Zach Krivis

I’m a senior at Solon High School, near Cleveland. My interests are in machine learning, software, and the questions that come up when people use technology.

I’ve learned much of what I know through projects. Lately, I’ve been researching audio models, working in IT at Cleveland Clinic, and writing about AI and quantum computing.

I also enjoy helping people get comfortable with technology, something I spent time doing at the Solon Senior Center.

• Machine Learning Researcher

  2026 — Present

  Research team · Remote

  I study how audio foundation models represent sound. My work uses activation probing and pruning to understand how these representations change when parts of a model are removed.

  PyTorch · activation probing · structured and magnitude pruning

• Information Technology Intern

  2026 — Present

  Cleveland Clinic · On-site

  I work with the IT infrastructure team on software and network systems that support the hospital network.

  Enterprise IT · network infrastructure · hospital systems

• Team Member

  2025 — Present

  Mitchell’s Ice Cream

  Outside of school and research, I work at Mitchell’s Ice Cream.

• Technology Assistant

  2022 — 2023

  Solon Senior Center · Part-time

  I helped more than 50 seniors use their phones, laptops, and car infotainment systems. I also led Oculus Quest 2 sessions and developed technology training materials over six months.

  Device support · VR sessions · technology training

• Audio Model Interpretability

  Ongoing

  Research · Under review

  I’m investigating which internal representations audio models rely on. By probing activations and removing parts of a model, I test how its representations and performance change.

  PyTorch · activation patching · structured sparsity

• The Useless Button

  2025

  1st place · Scrapyard Cleveland

  A button that turns itself off. Built in 24 hours, it uses an RFID tag to arm the switch and a servo to flip it back off in about 50 milliseconds.

  C++ firmware · microcontroller · RFID · servo

  View the code

Senior · Class of 2027

Coursework

• AP Computer Science A
• AP Calculus AB
• AP Physics 1
• AP Physics C: Mechanics
• AP English Language
• AP Environmental Science
• AP U.S. History
• Honors Precalculus

Research

Interpretability, structured sparsity, audio models, neural networks, applied machine learning, large language models

Engineering

PyTorch, C++, software infrastructure, IT infrastructure, computer information systems

Collaboration

Teamwork, leadership, technology instruction