UMBC Memoirs: Research, Fun and Baltimore
INDIA2USA: Now it’s been a few weeks since I have come back from UMBC, Maryland, USA after spending the Spring, 2012 semester; and the hangover of the wonderful experience is still there ;-). The dream started in Dec, 2011, when I first got to know about my plausible visit to UMBC. It was a mixed feeling of shock, excitement, uncertainty and apprehension and 4.5 months seemed a long time… The wait got longer because of some initial glitches like getting the wrong DS2019 documents and the drought of visa appointment dates at the US Embassy, but finally on 20th Jan, I got my golden pass to USA, I had exactly 8 days to pack for my first international trip and these days flew by in packing, packing and more packing 😉 Before I realized how much time has passed, I was there standing at the IGI airport at 11 PM, waving a teary good bye to my family and friends. Believe me the thought that I am going abroad for 4+ months had not even sunk in… It’s only when I sat on the huge Boeing 777 for the first time, and the engines roared with fuel, the realization hit me like a lightning. It was a 24+ hours long and tiring journey to reach my new abode for next few months, BALTIMORE. Having had a stop-over at New York, a few hours before, Baltimore seemed a very different but pleasing city.. It was more like a country-side with a loads of green patches, rare high rises and open roads [and from there onwards Baltimore was rechristened to “US ka Gaon”]
Work@UMBC: Research experience at UMBC was highly enriching and satisfying. This was my first experience of working in an international setting, and it was truly a unique and multi-cultural experience. I interacted with professors and students from all over the world and it was amazing to see how they worked together as a team. At UMBC, I got an opportunity to work at Ebiquity Lab under the guidance of Dr. Anupam Joshi. Soon, I realized it is one of the best and most sought after lab among the computer science students at UMBC, with a proven track record of placements with Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google. The Research work at Ebiquity lab was always focused and well planned. There were weekly team meetings coupled with scrum meetings to discuss the progress and obstacles and regular updates on research work.
I was highly motivated for my work at UMBC as it was work in my core research domain. Along with the research work I did with Dr. Joshi, I also got the opportunity to attend a course [another meticulously planned detail by my advisor] on “Semantic Web” conducted by Dr. Tim Finin. This was like icing on the cake, as Semantic Web is a new and upcoming field, with numerous applications. In my first few weeks at the research lab, I also got an opportunity to present my work done at IIIT to the Ebiquity group. I got many more wonderful opportunities at UMBC, one such being, when our work was presented by Dr. Joshi at NIST, where I also attended a full day workshop at NIST’s nano-technology labs.
@UMBC I learned about various new domains of computer science research which I had not known earlier, and attended seminars on these topics by the experts. Another interesting milestone for me came during my stay at UMBC, when our research paper got accepted at PSOSM workshop at WWW 2012. I visited Lyon, France for a week to present my work at the conference [another blog coming up shortly about my Paris and Lyon adventures 😉 ]
Fun&Friends: Well no experience is complete without your friends 🙂 and to be honest I met some amazing people at Baltimore and will cherish their friendship throughout my life. These were the people, who made my trip memorable and helped me throughout the stay. It was amazing to see the bonding between the entire Indian community at UMBC. Midnight birthday celebrations, bus trips, movies, bowling, shopping, road-trips,.. it was a trip full of adventure and new experiences. I visited some amazing cities like New York, Washington DC, Boston and Annapolis. I also attended a lot of Indian as well multicultural programs at UMBC, which was an enriching experience too. Now some good things about my “gaon”; the weather in Baltimore was amazing and full of surprises, I experienced snowfall for the first time in my life during my first week at Baltimore, and then stayed through the beautiful spring season to watch all the cherry blossoms bloom to glory and finally bid adieu to the city amidst hurricane warnings.
At the end, I would like to thank my mentors (Dr. Joshi and Dr. PK) for giving me this opportunity to experience a new world and my friends to make it so much memorable for me.