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Mochachino_60

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  • Location
    Bangladesh
  • Application Season
    2016 Fall
  • Program
    Electrical and Electronics Engineering

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  1. Please also point out any flaws in Technical Details if you see any. Thanks a lot. Statement of Purpose The scientific approach has always been a fundamental facet of my outlook towards life, belief system and academic pursuits. Driven by my scientific curiosity, I have arrived at a juncture where I am confident that a graduate research course with an initial M.Eng. Thesis and leading to a PhD is the most suitable step for me towards a career in research that I aspire to have. My principle interest is to conduct research in the broad area of Machine Learning (ML) and Signal Processing including their application in fields ranging from Robotics, Auditory Perception and Computer Vision. I am particularly fascinated by the application of Reinforcement Learning in Robotics, navigation and object recognition and identification. My goal is to learn and understand the decision making process of present day artificial agents under uncertainty and figuring out ways to improve them for novel applications in future. Thus one of my research interest is on tasks that can be framed as Markov Decision Processes in general and solved by Reinforcement Learning and dynamic programming. Furthermore, having an interest in Neuroscience and Behavioral Psychology, I am quite intrigued by how concepts of learning and intelligence from these fields can help make artificial intelligent systems more capable of human like decision making. I became interested to pursue a graduate degree at the School of Computer Science at XYZ University due to the world-class research going on here in the fields of my interest. At XYZ University, the works of Dr. XY are well suited to my research experiences and goals. I was particularly fascinated by his Lab's project "WWWW” as it utilizes RL techniques to make robots adaptive to changing ocean conditions without directly engineered controllers. I would also like to work on similar projects like Dr. XY’s work, “WWWW”, as it directly aligns with my research interest of working in the field of computer vision and scene understanding. His upcoming project utilizing Reinforcement Learning to identify objects based on how they sound to interact with has attracted me to apply to the program due to my past experience of working with audio classification and future goal of working with Reinforcement Learning. Moreover, the work performed in the Reasoning and Learning Lab is also well aligned with my research interests. My interest in Machine Learning research developed in my junior year while participating in IEEE Signal Processing Cup 2016. Working in this global competition helped me gain enormous experience and insight into the world of research. To participate in this event, I put together a team of likeminded peers. With Machine Learning being a relatively fringe topic in our university without many experts, we resorted to independent study. As I was the principle programmer and signal processing researcher in the team, I conducted literature survey to learn, understand and implement the necessary algorithm and make improvements to the classification system with the help of another team mate; while the rest of the team worked on hardware implementation and data gathering, all within a narrow window of three months. In this event, we classified audio recordings according to the location those recordings were made, exploiting the unique Electrical Network Frequency (ENF) embedded in those recordings. We extracted a wide array of statistical features ranging from mean and variance to more subtle ones, such as those derived from Multilevel Wavelet Decomposition and Auto-regressive models, for the implementation of a Supervised Multiclass Support Vector Machine (SVM). During this work, while implementing a classification system based on high dimensional features, I became introduced to concepts and techniques such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Fisher’s Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). Moreover, I became familiarized with Bayesian Inference, Gaussian mixture models (GMM), and weighted SVM as well among other concepts from statistics and machine learning. This work taught me how to develop an end-user platform from scratch by taking a concept from existing literature and improving it. Eventually, I managed to lead the team to 11th position among 52 teams worldwide. An extension of this work has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings of IEEE R10HTC 2017. This success coupled with the theoretical understanding acquired through great performance in coursework on Data Structure and Algorithms, Random Signals and Processes, Discreet Mathematics, Numerical Analysis, Signals and Systems, and Control System Engineering convinced me that a career as a researcher in the field of Machine Learning or its application is the one I should pursue. I was accepted into two of Bangladesh’s premier universities, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and Dhaka University, ranking above 95 percent of the test takers