Elizabeth "Boof" Truchan
Elizabeth Truchan in NCRC and BAMRU rescue gear
Software engineering at work
Caving in a narrow passage with headlamp
Cave rescue training briefing in the field
Technical climbing on a limestone cliff with rescue rope
Operating a search drone on a BAMRU mountain rescue mission
Rappelling through a slot canyon

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Hi, I'm Boof.

Senior Software Engineer · Cave Rescue CoordinatorRedwood City, CA

I'm a software engineer who builds safety and communication systems at scale — high-throughput infrastructure where reliability matters for millions of users. I bring that same focus on high-stakes decision-making to search and rescue, serving in roles that reach people who need help above and below ground.

View experienceGet in touch

About

I'm a senior software engineer and lead with hands-on expertise in distributed systems, platform safety, and full-stack development. I've spent years building real-time moderation and communication infrastructure at Roblox, mentoring engineers, and driving cross-functional alignment across Legal, Product, and Trust & Safety.

I graduated from MIT with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Outside of software, I coordinate cave rescue operations across the Western U.S. and chair the National Speleological Society's Western Region.

Skills

  • Golang
  • React
  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • gRPC
  • Distributed Systems
  • Microservices
  • AWS
  • Redis
  • MongoDB
  • Node.js
  • ML Integration

Highlights

Featured profiles, talks, and media.

Experience

Roblox

San Mateo, CA

Senior Software Engineer, User Communication & Safety

Apr 2023 – May 2025

  • Architected and deployed Nudge, a near real-time voice toxicity detection system processing concurrent voice streams, significantly reducing severe voice abuse reports platform-wide.

    Nudge — Voice Toxicity Detection →

  • Delivered Proactive Voice Moderation — an ambiguous greenfield initiative to generate automated abuse reports and curb voice toxicity by capitalizing on the Trust and Safety team's existing pipelines.

    Proactive Voice Moderation →

  • Engineered a zero-downtime, multi-terabyte data migration from Tecton to Frost, maintaining data integrity while drastically reducing cloud infrastructure overhead.

  • Mentored senior and junior engineers, led seasonal high-traffic availability planning, and served as L2 On-Call Lead for mission-critical microservices.

Software Engineer, Communication Safety Team

Aug 2020 – Apr 2023

  • Designed and built Moderation by Proxy, the platform's foundational voice abuse detection system — a high-throughput Go microservice for real-time decisioning using proxy signals from user reports, mutes, blocks, and moderation history.

    Moderation by Proxy →

  • Developed a custom JavaScript review UI for human-in-the-loop moderation teams, optimizing workflow layout to reduce average review latency per report.

    Voice Chat Moderator UI →

  • Delivered full-stack age-verification workflows for Spatial Voice Chat using React and backend API integrations.

    Spatial Voice Chat →

  • Refactored core platform service dependencies to roll out global Display Names, enabling real-time identity expression at massive scale.

    Display Names →

MIT Space Systems Laboratory

Cambridge, MA

Undergraduate Researcher

Fall 2019

  • Helped implement the software and electronics for a wafer satellite in conjunction with Lincoln Laboratory.

  • Wrote MSP430 microcontroller code and built circuits for satellite subsystems.

  • Tested and debugged MPPT (maximum power point tracking) algorithms for the satellite power system.

JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)

Tokyo, Japan

Robotics & Software Research Intern, Kubota Lab

Summer 2019

  • Engineered an experimental algorithm in Python using OpenCV to derive Digital Elevation Models from stereo imagery for autonomous planetary robotics research.

General Dynamics Mission Systems

Dedham, MA

Software Engineering Intern, Cyber & Electronic Warfare

Summer 2018

  • Built a Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality simulation using C#, Unity, and socket programming to model trust-metric evaluation in autonomous vehicles.

Education

B.S. Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) · May 2020

Certifications

  • Ham Radio Technician License
  • Red Cross CPR
  • Wilderness First Responder
  • Cave Rescue Instructor
  • Open Water Diver

Projects

Selected technical work — platform safety systems, side projects, and tools.

Leadership

Beyond engineering — coordinating rescue operations, classes, and cave conservation across the Western U.S.

  • Western Region Coordinator & Instructor

    Jan 2025 – Present

    National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC)

    The NCRC is a volunteer organization chartered by the National Speleological Society in 1979 to coordinate cave rescue resources across the United States. It is not a rescue unit itself — rather, a communications and training network that connects agencies, rescue squads, and equipment when underground emergencies occur.

    As Western Region Coordinator, I serve California, Nevada, and Hawaii — directing agency communication and relations, managing equipment cache logistics, and planning rapid-response operations across three states.

    I also instruct teams of emergency response personnel in high-stakes underground rescue operations and technical rigging techniques.

  • Chair, Western Region

    Oct 2023 – Present

    National Speleological Society (NSS)

    The NSS Western Region represents cavers across California, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada — uniting independent grottos and member organizations to advance conservation, scientific research, and field expedition workflows.

    I was elected Chair at the 2024 Western Region business meeting. I work with a board of regional officers to align multi-state conservation projects, support grotto activities, and drive collaborative resource sharing across the West Coast.

    I spearheaded the 2023 Western Regional conference and now head the annual conference, directing volunteer planning committees, logistical workflows, and event operations. I also rebuilt and managed the publication team to reinstate the regional newsletter, The Western Caver, after a multi-year executive hiatus.

  • Rescue Specialist

    Sept 2023 – Present

    Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit

    Deploy on Type 1 technical search and rescue missions across approximately 6+ emergency operations annually. Serve as primary Duty Officer for law enforcement escalations, managing incident intake, team mobilization, and resource allocation for high-priority rescue operations.

    Lead field training initiatives for search and rescue personnel, designing and prioritizing technical rescue curriculums to maintain team operational readiness.

  • REX Chair

    2019

    MIT East Campus

    Led freshman orientation programming for MIT East Campus — raising over $40,000 and organizing large-scale construction projects and events for Residence Exploration (REX).

    The event drew campus-wide attention and press coverage, including sponsorship from Blue Origin for a themed REX ride.

Contact

Interested in working together or just want to connect? Send a message below.

Or reach me directly

Prefer email or LinkedIn? Those work too.

boof.truchan@gmail.comLinkedIn →