It was a cold November night. 3:20 AM. Every sane person in the neighborhood was in deep sleep except me, of course. I was on a mission. Not your mundane 007 reconnaissance mission. This was exponentially more riveting and challenging. Earlier in the day, whilst helping my first grader cousins with their homework, I was intrigued by a word search puzzle. Ideal for kids, but I began to wonder if I could write a computer program to solve it.
What was once a boring group of letters now became an infinitely more interesting two-dimensional array. I was now hooked onto this problem and I knew I would not be satisfied until I solved it. Over the course of dinner, I figured out the algorithm using recursion and here I was debugging my Java implementation. Finally, around 4:30 AM, I was done. I had tested my code over a wide range of inputs and it ran perfectly. Mission accomplished.
For me, computer science is all about problem solving and innovation. Not only does it challenge me, but it also empowers me to uplift humanity in my own, unique way.
Which draws me to School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. At CMU, I would get to be part of an elite group of computer science and technology enthusiasts. I would be able to consolidate on my present knowledge by taking challenging courses. I strongly believe that several of humanity’s current global challenges like terrorism, pollution and transportation can be better dealt with by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI), and thereby I am strongly motivated to specialize in AI.
CMU would allow me to pursue it by taking rigorous courses like 15- 381-Artificial Intelligence, which would help me build a strong foundation and also provide the perfect launching pad for me to further explore the intricacies of modern AI. Moreover, CMU offers me a unique opportunity to build upon my classroom skills, via undergraduate research programs like SURG and SURF, Besides I would also be able to broaden my horizons by meeting like-minded, research-driven students at symposiums like Meeting of the Minds.
Adhering to CMU’s pioneering works in AI, I intend to conduct research with distinguished professor Manuela Veloso in robot soccer, enabling me to effectively integrate my passion for soccer and AI to help contribute to the future of intelligent robotics. I would also get to participate in the robotic swarms project which would not only help me gain insights into the complexities of autonomous systems, but because of its widespread applications it would also allow me to tackle deeper problems like transportation and commercial logistics.
Despite having just started competitive programming, I aim to be on the CMU ACM- ICPC team and taking excellent courses like 15-295-Competition Programming and practicing alongside experienced coders would better help me realize my aim. I also intend to be a keen participant and organizer in TartanHacks hackathons. It would be the ideal occasion to network with exceptional student developers from around the world and also to improve my leadership skills. I have always aspired to be a technology entrepreneur, and the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) coupled with Pittsburgh’s thriving startup culture would help me immensely in realizing this dream.
Thus, CMU allows me to be at the center of several of the cutting-edge technology innovations with potentially world changing applications. Moreover, I would get a unique computer science education which would not only be restricted to classroom skills but would encompass the actual practical advances in the field. I would also be able to connect with like-minded students and professors who would broaden my horizons and guide me further in my service to humanity.
