Our “Faces of Abe” profile for August features a self-described nerd, combat sport aficionado, hopeful world traveler and someone capable of being productive in extremely small spaces. Say “hi” to Lucas Pasqualin, Senior Machine Learning Engineer.
Where do you call home?
San Francisco, California
How long have you lived there? Where before?
I took the leap of moving from the east coast to California only six months ago! I’d lived in Orlando since 2013 and South Florida before that. So far, so good!
Who calls San Francisco home along with you?
A beautiful Greyhound named Lambda.
Where did you attend school?
I received a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Central Florida (GO KNIGHTS!).
What led you to your career path?
I’ve always been a bit enamored with Data – it’s all around us and almost everything can be described with data. If you do a good job with your descriptions, you can then turn that data into actionable information and actually improve people’s lives with a little bit of wisdom! To me, it feels a bit like peering behind the curtain of life and getting to see some of the hidden logic and relationships between things we experience every day.
Speaking of your role, tell us more about what you do at Abe.ai…
As Sr. Machine Learning Engineer, a large part of my job is ensuring that we have an absolutely fierce model deployment architecture. Our clients have some of the highest requirements in the game, meaning we have to train deep learning models on-demand and as quickly as feasibly possible. It’s also extremely important that we can handle high throughput on the prediction side, so a large portion of my time is also spent optimizing model predictions.
In addition to developing the architecture around our models, I’ve also developed or helped develop multiple models for Natural Language Understanding. These models help us understand our end-users better and are what allow people to talk to Virtual Assistants as if they were humans.
Finally, my most recent project involves developing models and tools for understanding Dialog, or multi-step conversations with complicated context and state management. I think we hit the nail on the head on this one – watch out world!
How long have you been with Abe?
I’ve been around since almost the beginning. My first desk was in a converted closet in our apartment office. That was sometime before the Summer of 2017, so I guess that puts me at around three years at Abe. We’ve grown a lot since then!
What do you enjoy best about working at Abe.ai?
I’ve never quite worked at a place like Abe.ai. The team is exceptionally intelligent and motivated, but also very team oriented and results driven. Whether I need someone to pick up some slack on a PR or just a ride home, I know someone at Abe always has my back. It also doesn’t hurt to be completely challenged all the time!
What do you do in your spare time?
I’m a huge video game/anime nerd, so you can often find me playing a video game on some sort of system. I also have a passion for combat sports. I train Muay Thai a couple times a week and am looking forward to starting Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at some point in the future. Oh, and I love cooking!
What’s getting heavy rotation in your music playlist these days?
The Fatties, a really underground punk band. They’re great and it also doesn’t hurt that a fellow Abe’r is the drummer.
Favorite TV show/series?
Recently, I’ve been absolutely cackling at “Norsemen” on Netflix. That’s good stuff.
Favorite movie of all time?
This one is tough and will probably change by next week, but currently it’s “Lord of the Rings: Two Towers.”
What’s one thing that people would be surprised to know about you?
I have a life goal of visiting every continent on the planet.