The Visitor Center
Alex Toohey
- From
- San Francisco, CA
- Studying
- Data Science & Computer Science, Berkeley '28
- Currently
- Visa · Data Science Intern
Background
Hi, I'm Alex! I grew up in San Francisco, where I attended Lowell High School, and came to Berkeley for Data Science in 2024, picking up a Computer Science minor and an Economics domain emphasis along the way. I am especially interested in the many applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence to build intelligent systems with real-world impact, solving challenging problems at a large scale. I'm open to any opportunities in machine learning, artificial intelligence, software engineering, data science, and data engineering.
The Work
My work spans machine learning, data infrastructure, software systems, and applied AI. At Visa, I developed an LLM-native merchant recommendation model that outperformed the existing production model while requiring far less training data. At Databricks, I worked on regression-testing infrastructure for large-scale AI/ML data systems. I have also explored reserach involving diffusion-model steering through reinforcement learning and built platforms, models, and tools involving recommendation systems, anomaly detection, retrieval, and distributed computing. The projects I enjoy most combine technical depth with a clear purpose. I like taking an ambiguous problem, experimenting until I understand it, and building a solution that is both technically rigorous and genuinely useful.
Off Trail
I started doing longer national park trips a few years ago, and the parts that stuck with me were always the specific ones: the light at Haleakalā right before sunrise, how much bigger sequoias are in person than in any photo, how quiet Joshua Tree gets at night. I love traveling and exploring new places, and in addition to visiting 15 national aprks and counting, I also interned abroad in London during Summer 2025 and plan to study abroad in Madrid during Spring 2027.
Around Campus
Data Science Society at Berkeley, Data Discovery, Berkeley SkyDeck, the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program, Code for Good, Sports Analytics Group at Berkeley, Data 8 course staff, Data & CS Scholars, the Data Science Undergraduate Association, the Space Sciences Lab, the Computational Approaches to Human Learning Lab, and intramural flag football, soccer,and dodgeball.