Each week we spotlight an OMSCS TA, so you can get to know who's behind the screen. Here are four questions for Furrukh Rahman, who TAs CS 7642: Reinforcement Learning.
What do you do professionally?
I’m an applied scientist at Microsoft, where I primarily use deep learning and computer vision to solve interesting problems at XBOX. My previous experience is in surgical robotics and machine learning in healthcare operations. I’m passionate about teaching machines to perceive and act in our world.
Why do you TA for OMSCS?
I enjoy doing office hours and paper reviews. It’s stimulating to listen to other people’s thoughts, learn from them, and guide them when necessary. Teaching is the best form of learning for me as well, especially when it’s a class I’m passionate about like reinforcement learning.
What's your advice for future students in OMSCS?
Enjoy the journey, don’t stress about grades or what material is covered or not covered in a course, and use the course as a vehicle to explore the subject. Each course I’ve taken has been very well designed allowing one to acquire foundational intuition and techniques.
What's your favorite memory from your time in or working with OMSCS so far?
I was traveling cross country for an interview and used the long flight to prep by reviewing my CS7641 Machine Learning assignments. Did well on the interview so all the blood, sweat, tears writing those papers was worth it after all! Okay, maybe not blood, but definitely some sleep-deprived nights. It’s now become a tradition to review my ML/RL papers from time to time.
