Michelle Cantwell-Copher, Fresno County superintendent of schools, interviews Blake Fullerton, a software engineer analyst in her office who was named one of six developers across the country to earn the NVIDIA Golden Ticket Award. FCSS screenshot

Blake Fullerton, a software engineer analyst with the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools (FCSS), has been named as one of six developers across the country to earn the NVIDIA Golden Ticket Award, FCSS announced Wednesday.

The honor recognizes breakthrough work in AI by NVIDIA, a global leader in high-performance computing. Golden Ticket recipients earn VIP access to NVIDIA’s Global Technology Conference (GTC), where the six participate in advanced training, hands-on sessions with engineers and innovation challenges.

Fullerton was chosen for his project Ariel Intelligence, an AI-powered drone surveillance system that uses NVIDIA’s Florence-2 Vision-Language Model to identify potential security threats in real time. 

“Blake’s achievement represents the very best of Fresno County: innovation, creativity, and a drive to use technology for good,” said FCSS Superintendent Michele Cantwell-Copher, in a news release. “We are proud to have him on our team and thrilled to see a local voice leading national conversations about the future of AI.”

Fullerton recently traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the GTC, where he joined some of the top AI developers in the country.

“It’s an incredible honor to represent Fresno County in a space that’s shaping the future of technology,” Fullerton said. “This experience showed me how innovation at the local level can have a national impact, and I’m excited to bring what I’ve learned back to FCSS.”