Tommy Nicol · Pittsburgh, PA

AI development.
Human perspective.

Computer Science student with a Philosophy minor building AI agent workflows and client software. I connect practical AI development with clear explanations for nontechnical users, informed by ongoing study of bias, alignment, and human agency.

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Original résumé · English · 1 page

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Education

University of Pittsburgh

B.S. in Computer Science · Minor in Philosophy

Expected December 2027 · GPA: 3.3

Coursework in progress

Machine Learning; AI Architectures; Detecting Bias and Hallucinations in AI Systems; Modern Philosophical Problems with AI.

Additional coursework

History of AI; Data Structures and Algorithms; Low-Level Computing; Logic; Spanish language coursework.

Technical skills

Programming

Python, Java, C, R, MIPS Assembly

AI & machine learning

Model selection based on capabilities, limitations, and cost; PyTorch; NumPy; transformers; agent orchestration; context engineering; Claude Code; Codex.

Web & tools

API integration, Cloudflare, GitHub Actions, Git, Linux/Unix, shell scripting.

Spoken languages

English (fluent) · Spanish (conversational)

Additional experience

High-Volume Hospitality — Restaurants and Bars

2021–Present

Coordinated with coworkers and communicated with guests during high-volume shifts, balancing 15+ hours of weekly work with full-time coursework.

Technical experience

Freelance Web Developer

July 2026–Present

  • Built two paid client websites for a student and a local bar, translating client goals into scoped requirements, content, functionality, and launch criteria.
  • Developed an agent-assisted workflow for planning, implementation, review, and browser testing to produce prototypes faster, support client outreach, and help clients compare ideas and refine requirements.

Selected AI projects & research

Adaptive Development Orchestrator

JavaScript · Claude Code · JSON Schema

  • Built a framework that analyzes existing code, breaks requests into manageable tasks, and coordinates agents in the right order.
  • Routed tasks by difficulty and model capability to manage cost and reserve stronger models for complex reasoning.
  • Configured separate review and verification agents to document acceptance criteria, test commands, exit codes, and pass/fail/unverified results, with explicit user approval for releases.

GPT-Style Language Model

Python · PyTorch

  • Implemented and trained a GPT-style transformer on publicly available text, including token embeddings, causal multi-head attention, residual connections, and layer normalization.
  • Built a next-token prediction training loop and examined the generated text.

Text-to-Speech System

Python · Tkinter · Claude API · Edge TTS

  • Built and released a macOS app that turns PDF, Word, and text documents into audio, combining rule-based and Claude-assisted cleanup of citations, headers, and OCR artifacts.
  • Added English/Spanish translation and narration, pitch-preserving playback speed controls, and saved transcripts.

AI Alignment & Human Agency

Philosophy research in progress

  • Investigating how AI alignment should account for human agency, with the goal of informing systems that improve efficiency while preserving people’s ability to make decisions and direct their work.
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