in their entrance exams. At my undergraduate university, Islamic University of Technology (IUT), I received the prestigious OIC scholarship, which provided a tuition waiver for three years of my stay and included a generous monthly allowance. In my senior year at IUT, I designed and instructed a MATLAB based signal processing course for IEEE IUT Student Branch, which was attended by over a 100 students from various levels of my university. Even though I struggled in the initial semesters at IUT due to family problems as my mother passed away from cancer, I showed grit and determination by consistently ranking around the top of my class in the core courses of the last five semesters. At IUT, I worked on many projects ranging from voice pattern recognition system to hardware and software implementation of Microcontroller based temperature sensors for electric motor control. These experiences helped me develop my programming and logical skills. Concurrently, I engrossed myself into machine learning and mathematics by learning from massive open online courses: Machine Learning (Stanford Online, Coursera), Introduction to AI (Udacity), and independent study of books such as Linear Algebra by Gilbert Strang, Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction by Sutton and Barto, and Calculus by Michael Spivak. I also kept following online streams of International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) and Neural Information Processing Systems (NIPS) to keep in touch with the latest developments in the general field of Machine Learning. In my senior year, I worked in IUT’s nanophotonics group for my undergraduate thesis on computational nanophotonics. We computationally investigated the effects of the near-field enhancements of metal nanoparticles in GaAs, CdTe and Perovskite absorber layers and worked on finding efficient and cost effective materials. The resultant work was published in the proceedings of 2016 IEEE APACE conference. I believe I have the research exposure, determination, and academic preparation to be a part of the world-class graduate research community of XYZ University. I am confident that XYZ University is the best place for me to have a career in the forefront of cutting edge research that I intend to have.
  2. I'm currently a senior year student in the EE department at a Bangladeshi University, and I'm 2 months away from graduation. I'm considering applying to US universities for graduate studies. I expect to graduate with a CGPA of about 3.8 (junior and senior year: 3.93). I am a bit confused as to what to choose for my Graduate research field. My research experience includes two different fields. First, I participated in an International Competition, developing a Machine Learning system (software) for classifying the origin of media recordings. Second, for my undergraduate research I've worked on nanophotonics, in particular, the enhancement of light trapping in novel solar cells via metal nanoparticles with computational methods. Now, while applying for graduate schools I'm confused as to which line of research would be better for me. I'm highly enthusiastic about modern (quantum) physics in general, so I am naturally drawn towards nanophotonics/solid state/ quantum electronics. But, I'm unsure about the future of these fields and the kind of jobs that these fields entail, and the chances of even getting a job. On the other hand, I am a good programmer, and I feel like Deep Learning/ Machine Learning programs would be a safe and good choice, because of the possibility of a lot of application of these fields in the near future. I do enjoy working on these also, but I have never before thought about going into these fields. So, could anyone who knows about the implications of working on any these areas discuss the kind of work that I would be doing and put forward any suggestions as to which might be a better choice. Any suggestion in general is welcome. Thanks a lot for your time.
  3. Hello Kulkarni. Thanks for your input on my essay. I did time myself, and I took around 32 minutes (with some distractions). I just started practicing for GRE. But I've some writing experience from Highschool. To be honest my Issue Essays are not of the same standard as my argument essay. I suspect this has something to do with my Debating history. I'm more comfortable with arguments. Anyway, as for tips, I can give you some. I really liked this argument of your's Moreover, it states no Palean boats have been found , but there's no evidence about Lithosean boats. Merchants , traders fromLithos could have traveled to Palea and imported the Woven Basket which later on were discovered by archaeologists. What I'd suggest is to elaborate on this. Your third (above one) and final argument is actually very good, but the first two hinges upon pedantic details. Brainstorming more would surely help. But overall it was a good essay. You also made some grammatical errors, which happens. But one thing that stuck out was that, you used Instigate wrongly. Instigate means to start/initiate something (as far as I know). I think you wanted to mean Imply. I'd suggest not to use words that you're unsure of. As you say, you buckle under pressure; so I believe you'll be able to write very good essays if you keep practicing (while timing). You'll surely improve.
