Kalp Mukund Mepani
Can you tell us about your educational and work experience background before you enrolled in this program?
Before this program, I completed my bachelors in the field of Computer Science and Engineering and was part of a research internship at SUNY Binghamton followed by a corporate internship at State Street Corporation in the field of Artificial Intelligence
What initially drew you to this program?
My interest in Data Science grew mainly in 3rd year of my bachelors degree where I got to know how you can use machines to make them intelligent and predict our future and it would always excite me. The program outline along with the campus beauty was something that literally dragged me to CU Boulder!
Can you tell us how the MS-DS program fits into your life?
It fits perfectly! As I mentioned DS is something I want to pursue in my career and a lot of new opportunities are now open, now that I have successfully completed my Masters in Data Science. I feel that I am doing something which interests me, which excites me and so this masters fit perfectly with it. Along the way, I have also encountered a rollercoaster of experiences, facing moments of challenge and difficulty that have tested my resilience. However, these moments have taught me invaluable life lessons, pushing me to come back stronger and more determined than ever before.
What are your favorite parts of the program?
Met amazing people and worked on amazing projects such as finetuning our own LLM, using some of the awesome AI techniques and knowing more about AI in detail. The program also helped me create some useful projects and added some useful experiences and I got to know more about what I want to do after my masters, particularly in DS.
What do you hope to do with your MS-DS degree?
I want to explore more in the field of GenAI and LLMs and want to professionally contribute in this field. So, I want to use my degree along with the skills and knowledge that I have gained in the past years towards that. Additionally, I also want to use my data science skills in order to contribute towards the World where I can use the data to depict a meaningful story!
Would you recommend this program to others? Why or why not?
Yes, I would definitely recommend this program. I believe it will be like a rollercoaster, where you will be at your lowest and your highest and it will teach you a lot of things apart from some real life experiences in the field of Data Science
What is one tip you have for students who are starting this program?
Try gaining more experiences under your faculty and if possible working on real-World issues into your projects. Lastly, just make sure to enjoy every bit of this program, while you can!
Is there a specific project you have worked on that stands out to you?
I feel fine tuning our own LLM that I did with my team is something unique and was really interesting. Along with that working on extracting sentiments and emotions using audio and video as well as working and designing analysis for animal shelters was something I think shaped me in a better way.
