Resume
Summary
Self-driven software engineer with 10+ years of experience building cloud systems, data platforms, web applications, and AI/LLM-powered solutions. Expertise in Python, AWS, and full-lifecycle engineering, from rapid prototyping and architecture to development, deployment, and operations. Experienced in translating complex research and business requirements into software solutions in ambiguous R&D environments.
Skills
Experience
Architect and lead full-lifecycle development of 20+ projects spanning web, REST/GraphQL/gRPC APIs, systems, modeling, and data platforms in multi-cloud environment on AWS, GCP, and Azure — including large-scale AWS data lakes such as OEDI, built with CDK, Terraform, ECS, Batch, Serverless, SAM, S3, Glue, Athena, and scalable data pipelines across Airflow, Redshift, DocumentDB, PostgreSQL/PostGIS, and Neptune, etc.. Develop LLM-powered applications and AI agents (LangChain/LangGraph/LangSmith, RAG, MCP, Bedrock) connecting researchers with organizational knowledge, build reusable Python packages and services (Django, Flask, FastAPI, Streamlit), and develop resilient, distributed, HPC-based scientific-computing systems — with GDAL/geospatial tooling — for energy planning nationally and internationally. Provide cloud system engineering, IaC, Docker, CI/CD, unit/integration testing, and technical leadership, collaborating broadly with engineers, scientists, researchers, and stakeholders while mentoring developers on modern cloud, data, software and AI practices.
Provided cloud data engineering and R&D engineering support for scalable AWS data-lake pipelines (S3, SQS, Batch, Docker) integrating multi-source imagery, satellite, weather, and hydrology datasets, using open-source geospatial technologies — OpenDataCube, GeoServer, PostGIS, GDAL, Rasterio, and Xarray. Built reusable Python packages (PyData) and Django/GeoDjango APIs for programmatic dataset and artifact access, MVT, established unit/integration testing and refactoring practices, and partnered closely with data scientists and domain experts to turn scientific requirements into scalable, data-driven precision-agriculture applications.
Designed and built a real-time environmental monitoring and event-detection system for groundwater and air quality in northern Colorado's oil and gas region, with a Django WebSocket backend using Channels and Celery for real-time sensor-data ETL pipelines and data models, backed by Postgres and deployed on AWS EC2/S3. Developed mathematical, statistical, and machine-learning models (PyData) for time-series data analytics and environmental anomaly detection, and built interactive, Leaflet-based map visualizations with ChartJS and Bootstrap — working across the full stack from data ingestion to production deployment in AWS.
Built Python packages and geoprocessing tools for spatial data mining, natural language processing (NLP), and map services, contributing to Business Expert - a geo-business intelligence and analytics product suite adopted by a broad range of clients. Designed ETL pipelines to ingest and integrate multi-source geospatial data into ArcGIS geodatabases and Postgres/PostGIS, and developed new research and data-mining algorithms that boosted business efficiency and expanded the company's analytical capabilities. for geo-marketing.
Certifications
Publications
Jianli Gu, David Rager, Sam Molnar, Jacob Nunemaker, Jane Lockshin, Jordan Eisenman, Meghan Mooney, Anna Liao, Kenny Gruchalla, Greg Bolla, James Morris, Adrienne Lowney. Pipeline for Integrated Projects in Energy Systems (PIPES). Computer Software. 26 Sept 2024. doi:10.11578/dc.20251226.1.
Daniel Thom, Jianli Gu, Jeremy Jenkins, Michael Rossol, and USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. JADE. Computer software. USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Strategic Programs Office; Renewable Power Office, Solar Energy Technologies Office. 7 Jul 2022. doi:10.11578/dc.20220726.1.
Kelsey Horowitz, Daniel Thom, Jianli Gu, Akshay Jain, Kwami Senam Kumar Sedzro, Bryan Palmintie, Barry Mather, and USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. DISCO (Distribution Integration Solution Cost Options). Computer software, v0.2.1. Renewable Power Office, Solar Energy Technologies Office. 22 Oct 2019. doi:10.11578/dc.20220310.2.
David Rager, Jianli Gu, and Dana Stright, and USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Open Energy Data Initiative - Open Data Access Tools (OEDI-ODAT). Computer software. Renewable Power Office, Solar Energy Technologies Office. 14 Sep 2020. doi:10.11578/dc.20201013.1.
Meghan Mooney, Jianli Gu, Adrienne Lowney, Jordan Eiseman, Jane Lockshin, David Rager. Pipeline for Integrated Projects in Energy Systems (PIPES): A Tool for Integrated System Planning. Technical Report, Feb 2025.
Pieter Gagnon, Pedro Andres Sanchez Perez, Kodi Obika, Marty Schwarz, James Morris, Jianli Gu, and Jordan Eisenman. Cambium 2023 Scenario Descriptions and Documentation. NREL/TP-6A40-88507, Technical Report, Feb 2024.
Wenbo Wang, Daniel Thom, Kwami Senam Sedzro, Sherin Abraham, Yiyun Yao, Jianli Gu, Shibani Ghosh. Experiences of PV Hosting Capacity Estimation at Scale. IEEE Xplore, 2022.
Jiangguo Liu, Jianli Gu, Huishu Li, Kenneth Carlson. Machine Learning and Transport Simulations for Groundwater Anomaly Detection. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 2020, 112982.
Huishu Li, Jianli Gu, Asma Hanif, Ashwin Dhanasekar, Kenneth Carlson. Quantitative Decision Making for a Groundwater Monitoring and Subsurface Contamination Early Warning Network. Science of the Total Environment, 2019 (683), 498-507.
Huishu Li, Ji-Hee Son, Asma Hanif, Jianli Gu, Ashwin Dhanasekar, Kenneth Carlson. Colorado Water Watch: Real-Time Groundwater Monitoring for Possible Contamination from Oil and Gas Activities. Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 2017 (9): 1660-1687.
Jianli Gu. Mathematical Modeling of Groundwater Anomaly Detection. Master's Thesis, Colorado State University, 2016.
Haitao Zhang, Long Guo, Jiaying Chen, Peihong Fu, Jianli Gu, and Guangyu Liao. Modeling of Spatial Distributions of Farmland Density and Its Temporal Change Using Geographically Weighted Regression Model. Chinese Geographical Science, 2014 (24): 191-204.
Jianli Gu, Haitao Zhang, Jiaying Chen, Ren Yan, and Long Guo. Analysis of Land Use Spatial Autocorrelation Patterns Based on DEM Data. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering, 2012, 28(23): 216-224. [In Chinese]
Jianli Gu. Study on Constrained Control and Quality Evaluation of Land Cover Map. Master's Thesis, Huazhong Agricultural University, 2012. [In Chinese]
Jiaying Chen, Haitao Zhang, and Jianli Gu. TVDI Web Service Design and Implementation Based on Workflow Technology. Chinese Journal of Soil Science, 2012 (2): 274-280. [In Chinese]
Long Guo, Haitao Zhang, Bo Yu, Jianli Gu. Research on Demarcating the Potentially Encroached Area of Basic Farmland. Journal of Huazhong Agricultural University, 2011 (6): 740-745. [In Chinese]