  4. Prompt: Woven baskets characterized by a particular distinctive pattern have previously been found only in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea and therefore were believed to have been made only by the Palean people. Recently, however, archaeologists discovered such a "Palean" basket in Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim River from Palea. The Brim River is very deep and broad, and so the ancient Paleans could have crossed it only by boat, and no Palean boats have been found. Thus it follows that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean. Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument My Response: The author of the article points out some facts and discoveries about the ancient village of Palea and Draws conclusion based on those findings. Although at the first skim of the writing it might seem logical, but on the contrary the author makes some significant leaps of arguments while trying to prove that Palean Baskets were not uniquely Palean. As a result his arguments warrant serious evidence to support his claims. The author starts by pointing out a recent discovery of the distinctly Palean basket in Lithos, a village across a deep and broad river from Palea, and builds his following argument on this solitary fact. But he fails to acknowledge the possibility that other civilization from a comparatively later era, who might have access to a boat could have managed to bring the baskets across the river. The writer doesn't present any specific evidence pertaining to this scenario and thus fails to discard this possibility, which significantly weakens his argument. If he cited some study of the discovery of a group of antiquities in Lithos, with the same carbon dating as the baskets then it would have strengthened his claims. Moreover the author implies that as the river was deep and broad and as no Palean boats were ever found then they couldn't have crossed the river. This statement of the author lacks specific evidence on multiple fronts. Firstly the author indicates that archaeologists recently discovered the basket and further highlights the depth and the breadth of the river as the reason that impeded the Paleans from crossing it. But rivers are highly subjected to change and evolve over the course of prolonged period. It might be possible that during the ancient time when the Paleans were present the river was very shallow and narrow and over considerable amount of time the river has evolved to its current state. Without any evidence for or against this possibility, no accurate judgment can be made. Secondly even though the writer mentions that there were no boat ever found he fails to provide any evidence that supports his claims. Was the lack of unearthing any boat belonging to the Paleans a definitive proof of the inability of the Paleans to make any boats? May be with further fastidious searches boats belonging to the Paleans might be found. If decisive proof of the technological inability of the Paleans to make boat could be found then it could be said with certainty that they never made boats. Otherwise there will always be a lingering possibility that with further conduction of exhausting searches in the Palean vicinity proof of boats could be found. Archaeological studies and theories always depend on the information at hand and are subject to change when more conclusive evidence shows up. But in the article the author fails to provide significant pieces of crucial information to back-up his claims. Thus in absence of these verifications it cannot be said with certainty that the woven baskets were uniquely Palean.
  5. That is quite an interesting idea! How hard do you suppose, it'd be to land a TA/ RA position as an MS student? It's in BUET. I've heard it's a pretty expensive facility(for Bangladesh) and the Professor who runs it, is quite renowned here and overseas. It's mostly a semi-conductor Physics Lab. But I've seen some superconductivity research going on there. I'd love to apply after graduation but right now it seems quite difficult. But I'm taking GRE prep slowly
  6. I'm worried about my class rank because our University publishes the class rank in the graduation certificate and I'm anxious that it might undermine my GPA. If somehow could show my last 5 semester GPA/Rank (if I can maintain good GPA - which I hope) then it'd be more impressive. I have pretty good relation with two of my mentors (Asst. Profs) and I do believe they feel my rank/GPA doesn't reflect my academic capabilities, but it is still early days for me as I haven't started working with them yet. No, the programs that I've mentioned are not Physics programs. The plasma physics research on these programs are going on in the ECE department. So I've shortlisted them. I've thought about going "full-physics" and applying to the Physics departments but it seems too much hassle and risky. But that is still something in the back of my mind. I am trying to work under a professor in Superconductivity in (quite a great) Lab in a different University. If I do end up getting that opportunity, then I'd most probably take a gap year and then may be consider applying to Physics (or not) (I'm so confused ). But these are my plans now. Thanks for this new insight, I was absolutely unaware of this. I'd definitely take up your advice and look for some Private school programs too. Moreover as I'm applying to the ECE department do you think still it'd be too much of a stretch to get into CAL schools? Moreover I will definitely get at least one year of research experience in one of Photonics/Signal Processing/ Semiconductor physics in the final year, and hope to publish. So considering these information how do you think I should proceed. And thanks again for taking your time to answer my queries. Have a good time.
