Challenges that pay

This is my second post in My life at NCTU series. In my last post I had introduced NCTU from one bailed out’s prospective, this post is from a doubly loaded person’s prospective! This is the end of the semester and I am going to complete 1 full year with NCTU. This semester was full of enthusiasm at one end and lot of frustrations at the other. The average number of sleep hours per day must not have been more than 4.5, I guess. I watched only 7-10 movies in the whole semester! I do remember my Bachelors study days, I used to watch more than this in a week!

Some of the 26 Research papers I studied this semester!

As I had mentioned in my last post, taking even two courses in a single semester requires one to have full time dedication on studies, and I had taken three courses (one I dropped, though) the last semester! And, I repeated the same mistake this semester too! The only difference is that I took completely practical based courses this time, so that I could avoid the written exams (I am bad at writing theory and doing a lot of derivations). And now I can say I have gained an intermediate level working expertise in the domains of Machine learning, neural networks and Computer Vision! And this has tremendously helped me at my Internship at ITRI too, I got a new project assigned to me due to these skills with me.

Chinese class handout. Very difficult to remember these words!

Chao Mian, means stir fried noodles

I have taken Device Design and Simulation Lab course too, and guess what, my course Professor was Prof. Yiming Li, the co-Author of the most famous Physics of Semiconductor Devices book, himself! The famous, Prof. Simon Sze, too is Professor at NCTU and his office is on the same floor as my lab! This was the first time I had attended a class by such a famous author and researcher and I was astonished by how enthusiastic the Professor is towards teaching. He explains each key point in every lab, though he has three Teaching Assistants to do the job for him. NCTU also got a collaboration with the prestigious Tohoku University, Japan under his supervision. Any student interested in doing a research in the domain can get access to the research resources of both the Universities as well as provision for exchange is also available. I had taken this course considering only design and simulation grades for the course, but to my surprise, I have learnt much more device physics than I used to from my Bachelors studies. I hope to find a research topic in this domain too since the commercial licensed tools used in the course were very much compute intensive and their acceleration is possible.

Wifi speed in my dormitory

My personal small Worship place

My beloved study room, I spend my nights here.

Laundromat on 2 floors in dorm

We recently had an End-of-semester Gathering party, I had attended one for the first time ever. Our Department, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, had made wonderful arrangement, we had Indian dishes served! I had the most delicious chicken biriyani after almost 10 months. Some of the students who graduated this semester shared their experiences regarding job search and how they got into work profile they were interested in. It was a wonderful experience. You can see some of the pictures from the event.

My plate of Chicken biriyani

Sea shore visible from the top floor

National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, just 150 m from my dorm

Beware of snakes, a lot of them in the greenery around, I haven't seen any yet though!

Vending machines in the dorm, my rescuers at night

Very efficient waste management

NCTU has an exclusive barbeque area where one can do barbeque party the whole night. It is in an open space beneath a bridge. I had gone there for the first time and this was the first time I roasted chicken on charcoal. We played Hindi songs and danced too. It was a great relief from the continuous and tiring technically demanding projects I have been doing the whole semester. Some pictures from here too.

Tasty Kebabs

Barbeque area top view

Common room on my floor, mostly used only by me

I have bought a second-hand scooter the last month. I used to have problem going to ITRI twice a week. Scooter is the most commonly used mode of transport in Hsinchu and one can easily find a reasonably costing second-hand scooter online. Parking space is very much costly in Hsinchu in comparison to that in India. Luckily, NCTU provides a free parking space for the two-wheelers, towards the back gate. It doesn’t require any identification for being NCTU staff or student, I have seen many of the Science Park employees parking in there. Most importantly, it is just 100 meters from my dormitory, Graduate Dorm-2, so I need not walk long distance in order to get to my scooter. My scooter in the picture below (I miss my Avenger that I used to use back in India).

My scooter

Shortcut staircase from dorm to parking area

How can I miss the big news! I have been offered from ITRI to convert to a full time employee from internship! This was a totally unexpected positive development which I knew would happen but not so soon! I had to postpone it for the time being and I have affirmed saying that I shall join full time after completing my course work. I am hoping of a collaborated project between my lab and ITRI so that I can work with full concentration on one project at a time. If every thing goes well, I will seek approval from my Professor for the full time position. This is a great opportunity since this will count as an industrial PhD. I wish more such opportunity existed back in India too. This forms a big financial freedom for any researcher and keeps the enthusiasm high. This surely helps get more output out of the research work.

ITRI, my Internship office

A brand new Asus ViviBook 5, bought for me by my Lab. I received it just 3 days after I asked for it!

Keeping this post short, I would better summarize this semester’s experience now. I have learnt designing and implementing the most appropriate machine learning algorithms according to the data set available. I am now able to design and to develop a deep neural network to recognize emotions from an image or a video feed. I can also predict stock prices to some accuracy, though this is in beginning phase and I hope to improve the accuracy to a level where I can place real time trades on real stock markets.

So you can feel the heat here, I hope. I would recommend any serious researcher to consider pursuing a semester as exchange student here and I can guarantee that you would end up pursuing a full time degree! More in the next post…

An option, now evolving opportunities

Graduating out from a good engineering college, with a good-paying IT job offer in hand, is a dream come true for most of the bachelor’s degree students in India. Although the process itself is not too tough, but the competition makes it a struggle and introduces too much randomness. I was one of those people 3 years back. There was a topping with it, I was into the R&D unit of the company, at-least what they had designated! I found thrill for a month or two, I learned a lot, but soon the excitement faded with no work-life balance and my responding with a resignation after just a year. One more year of trial at the largest IT Company of the world too did not work and then I felt that I am not good with repetitive work that has very less scope for exploration. Thanks to a heartbreak, I finally then took step to my long-awaited but forgotten desire, a pursuance of higher education abroad, Taiwan.

