Nature Background
Liam Tanner headshot

Liam Tanner

Software Engineer

 

Projects

Motion Estimation Video Compression Optimizations
July - Aug 2026
Optimized a 16x16 Sum-of-Absolute-Differences (SAD) kernel for motion estimation on an ARM architecture. Developed a custom, stateless SAD4 operation, and integrated it via a patched QEMU emulator and inline assembly. Achieved an 11.89x execution speedup using the custom opcode and a peak 34.93x speedup by implementing an ARM NEON SIMD vectorization pipeline.
CARM AssemblyHardware Optimization
AI Incident Orchestrator
May - Aug 2026
Engineered a production-ready AI orchestration pipeline for diagnosing and providing recommended actions to mitigate cyber security threats. Leveraged LLMs and RAG context to automate recommendation generation in a distributed environment.
PythonPostgreSQLGroq APICI/CD
Convolutional Engine
Apr 2026
Engineered a high-performance image processing library that uses shared memory tiling to minimize global memory bottlenecks and maximize GPU throughput for convolutional computations.
CUDAC++
EfficientAD Anomaly Detector
Mar 2026
Engineered a state-of-the-art anomaly detection pipeline in PyTorch, by writing the Patch Description Network class, training the teacher network and removing bottlenecks from the student/autoencoder training algorithm to allow for 70,000 training iterations in under 2 hours. Achieved an AUROC score of 0.88 on a diverse industrial dataset with less than 1 millisecond performance.
PyTorchCNN Architecture
Breast Cancer Diagnosis Model
Feb 2026
Engineered a regularized logistic regression model for breast cancer diagnosis, achieving a 98.59% accuracy on the WDBC dataset by implementing a regularized softmax cost function and gradient descent from scratch.
MATLABMachine Learning
ML Exoplanet Identifier and Visualizer
Oct 2025
Trained a Random Forest model to classify whether or not an event is likely to be an exoplanet using NASA's Kepler data for the NASA Space Apps Hackathon. Built an interactive application to visualize the data, hosting the frontend on Vercel and the backend/ML on Render. Check out this live site below!
Scikit-learnPythonVercelRender
Ray Tracer
Mar — Jun 2025
Developed a ray tracer capable of rendering 3D animations using vector math and rendering logic without relying on graphics APIs by following a textbook.
C++
Embedded Traffic Light Simulation
Feb — March 2025
Designed the hardware architecture for an STM32F4-based traffic simulation, using 22 LEDs, a potentiometer, and 3 daisy-chained shift registers. Synchronized the 19-bit LED array to simulate traffic flow through a stoplight controlled intersection. Calculated and wired precise series resistors to protect the power supply and components.
RTOSCircuit DesignEmbedded C
Virtual Triage System
Sept — Nov 2024
With emergency department wait times exceeding 8 hours in BC, we need a more efficient way to diagnose prospective emergency deparment patients in order to determine the severity of their afflictions. Our Virtual Triage System allows patients to submit their symptoms to a remote nurse who assigns patient priorities in order to create a virtual queue. Patients can then wait for an available physician from the comfort of their own homes. Furthermore, patients can monitor the current wait times of the emergency deparments in their area.
ReactJSPythonMongoDBFastAPI
Autonomous IR Detecting Robot
Jan — Apr 2022
Built a custom IR light detection robot capable of detecting an IR beacon, travelling towards it and depositing a payload.
C

Experience

Software Engineer
AUVIC - Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Club
Jan 2025 — Aug 2026Victoria, BC
  • Engineered a ROS 2 dynamic configuration pipeline to extract PID and Kalman filter values from YAML files, eliminating C++ recompilation downtime and enabling real-time parameter tuning during pool testing of an autonomous submarine.
  • Represented the University of Victoria at RoboSub 2026 in Irvine, California, resolving critical thruster saturation limits and engineering a state machine for autonomous navigation, advancing the team to the semi-finals of an international engineering competition.
Software Developer
Natural Resources Canada
June — Dec 2025Victoria, BC
  • Engineered automated data processing pipelines to transform large PostgreSQL datasets into SQLite and flatfile releases, reducing processing time from hours to seconds.
  • Engineered a release-versioning system using SQL and encryption to encode and track all future release metadata.
  • Authored custom Linux Bash scripts to automate the extraction and repair of a legacy website without source code, enabling the engineering team to instantiate a fully functional local environment with a single command.
Research Assistant - Induced Seismicity Project
Natural Resources Canada
Sept 2023 — April 2024Sidney, BC
  • Engineered 3 increasingly complex CO₂ injection simulations using Python meshes and the OpenGeoSys finite element solver, becoming the first NRCan researcher to implement this workflow successfully.
  • Advanced the project from stylized models to a real-world case study by engineering a 3-layer finite element simulation of the SECURE INGA wastewater disposal well, utilizing precise depth profiles and material properties.

Tools & Technologies

Python
Python
C++
C++
C
C
JavaScript
JavaScript
Bash
Bash
Linux
Linux
MATLAB
MATLAB
ReactJS
ReactJS
FastAPI
FastAPI
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
MongoDB
MongoDB
Docker
Docker
AWS
AWS
PyTorch
PyTorch
Scikit-learn
Scikit-learn
NumPy
NumPy
OpenCV
OpenCV
ROS
ROS
Git
Git
Python
Python
C++
C++
C
C
JavaScript
JavaScript
Bash
Bash
Linux
Linux
MATLAB
MATLAB
ReactJS
ReactJS
FastAPI
FastAPI
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
MongoDB
MongoDB
Docker
Docker
AWS
AWS
PyTorch
PyTorch
Scikit-learn
Scikit-learn
NumPy
NumPy
OpenCV
OpenCV
ROS
ROS
Git
Git

Education & Certifications

Bachelor of Software Engineering
University of Victoria
Sept 2021 — Aug 2026Victoria, BC

8.80/9.00 GPA (93% Avg) During my final year.

8.05/9.00 Overall GPA.

Highlighted Coursework:

Optimization for Machine LearningComputer VisionEmbedded SystemsCommunication NetworksOperating SystemsDatabase SystemsData MiningSecurity EngineeringSoftware Architecture & DesignControl TheoryMicroprocessor-Based SystemsMatrix AlgebraProbability and StatisticsSignal ProcessingAlgorithms & Data Structures I & II
AWS Cloud Practitioner Certified
Amazon Web Services

Certification covering AWS Cloud concepts, services and design

About Me

Outside of tech, I like to play sports and explore nature. I grew up playing hockey and baseball, and love spending time in the mountains, racing enduro mountain bikes and skiing. This connection to the outdoors has directly shaped my professional life. During an 8-month co-op with Natural Resources Canada on the Induced Seismicity Project, I modeled real-world sites to ensure fracking and wastewater disposal wouldn't trigger harmful seismic activity in remote communities. Later, as a Software Developer at the Pacific Forestry Centre, I collaborated with like-minded engineers and scientists who care deeply about protecting BC’s forests. In my final two years at the University of Victoria, I've been building skills in machine learning and computer vision such as mathematical optimization, data mining techniques and the design and training of convolutional neural networks; exploring these skills through projects, class work and contributions as a member of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Interdisciplinary Club, where we build autonomous submarines. Through the club, I represented my University at RoboSub 2026 in Irvine, California. On top of that, I always have fun playing around with full stack and web dev projects like the website you are currently on!

Let's Connect

I am currently looking for new opportunities and collaborations. Whether you have a question about my work or just want to say hi, I will try my best to get back to you!