer include working as a data analyst extern at Beats By Dre and as a data analyst intern at Adventist Health. He also participated in the Data Science Challenge at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and in projects at the Capital One Launchpad program and Stanford University’s Deep Learning Portal.

“This summer has been extremely hectic for me but so enjoyable,” Gallego said. “Technology is a promising field but has an extremely competitive landscape which has driven me to stand out and bring pride to CSU Bakersfield.”

Gallego said he is fortunate to have so many opportunities available to him. He’s proud of himself for taking on so much over the summer, working up to four jobs at a time as internships overlapped with each other and his work on campus as the Career Pathways web developer and an Apple Support College Advisor. On top of the internships, Gallego also managed A’s in both Calculus II and Assembly: Computer Architecture courses.

Gallego’s summer internships and projects included:

Data Science Challenge at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: In this two-week project, Gallego worked with fellow CSUB student Cristian Peña and students from UC Merced, UC Riverside and Case Western Reserve University to tackle a real-world problem in machine learning-assisted heart modeling. They were given four tasks to solve, all using electrocardiogram data to predict heart health.
Adventist Health internship: Through the COPE Health Scholars program, Gallego is currently working as a data analyst intern at Adventist Health coding data from clients, surveys, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other sources. His final report will be delivered to the board.
Beats by Dre externship: A remote experience where Gallego took raw data from customer reviews to create consumer insights, which were then presented to stakeholders for a final project.
Capital One Launchpad: Gallego was one of 100 business and computer science majors chosen to fly out to Capital One headquarters in Virginia. His team completed a case study to calculate and predict the profitability of a new product, increasing a $10,000-limit credit card to $20,000. His team found that it was not profitable and presented an alternative to Capital One executives. The project won first place.
Stanford Deep Learning Portal: Gallego was one of 14 students chosen to participate in advanced machine learning courses at Stanford University.

“I missed out on family vacations, had many sleepless nights, but have opened a world of opportunities,” Gallego said. “I met many new people that I am able to continue networking with in the future. I am proud to represent CSU Bakersfield in the technology space and hope to continue my momentum to even bigger things in the following months and years.”