Bowen Kruse

Deploying Computer Vision & Machine Learning Solutions

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Hello, I’m Bowen

Disclaimer: my lackluster website building ability does not reflect my ability as an engineer.

This website serves as a showcase of my expertise in building and deploying solutions that scale using computer vision and machine learning. Here, you’ll find sections about my work and articles on technical topics.

 

Overview

I build and deploy computer vision and machine learning solutions that answer important questions. Data-centric machine learning and a customer-focused development process are the tenets of my work.

 

Relevant Professional Experience

Cofounder/Head of Technology – Wanda Analytics
November 2024 – Present

  • Advised multiple companies including Y Combinator backed startups and Fortune 300 enterprises on solution design and model development, leveraging deep expertise as a practicing computer vision engineer.

Lead Computer Vision Engineer – BNSF Railway
October 2024 – Present

  • Scaled an inventory survey project, increasing deployment count by 2.5× across U.S. locations by reducing false positives by 60-70% and significantly increase coverage.
  • Designed and implemented a use-case-agnostic model development pipeline on AWS SageMaker, supporting multiple internal projects and enabling scalable, true-edge model deployment.
  • Drove 25–45% mAP improvement and 2–4× latency reduction across three production vision pipelines by leading teams in the adoption of advanced tooling, architecture optimization, and data-centric training practices.

Computer Vision/Machine Learning Engineer - BNSF Railway
January 2022 - October 2024

  • Co-founded a project that scaled to nationwide deployment generating an estimated 8-figure ROI. 2 patents pending and nominated for BNSF Railway 2023 Invention of the Year.
  • Developed use-case agnostic platforms enabling faster deployment and adoption of greenfield approaches, allowing four projects to become cost-feasible.
  • Improved existing object detection model accuracy by 26% mAP for drone-based OCR use case.
  • Cultivated strong relationships with internal customers emphasizing adoption and best practices to achieve a swift three-quarter time-to-production.
  • Directed a team of annotators and developers, focusing on team productivity and data-centric modeling.
  • Created image focus quantificaton algorithm resulting in reduction of 40-50% of project false positives.

Application Development Intern - BNSF Railway
Summer 2021

  • Enhanced train wheel damage detection process by developing computer vision models contributing to improved maintenance processes, saving millions of dollars per year.
  • Built a timeline web application using the Django Framework that enabled cross-team alignment.

 

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Joy and Beauty of Data - Montana State University
Fall 2021 Semester

  • Created teaching plans and delivered content during labs and lectures.
  • Organized exam review sessions and held 1:1 tutor sessions, focusing on translating complex topics into simple terms, resulting in the lowest drop-out rate of any section.

 

Skills & Interests

  • Programming Languages: Python, Java, C++, Golang

  • Technical Expertise:
    • Computer Vision: Traditional and Machine Learning (Transformers, CNNs) based algorithms as well as required dataset analysis/preparation/augmentation processes.
    • Tabular Machine Learning: Decision Tree-Based, Linear, SVMS, Clustering
    • MLOps: Weights & Biases, SageMaker
    • Libraries: PyTorch, TensorFlow
    • Docker Development/Deployment
    • Web Application Frameworks, Linux CLI/Distributions
    • Embedded Software, GitHub, AWS SageMaker, Azure, REST APIs
    • SQL/NoSQL (MongoDB)
    • Data Modeling-
    • Software Development Lifecycle
  • Business & Strategy Skills:
    • Visionary problem-solving for emerging CV applications
    • Technical advising for early-stage product-market fit
    • Translating complex ML systems into stakeholder-aligned roadmaps
    • Evangelizing technical solutions with non-technical audiences

 

Education

Montana State University – Bozeman, MT
Computer Science
2018-2021 - GPA: 3.64/4.0

  • Active member of the Association for Computing Machinery and IEEE
  • Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for ‘Joy and Beauty of Data’

American University of Sharjah – United Arab Emirates
Computer Science/Arabic Language Studies
Fall 2019 - Spring 2020 - GPA: 3.5/4.0

 

Professional Certifications & Ratings

  • IBM Applied AI Professional - December 2020
  • Remote Pilot - 2022 - Current
  • Private Pilot with Instrument and Multi-engine rating - 2016 - Current