As I have grown from high school into college, my mindset on personal growth has changed substantially. I previously regarded personal growth as off-putting and difficult, but now it is one of the major motivators in my day-to-day life. This is because personal growth is highly fulfilling and offers a permanent source of positivity in my life. In this way, challenges have a positive connotation since they are related positively with feelings of fulfillment. For more information on my outlook on challenges and fulfillment, read the article on my website at (https://iannbridges.com/life). It is with this context that I am excited to present the various challenges that I anticipate I will encounter during my IDEA Grant research!
In order to learn the relevant information necessary to begin implementing my model, I must read often from lots of sources. Because of this, there is ample opportunity to be knocked of track and learn about material tangential to the project. In addition, learning about this unrelated material may manifest itself in the development of my model. Mistakes of this nature may include implementing an overly-complex model, hyper focusing on the structure of the model, or becoming too engrossed in the details of a particular concept to the detriment of my understanding of other concepts.
Furthermore, there are some interesting paths of development that are supplementary, though not necessary, to this project which may pose a significant temptation and thus distraction from the project. These things include researching website development, data visualization, advanced mathematical methods in machine learning or artificial intelligence, advanced neural network design, and unrelated AI/ML applications.
These potential pitfalls, however, are easily combatted through weekly meetings with my advisor Dr. Wang. In these meetings I will update Dr. Wang about my recent readings and development. Dr. Wang will give feedback on my progress and direction, thus enabling me to stay on track with the project. Dr. Wang will also provide me with relevant chapters to read, thus directing my study. Another way I could ensure that I stay on track is recording what I learned about each day, reviewing it the following day, and explaining its relevance for my project to myself. This will allow me to refresh on my thoughts from the previous day and analyze the relevance of a particular concept with a fresh mind. In addition, taking notes on the materials while highlighting where the material came from will help make keep track of which sections I have covered in each text, allowing me to minimize redundant readings.
Effectively digesting the required material is also a potential challenge. There are quite a few books that I intend to use to learn about machine learning, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing. These include “Foundation of Machine Learning” by Mohri et. al., “Natural Language Processing with Python” by Bird et. al., and “Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Process” by Manning and Schütze. Reading from these texts in addition to reading documentation and poses a challenge for my current reading capacity. This challenge will have to be faced head on by simply reading more pages everyday, with some off-days placed throughout the week to allow ample time for my mind to rest.
Lastly, there will always be code to debug. I have already developed solutions to combatting these problems, including precise google searches, reading from user-driven content based websites such as StackOverflow, and reading code documentation. In the rare case that I may be stuck beyond a point where I can help myself, I will reach out to my advisor to request some help.
The great Carl Friedrich Gauss famously said “It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.” It is with this sentiment that I look forward to overcoming many challenges during this summer!
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