I started from Mechatronic Research Laboratories (MRL) while I was pursuing my Bachelor’s Degree. MRL consists of laboratories focusing on different research studies and participate in RoboCup competitions every year. Advanced Mobile Robot Laboratory (AMRL) is one of those laboratories that I joined as a junior researcher and developer. That was my home; working all day, every day even in breaks because of the competitions. I kind of grew up there! It was a great experience! learned a lot, built my personal and technical skills! However, I am still learning! I still keep saying that. I guess, I never stop saying that. I am planning to say that in front of my grandchildren while looking up on the internet to learn how to make cookies for them!
After two years of working with the team in AMRL, I was ready to do more with the experiences that I gained. So, I started to work in Virtual Robots Laboratory (VRL) as the team leader. Being a leader was a great experience! I enjoyed sharing my knowledge and expertise with new members for training them to become future leaders.
I started my Master’s program at Roosevelt University. Becoming a Python and Java tutor in the CS department happened in my first semester. So happy that I had enough experience in coding to get accepted by them in my first semester. In my second semester, Professor Alex Wolpert (one of the best professors that I had so far!) invited me to the research group that he and Professor Evgeny Dantsin (he is one other best professor that I have!) hosted. My journey in Data Science started from there! I got exposed to new words and concepts… I searched a lot and learned a lot! Then I became a TA for Alex. In my third semester, they gave me a GRA (Graduate Research Assistantship) position at school. That made me use my previous knowledge in robotics vision to set up a 3D world model of Kinect in one of the research projects in the CS department.