Blake Fowler

Computer science student at the University of Florida, working on machine learning research.

  • Student Researcher
  • International Traveler
  • Competitive Chess Player
LinkedIn GitHub Projects
Blake Fowler

Research and Work

Experience

Undergraduate Researcher, Vision Language Action Models

University of Florida, Dr. Sumit Jha's research group, present

  • Research on models that combine visual perception, language understanding, and physical action.
  • Focus on how well these systems reason about the world before acting in it.
VLA Models Computer Vision Deep Learning Python

Student Researcher and Programmer

Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Human Resilience and Performance, June to August 2025

  • Implemented VISTa, a visual diagnostic tool, to benchmark five large language models across seven low level visual categories.
  • Designed the test protocol and built a grading scale for a visual reasoning task originally written for human subjects.
  • Found that state of the art vision models fail on basics: identifying shapes, counting them, and judging orientation.
  • Contributed literature reviews on transcranial alternating current stimulation devices to inform ongoing studies.
  • Presented results and recommended next steps to senior IHMC researchers.
LLM Benchmarking Vision Models Data Analysis Neuroscience

Study Abroad, Cross Cultural Engineering and Design

Kyoto University, UF in Japan, May to August 2026

  • Summer program directed by Dr. Jeremiah Blanchard, taken alongside Kyoto University students.
  • Coursework in Performant Programming, Intro to Culturally Aware Design, and Intermediate Japanese.
  • Pitched and led GeoConnect as the term project with a team of three.
Rust Team Lead Japanese

Trustworthy AI Academic Advisor

University of West Florida, published at ACM UIST 2024

  • Co-authored work on an AI advising system built to support students continuously rather than replace human advisors.
  • Focused on reliability, transparency, and safe deployment of LLMs in high stakes advising.
LLMs AI Safety HCI Published
View on ACM Digital Library

What I Build

Projects

GeoConnect

Pitched and led, team of three

  • Explains the reasoning behind Japanese regional customs and compares them to US practice across the country's eight regions.
  • Rust and Dioxus, backed by PostgreSQL, with content compiled into the binary as a JSON snapshot so there are no runtime credentials.
  • Shipped on web, Android, and Windows, with shareable routes to any region or place.
Rust Dioxus PostgreSQL WASM
Live Site GitHub

FocusMind

Built at GatorHacks

  • Study coach that pairs a Pomodoro timer with real time webcam focus tracking through MediaPipe.
  • Threshold based interventions trigger voice coaching when attention drops.
Python FastAPI React MediaPipe
GitHub Demo

Local LLM Research Environment

Personal project

  • Self hosted setup running large language models locally with Ollama.
  • Tooling for querying models, testing prompts, and comparing behavior offline with no API cost.
Python Ollama LLMs

Reddit Political Opinion Visualizer

Built at IHMC

  • Scraped and analyzed post and comment data across political subreddits.
  • Visualized how sentiment on a given topic shifts over time.
Python Reddit API Data Viz

More on GitHub, including work I have not written up yet.

View All on GitHub

What I Know

Skills

Languages

Python C++ Rust

Tools and Platforms

Git and GitHub PyTorch Ollama PostgreSQL Linux

Interests

Machine Learning VLA Models LLM Evaluation Data Analysis

Other

Chess Japanese

Full work history and internships are on LinkedIn.

View LinkedIn