Student Spotlight: Arnav D., Now at CalTech

Tell us about your background, interests, and why you were interested in AI.

“I'm Arnav, a student of Science in the 12th grade. Primarily, my interests lie in the Natural Sciences, especially Physics and its intersections with Astronomy (which significantly overlaps with Data Science). I took an interest in AI due to its applicability in almost every scientific field and more. Besides, Machine Learning has been gaining prominence in nearly every field that constitutes data analysis, and every day we see the strides being made in ML research. This is why I decided I would explore AI through the Inspirit AI program.”

What was memorable for you about the AI scholars program?

“What was most memorable for me was the intellectually stimulating discussions we had throughout the program and the highly intuitive introduction to fields like Natural Language and Computer Vision. What was unique about the instruction specific to these fields was that not only did we learn, but we learned how to learn (whenever it came to something new- like exploring the documentation of Python libraries). Another thing that stood out for me is the diversity in occupations of the instructors, be it from Psychology Departments working to model the brain using AI to software engineers working on startups. One common trait amongst all of them was that they were all friendly, patient, and highly accommodating. Overall, the Inspirit AI program was a huge success for me.”

How has the program helped you in your future endeavors?

“After the program, I dove into the math behind Machine Learning and polished the theoretical side of the practical skills I acquired at Inspirit AI (mostly through online courses). Using the same approach towards a data science project as we did in the program, I was able to apply Deep Learning in an Astronomy Project in the domain of Exoplanetary Science. I am now working on applying Machine Learning for the detection of particles in the colliders at CERN. The skills I acquired have been immensely helpful towards making me succeed at various competitions like hackathons and science fairs. I’d say the Inspirit AI program helped open doors for me that would’ve been previously inaccessible.”