What/when were you at Brown?
Graduate student. 2005-2011.
What do you do now? Provide a brief description of what you do for a living and what drives you professionally.
I lead an AI Software and Research group at Intel. Before that I was a co-founder of Nervana Systems which was acquired by Intel in 2016. I am excited by the prospect of AI improving our lives from better farming, medicines, education, and commutes to eliminating mundane housework!
How did your experience at Brown (in the lab, in the classroom, and in the Brown community) prepare you for what you do today?
The current deep learning revolution in AI has been powered by artificial neural networks. An education in neuroscience and computer science was the perfect background to contribute to this field. At Brown, in addition to using machine learning to analyze large neurophysiological datasets, I was also heavily involved in the lab in performing experiments and collecting that data. This made me aware of the nuances of the data that I was analyzing. This perspective has been very useful when interacting with domain experts when we apply AI techniques to enterprise data science problems. Brown has phenomenal teaching, and from my professors I learned the importance of being a good listener and a patient mentor. Brown has a friendly and collaborative community. I met one of my future co-founders of Nervana while at Brown. I was also introduced to my future wife by a fellow Brown postdoc!