I would say I got lucky; I did not have too much information about the destination, NCTU. I only knew the world rankings, but I was unaware of all the Goodies that NCTU was about to offer. I applied to the International Graduate Program of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (IGP-EECS) department and the whole application process was unexpectedly smooth! I received instant responses to my queries, even though I was still applying. Furthermore, I received offer to join year-long internship with Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), thanks to the prestige and great record of the NCTU alumni. Now, this was a real topping that I received!

I landed in Taipei on September 3^rd last year and I experienced something beautiful there itself. I was not sure about my journey to NCTU, Hsinchu from Taipei, and I was reluctant to ask for help, as I was not sure about response. Out of nowhere, a person came to me and asked me if I needed help. I explained him but he was having trouble understanding English. He brought another person from some distance and with his help, he understood me. He helped me buy tickets and board the bus and then left. This was new to me and in the first impression itself I felt the truly helpful nature of Taiwanese people.

A small temple at the entrance of  NCTU

After reaching NCTU, I had all my admission formalities completed with the help of an old friend from India. I must say, every step was clear enough and the staff very much helpful. My dorm was allocated. I was now ready to explore the large and beautiful campus of NCTU.

My dormitory, Graduate Dorm-2

View from my dorm top floor

My first spot was the Waffles house; hunger caused this! They offer more than 50 types of waffles and teas. I am a big fan of it and I still visit it at-least thrice a week to have some tasty chocolate waffles and the cold Assam milk tea. I was overwhelmed at first to see so many varieties of tea being offered, but now I know that Taiwanese are really too much into teas! You can see the beautiful Waffles house in the image.

Juice and snacks shop near Female Dorm

Pink house, I love their Japanese Curry chi

My next destination was NCTU library. It is an eight-floor building, with book galleries and study carrels (peaceful individual study rooms) up to the 7^th floor. It has an enormous collection of technological books and journals, both in English and Chinese languages. There is literature section too, but the books are mostly in Chinese. I have been using the study carrels since I joined and I feel it is the best thing about NCTU library.

NCTU Library

NCTU campus also has a beautiful lake at its entrance itself. It has trees on all its sides. I have occasionally been doing yoga on one of its sides in the early morning time. There is a small fountain at some distance from the lake. It has a lot of small as well as large gold fishes. It offers the most romantic view at the nighttime; perfect location for a date!

Garden behind the library

So many fishes!

Beautiful lake at the entrance, my yoga place

NCTU is great at sports and extra-curricular activities too. It has a 400m running track. I was initially amazed to see so many people running on the tracks; they really are very much health conscious.

One of the many Lawn tennis courts

There is a swimming complex, which has a 50m outdoor pool and a 25m indoor pool. Summers become enjoyable because of these. I have also used the badminton court, the tennis court and the gym. Apart from these, the campus also hosts basketball courts, volleyball courts, and baseball and softball fields. NCTU campus is really a heaven for sports persons.

Open gym near the running track

External 50-m swimming pool

Billiards tables in the Student Activity Center

Smoking area, separated from crowdy spots

Academic buildings are divided based on departments. My EECS department building is right in the center of the campus and is very near to my dorm. The labs are very hi-tech. One major difference between my earlier labs and here is the availability of enough resources to for practical experimentation. Every lab has a dedicated lab assistant committed to management of these resources and this reduces and avoids any delay in doing any project one wants to do. Labs are accessible 24x7. Another add-on is the provision of lab-funded snacks and drinks, completely free for lab members! For me, this has been a motivating factor to work in the lab, instead of my dorm, many a time. Taiwanese snacks are too tasty!

ED, my department building

Chinese Learning Center building, too much fun in Chinese classes

NCTU offers a lot of scholarships and grants based on student’s performance. I myself have been offered 100% tuition fees waivers for the 1^st two semesters, based on the previous semester performance. Apart from this, there is a generous monthly stipend, though it is too competitive for international students. This is another motivation to score high percentiles in each of the courses. Labs also provide Research Assistantships, based on lab work performance. Overall, the financial security provided to the deserving students is much better and stable in comparison to those of other well-known universities all over the world. I feel this is another important reason that we are finding more number of international students’ admissions every semester.

One of the weekly seminars in progress

I must say the courses here are good one and at a high level. The courses are mostly upgraded ones and at par with the current research in the domains. A perfect mix of theoretical study as well as practical projects are added in each course. Handling even 2 courses in a semester becomes tough here! But the support is available from Teaching Assistants and they do try their best to help solve our confusions. Still, a careful selection of courses is necessary in order to successfully score every semester.

Red bus, between Hsinchu Science Park and the markets, passes through NCTU campus

Close proximity to the Hsinchu Science Park is another advantage of NCTU. A large number of NCTU alumni are senior Executives in the Park and this helps the internships as well as the after course job search. NCTU alumni are highly employable in the industry and a degree from NCTU seems to be almost a guarantee for a job. The Professors also support their students to get a reference in the industry.

Hsinchu Science Park, visible from top of my dorm. Realtek and TSMC!

I hope to have many more great experiences being a NCTU student. I joined as a Master’s student and by the middle of the 2^nd semester itself, I have decided to transfer into a PhD course, owing to so much opportunity and such a supportive research mentor Professor present here. Keeping it short for now, I will update on my other experiences @NCTU in my next blog.