As a computer science PhD candidate studying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, Bhaskar Ghosh is working to make technology run more efficiently.
杏吧专区淎rtificial intelligence is everywhere right now, starting from your phone to your car. But, the work of each AI function is different. We generally need to choose a good algorithm to use for your AI task. My research can be used to help predict the best algorithm to use for your AI application without actually having to run multiple iterations,杏吧专区 he says.
Bhaskar is preparing to graduate in Fall 2021. He is completing his dissertation under the direction of Dr. Michael Totaro, associate professor in the School of Computing and Informatics.
杏吧专区淭he main question that I have asked throughout my work was, how do I make this process faster without having to make any changes to the existing architecture? I杏吧专区檝e applied this idea to other AI algorithms to help them perform faster,杏吧专区 he explains.
杏吧专区淎s an analogy, think if you have a bunch of keys and one lock. My work would give you a good estimate of which key to use to open the lock.杏吧专区
Continuing the Journey
Bhaskhar completed a master杏吧专区檚 degree in Computer Science from UL Lafayette and received an offer from the School of Computing and Informatics to continue his research through the doctoral program.
杏吧专区淭his was an opportunity I could not decline,杏吧专区 he recalls. 杏吧专区淕etting to work at the 杏吧专区 that I love and stay in the city that has grown dear to me was something that I did not want to give up.杏吧专区
As technology features evermore heavily in our everyday lives, his studies have shown him the importance of understanding how systems operate.
杏吧专区淭here are actually quite a few things that I have learned from my research that are very important but hardly spoken about,杏吧专区 he says.杏吧专区淭his was very shocking for me to learn about the easy access to data that people willingly provide the services or devices that they use. The importance of data and also the insecurity of this data has been an eye opener for me.杏吧专区
During his time at UL Lafayette, Bhaskar has learned to effectively communicate with the public about his research findings. His Three Minute Thesis (3MT庐) presentation 杏吧专区淎re You Certain It's Time to Prepare?杏吧专区 used the example of hurricane preparation to discuss the importance of effectively using algorithms and historic data to create weather predictions.
Creating forecasts that are accurate and trustworthy, he argues, are essential to motivating people to prepare appropriately for natural disasters. Bhaskar杏吧专区檚 presentation was chosen as the People杏吧专区檚 Choice winner in the UL Lafayette Graduate School 2020-2021 3MT庐 Competition.
Building Resilience
The path to completing a PhD requires an enormous amount of time and effort, but also the ability to take failure in stride, Bhaskar explains.
杏吧专区淵our tasks might not always be successful, but you must look ahead, learn from it, and move on. I would say getting a PhD consists of 70% rejections and failed experiments, but that 30% of success that you achieve is something that must be cherished. You have reached this because you have failed 70% of the time and the learnings from those failures is what sets you apart in that field.杏吧专区
This hard-earned lesson to maintain optimism and keep moving forward is something Bhaskar will take with him as he graduates and continues his research at a university or in an industry position.
杏吧专区淭he balancing act of managing the stress of failures and never giving up has been the most valuable lesson that I have learned,杏吧专区 he says.
Having the support of a proactive scholarly community on campus has also been key to his success.
杏吧专区淚 would certainly motivate any student who is considering joining UL Lafayette for their PhD,杏吧专区 he says. 杏吧专区淭he faculty, staff and students are very helpful. They are always there to go above and beyond.杏吧专区