Lionel Hu
Building scalable web applications and exploring the intersection of AI and software engineering
About me
Hi, I'm Lionel Hu, a passionate software engineer specializing in full-stack and frontend development. I work at HeartByte (Storio) on a Gen-AI interactive story web app built with Next.js + TypeScript + Firebase/Firestore.
Education
- MSE in Computer and Information Science – University of Pennsylvania (GPA: 3.90/4.00)
- BA in Computer Science – Rice University (GPA: 3.70/4.00)
Work Experience
- HeartByte (Storio) | Software Engineer – Building a Gen-AI interactive story web app with branching visual-novel engine, LLM story pipelines, and production features end-to-end.
- Recent Projects – Built end-to-end web search engine, Gmail/Drive-style suite, and yelpscout business insights app.
I love building scalable web applications and exploring the intersection of AI and software engineering. I'm passionate about creating user experiences that are both functional and engaging.
What I'm doing
Full-Stack Development
Building end-to-end web applications with React, Next.js, TypeScript, and modern frontend technologies.
Backend Development
Developing robust backend systems with Java, Node.js, Express, and database technologies like MySQL and MongoDB.
Data Engineering
Working with data processing using Python, Pandas, SQL, and building data-driven applications.
Gen-AI Integration
Implementing LLM story pipelines and AI-powered features for interactive applications.
Skills
Languages
Backend & Data Engineering
Frontend
Databases
Cloud & DevOps
Project Highlights
DocSearch — End-to-end web search engine (crawler → indexing → TF-IDF + PageRank → ranking UI)
Google Suite Copy — Gmail-style webmail + Drive-style cloud storage (not affiliated with Google)
yelpscout — Yelp-dataset local business search & insights with Top-100 ranking and recommendations
UFOgram — Social app MVP with real-time feed, profiles, and infinite scroll