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As I had 2 weeks of classes in Research Methods, now MS Thesis topic is being shaped in my mind. Me and my colleague Ibrahim was thinking about how to develop a system that will ease the lives of disabled people of the community from the first day. It is fact that there are several communication obstacles in people who cannot talk with the rest. This is where idea came off.

Our MS Thesis topic is developing Sign Recognition system which translate the video in sign language to the text. As most of the countries have their own and different sign language, our domain is Azerbaijanian language. It is both Computer Vision and Machine Learning project as we will get the features from video and train those data to get corresponding text. There is also Natural Language Processing task that from a particular video we will get sequence of words. Generating meaningful sentences from those words is NLP task.

However, it is seen that we would have some problems about finding appropriate data. In this manner, we will contact governmental officials to help us with the data. In addition, I believe we can find some data online such as in Kaggle. We will surely need the help of trainers who are the professionals in sign language of Azerbaijanian.

In this short blog, I have explained our MS Thesis topic and the data we are willing to use. Right now, we are in the process of researching. We read different research papers on this topic and look through its applications. We have not decided the techniques and models we will use yet, but for now, CNN + LSTM seem best option for now. We plan that till the end of ‘Research Methods’ class, we will have clear plan that we will follow till the May 2022.

Last week, we started the summer term with a single class called “Research Methods”. Dr. Kaisler will lead us in the period of 6 weeks. First week was kind of introduction to the course. However, I clearly understood the goal of the course.

This course is designed in order to lead us to select most appropriate MS Thesis topic. During this class, range of computer science related concepts will be introduced to us, some potential topics will be explored, and we will form an opinion about how to get prepared for MS Thesis. This class will also help us to find corresponding data and resources to fulfill MS Project.

Everything starts with decent plan. In last week’s classes, I learned that most important point is asking right questions. There are 7 steps:

1. Defining the Problem: MS Thesis topic should reflect some problem where the particular field benefit from its solution. What kind of obstacle we face in our daily life? How with the help of machine learning it could be solved? And more…
2. Data Collection: What kind of data we need it? Is it already available or somehow need to be collected?
3. Methods and Tools Selection: Whether it is Machine Learning problem or Computer Vision or any other, you need to decide which method, model or tool will be used throughout implementation. Picking up most appropriate tools and methods will ease the difficulties of project. Hardware resources also are decided in this part.
4. System Development: It is a timeline where task is divided into parts and need to be fulfilled in a given period of time.
5. Testing: While implementing the project, incremental testing needs to be done. Upon completion, unit testing, integration testing, and others also required to be accomplished.
6. Operational Demonstration: We will have 2 demonstration; initial and final. One of them is in December and the other is in May.  We need to demonstrate progress of the project.
7. Documentation: Each project needs to be documented. It helps others to read and understand code and functionality easily. Hereby, others who will take the project to proceed will take less time to understand what is going on.

George H. Heilmeier, a former DARPA director, crafted a set of questions known as the "Heilmeier Catechism" to help Agency officials think through and evaluate proposed research programs. These are:

• What are you trying to do? Articulate your objectives using absolutely no jargon.
• How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?
• What's new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?
• Who cares? If you're successful, what difference will it make?
• What are the risks and the payoffs?
• How much will it cost? How long will it take?
• What are the midterm and final "exams" to check for success?

When we have tangible answers to this questions, it means we have a great MS Thesis topic.

There are 2 types of research: Experimental and Creative Research. Experimental research. Experimental research is focused on cause (independent variable) and effect (dependent variable) where Creative research is focused on the development of new theories, methodologies and models.

Moreover Dr. Kaisler talked about research topics and projects from his experiences where some of them have been completed successfully where some of them failed due to several reasons. Those reasons are also great guide for us to make planning better.

I truly believe that what we learn from this class will guide us how to successfully complete MS Thesis which will form also our future academic career.

I am Aykhan Nazimzade from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is a country bounded by the Caspian Sea and Caucasus Mountains, which span Asia and Europe. The capital city is Baku. I was born on 24 November 1997 in Agdash city which is located in the middle of Azerbaijan. It is a small city with cool winter and too hot summer months.

Since my childhood, I have shown great interest on technological devices. It started with first console games and old-fashioned cameras. I was always curious about technological devices in both software and hardware aspect. This curiosity became my main motivation and thought to study hard. As technology has been developing, my desire to be Computer Scientist has been arisen. I am an individual who always trace his dreams. And I did.

I suppose myself computational person, therefore, I have a passion on math-based sciences which is the reason I am Computer Science student now. In school years, I always worked hard on Mathematics and Physics. My main focus is learning not for getting high grades. I believe that when a person focuses on learning rather than grades, grades will come itself. During school years, my interest on computers was increasing. I got my first PC when I was 10 years old. I remember that operating system was “Windows XP”. I was recording videos with camera and using “Windows Media Maker”, I had been creating video clips. Meanwhile, I was also learning simple algorithms of programming, and design software such as “Photoshop” and “Illustrator”.

I always tried to conduct my academic career with participating at Olympiads. I took part in Olympiads 2 times for Math and Physics. In addition, I was selected as a one of best students of city that I earned funds by state. When all those happened, my computer was my best friend.

My desire to be Computer Scientist led to hard work for university admission exam. I was admitted to ADA University, Computer Science major in 2015 with 654 entrance exam score out of 700. ADA University is one of the most prestigious universities in Azerbaijan. First year, we were prepared for English language because of my study was in full English.

During my bachelor’s degree, I successfully completed my internship program, involved in major based events, and participated in Huawei’s Seeds for Future program where ICT students are sent to China on a two-week study trip. I was always seeking a proper field of computer science where I can shape my future career and get specialization. In Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning classes that I took in university, I realized that my dream job is being Data Scientist which is synthesis of scientific methods including mathematics, processes, algorithms, and systems to extract knowledge and insights from many structured and unstructured data.

I understand the importance of education and earnings of it for an individual. Therefore, I continued my education in a master’s degree level. There was an opportunity that ADA University where I have completed my bachelor’s degree and George Washington University offer Master of Science in Computer Science and Data Analytics. Studying 2 years and earning 2 degrees was more than I wish. This program is what I need to pursue my career. It is funded by state program which means that our country really needs people specialized in this field. Hereby, I would be able to make contribution to my homeland’s tech industry and economics.

USA has always attracted me with its nature and sightseeing. I have been in USA including Washington DC. once more when I was 15. As a person who loves travelling, it was lifetime opportunity to study in USA. I am interested in historical places, traditions, and foods of different cultures.

Beyond the business, I am extremely interested in video games that I still play computer games in my leisure times for fun. Sometimes, I also become participant in e-sport competitions. Football is my main motivation that I love both playing and watching it. Moreover, I always try to allocate time for my friends for hanging out. That is all about me!