{"620694":{"#nid":"620694","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Meet ML@GT: Unaiza Ahsan","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ml.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EThe Machine Learning Center at Georgia Tech\u003C\/a\u003E (ML@GT) is home to many amazing students from across campus, representing all six of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s colleges and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese students have diverse backgrounds and a wide variety of interests both inside and outside of the classroom. Today, we\u0026rsquo;d like you to meet \u003Cstrong\u003EUnaiza Ahsan\u003C\/strong\u003E who recently successfully defended her thesis and will graduate this spring with a Ph.D. in computer science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHometown:\u003C\/strong\u003E Karachi, Pakistan\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdvisor:\u003C\/strong\u003E Irfan Essa, ML@GT Director and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ic.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Interactive Computing\u003C\/a\u003E Professor\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECurrent Georgia Tech degree program:\u003C\/strong\u003E Ph.D. Computer Science\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOther degrees earned: \u003C\/strong\u003EB.E. in Telecommunications and a M.S. in Computer and Information Science Systems from NED University of Engineering \u0026amp; Technology, Karachi Pakistan\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell us about your research:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy research is about artificial intelligence (AI) agents learning useful visual representations without requiring massively labeled datasets. So, I am interested in something called self-supervised learning. This is where you take the data \u0026ndash; videos in my case \u0026ndash; construct a pseudo-task out of that data like creating a video jigsaw puzzle, for example, and training a deep network to solve the task. This approach does not require labels and we end up with networks that can recognize actions in videos much better than if we had trained them from scratch.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your plans after graduation?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI recently accepted a position as a data scientist with The Home Depot in Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your favorite conference and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI have two. The \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/cvpr2019.thecvf.com\/\u0022\u003EComputer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)\u003C\/a\u003E conference is one because it always gives me great ideas of what to do next in my research. My other favorite is the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/wacv19.wacv.net\/\u0022\u003EWinter Applications of Computer Vision (WACV)\u003C\/a\u003E conference. It\u0026rsquo;s one of the best events for presenting my research and learning from others in the field. It\u0026rsquo;s always held in amazing locations in the United States, which also gives me a chance to explore awesome places like Hawaii!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your favorite place to hang out on campus or in Atlanta and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI used to be scared of biking because I had never really biked before in my life, but now I have come to love it! My favorite place to hang out in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/about\/atlanta\u0022\u003EAtlanta\u003C\/a\u003E is riding my bike on the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/beltline.org\/\u0022\u003EBeltline\u003C\/a\u003E, which is also fairly close to campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are some of your hobbies?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI love writing poetry! I have scribbled so many poems in between my notebooks full of research, experiments etc.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EVolunteer work is also important to me. I love volunteering at \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/openhandatlanta.org\/\u0022\u003EOpen Hand Atlanta\u003C\/a\u003E. Their work is really important and I love the opportunity to give back to my community. They deliver nutritious meals to senior citizens all around Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI also enjoy long walks and nature in general.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your favorite Georgia Tech experience?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGazing through the amazing telescopes at the observatory in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/about\/directions\u0022\u003EHowey\u003C\/a\u003E! That was a one-of-a-kind experience! Uh, my thesis defense too...but after it was over!\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow would you describe your perfect Saturday?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy perfect Saturday would start with a really good research result, which would make me happy and want to celebrate. I would celebrate by riding my bike on the Beltline and stopping at Jeni\u0026rsquo;s Splendid Ice Creams for some well-deserved and delicious ice cream.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy family is back home in Pakistan so I would give them a call before heading off to volunteer for the afternoon. My perfect day would end with having an awesome \u0026lsquo;Desi\u0026rsquo; dinner.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWho is someone that inspires you and why? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy aunt, Dr. Asmat Salim. She is a force to reckon with and has been instrumental in my life. She encouraged me to apply for the Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech and has been amazingly happy for me at every milestone. She has won the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\/affiliates\/paul-dudley-white-award\u0022\u003EPaul Dudley White International Science Team Award\u003C\/a\u003E from the American Heart Association (AHA) for her research, twice(!), all while battling some serious illnesses and supervising her own Ph.D. students in Pakistan\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe has taught me to be resilient, no matter what our personal circumstances and that this is one of the most useful lessons we can learn in life.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your proudest accomplishment? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEarning my Ph.D. in computer science from Georgia Tech! A close contender is when I won a poetry contest in Pakistan. The prize was a summer creative writing course at Middlesex University in the United Kingdom.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is something that you would most like to create? \u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI would love to write a book someday, or at least publish a book of poems titled \u003Cem\u003ELife as a Ph.D. Student\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Machine Learning Center at Georgia Tech is full of amazing students. Today, we\u0027d like you to meet Unaiza Ahsan."}],"uid":"34773","created_gmt":"2019-04-22 12:14:21","changed_gmt":"2019-05-14 14:39:59","author":"ablinder6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-04-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-04-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"621663":{"id":"621663","type":"image","title":"Unaiza Ahsan is hooded by her advisor, Irfan Essa, at commencement spring 2019.","body":null,"created":"1557844724","gmt_created":"2019-05-14 14:38:44","changed":"1557844724","gmt_changed":"2019-05-14 14:38:44","alt":"","file":{"fid":"236798","name":"47766336181_74eb1804c2_k.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/47766336181_74eb1804c2_k.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/47766336181_74eb1804c2_k.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":677741,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/47766336181_74eb1804c2_k.jpg?itok=ZvZBNk7v"}},"617524":{"id":"617524","type":"image","title":"Unaiza Ahsan traveled to Hawaii in January 2019 to present her paper at the Winter Applications of Computer Vision (WACV) conference. ","body":null,"created":"1549636546","gmt_created":"2019-02-08 14:35:46","changed":"1549636546","gmt_changed":"2019-02-08 14:35:46","alt":"","file":{"fid":"235048","name":"IMG_20190107_071941352.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_20190107_071941352.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_20190107_071941352.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":210492,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/IMG_20190107_071941352.jpg?itok=0YDptQKM"}}},"media_ids":["621663","617524"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"576481","name":"ML@GT"},{"id":"50876","name":"School of Interactive Computing"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAllie McFadden\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Eallie.mcfadden@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}