  7. So, I'm a nearly at the end of my junior year (EE major) in a South Asian engineering university. The thing is I messed up my first and third semester quite badly, due to reasons which I now find quite silly. I didn't like my University at all, in fact I got in a better University (in every sense of the word 'better') and took most of my 1st semester classes there. But due to family pressure and other problems (things work differently in this part of the world) I had to continue where I am now and blew out my GPA, (around 3.5). Our University's GPA, I believe is quite inflated because there are more than 15 students above a 3.9 in a class of about 100 students. In the third semester I thought about starting again in a new University abroad (I hated here so much) applied, got in, couldn't managed fund, ended up staying and blowing away my 3rd semester as well (3.4). From 4th I did okay and got like 3.9 and 3.95 in 5th (now I'm in sixth) and hope to keep the result good. The thing is if I continue going this way I'd end up with like 3.75 - 3.8 , while in terms of most University this would be a good result, but here I'd most probably end up with a class rank of 25-35 or something among 100 students, and that is depressing to me. I'm not really a bad student but I think I made some bad choices, that I can't undo. (those first few semesters were quite easy compared to now ). In terms of research we haven't started yet but I've contacted with some good professors and it seems like(right now) I'd get a chance to work with them, but I can't say how good it will be. I've to see that later I guess. And about GRE, I'm quite confident I can manage a competitive score. Anyway I'd like to know whether my class rank and GPA would be a serious obstacle in my way to get into a good/top program, considering that I am an international student? I'm more interested into theoretical research (I'm a Physics enthusiast). I'd really like to get into one of UCLA / UCSD / Rice / UM Ann Arbor for their Plasma Physics or Rochester for Optics. I have to shorten the list though. I know these are all a stretch for me (I'll of course apply to some safety schools too). So , I just wanted you guys to say how logical/realistic it is to apply to these schools? Moreover what should I do to bolster my chances? Any sort of advice about anything would be extremely appreciated. Thank you guys.
  8. Hello Everyone, I am a Junior Year EEE undergrad student and I am at a dilemma to select my thesis field. I have the option to work under the following fields: 1. Plasmonics/Photonics 2. Antenna Design 3. Signal Proessing I ultimately have the plan to go to grad school preferably in a Physics-heavy field (Like Plasma Physics), so I would like to know which of the above fields would serve me best?? Moreover which of them are more Physics intensive and more fundamental in nature?? It would benifit me a lot if you can give me an overview of how it is like to study them first-hand because I know most subjects don't turn out to be the way they "Sound to be". Thanks a lot
  9. I'm currently a new Junior Year EEE student at a good University in a South Asian country. I have a weird story. I have been a fairly good student all my life, with a passion for Physics and Mathematics. I got accepted into two of the best Universities here. The problem is I wanted to go into one, while my super-concerned family forced me into the other. I was not happy and did quite bad in the first semester (3.51). This is bad because there were four students who got perfect 4s and about 10 or 12 above 3.9 in a pool of 90 students and numerous below that and bewtween my grade.I was below the average GPA. So I think our Uni definately has inflated GPA. The next semester I decided to apply to USA for undergrad. I took SAT with a a month or so preparation in the middle of the semester and got 2150 and 8.5 in IELTS without prep. I got accepted at Uni of Richmond but they wouldn't give me required funding or scholarships. I did horrendous this semester by our Uni standards as I tried to balance coursework and the application process and ended up with a 3.38. The next two semesters I realised I have to study in this Uni and do my best and got a Gpa of 3.8 and 3.91 in my sophomore year. Now I've started my 5th and I'm doing pretty good and I feel pretty confident that I'll be able to keep a CGPA of atleast 3.9 for the final four semester. The thing is if I do good in my later semester will it be regarded in a good light for my application. Will my initial bad results have a negative impact If I want to go for a really good grad program in the US?? I hope to get involved in some research from next semester, although the research quality here isn't that attractive. the thing that worries me is that no matter how good I do now, I'll end up with a class rank in the around 30th-35th percentile, if things go as they are now. How badly is this gonna affect me? I still have two years of Undergrad education left. Any suggestion would be hugely helpful. Thank you everybody.
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