Every other week we spotlight an OMSCS TA, so you can get to know who's behind the screen. Here are four questions for Sona Jain who TAs CS 7637: Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence.
What do you do professionally?
I will be a full-time MSCS student this fall at Georgia Tech. Previously, I interned at an industrial manufacturing company in China, where I created an automated engine calibration system in MATLAB. Additionally, I helped a client from a two-wheeled vehicle manufacturer in India (remote) develop a project management system using R.
Why do you TA for OMSCS?
I enjoyed KBAI so much and didn’t want it to end! I am a very analytical person myself, so I found getting AI agents to reason through problems like we do (or how we would like them to) to be very intriguing. One of my favorite parts of the course was reading other students’ reports and seeing how they solved the problems. Even as I help students as a TA, I feel like I’m still a student in the course myself because I learn so much from everyone’s ideas!
What is your advice to future OMSCS students?
Form study groups. Other people are great resources! In my experience, we all got each other unstuck whether we ran into problems. Sometimes, doing grad school remotely can feel a little isolating too, so having that extra support is always beneficial.
What’s your best study hack?
For me, one of the most nerve-racking aspects of a course is coming across little detailed, nitpicky concept questions on an exam. So my favorite study hack to use is mnemonic devices (i.e. like the memory trick elementary school kids use to memorize the planets).
Other study tips I use are to familiarize myself with the material before watching lectures, relating new material to something I already know, and being sure I take breaks effectively (using something like the Pomodoro technique).
