Let me introduce myself
Pras who?
Knowledge is Power
Things I do for love
Build Succeeded.
You’ve got a friend in me
Hello World!. I'm Prasannakumaran, a passionate computer science graduate student pursuing a master's degree in CS at the University of California, San Diego. My academic journey is powered by a deep-seated passion for computer science, with a specific fascination for machine intelligence and modelling the intricacies of human behavior.
Beyond the classroom, I'm driven by a burning desire to make a tangible impact on our community by designing solutions to real-world challenges. My role as a leader in research and application projects has been instrumental in bringing our work to the global stage, with publications at prestigious conferences in Australia and Poland.
When I'm not engrossed in my laptop, you'll often find me in the midst of late-night DotA skirmishes, honing my military prowess in Age of Empires, or immersing myself in the enchanting universe of The Witcher. My lifelong love affair with computers and gaming began at the tender age of five, culminating in the exhilarating experience of building my own custom PC during my early teens—an ode to my enduring tech passion.
Beyond the digital realm, my interests encompass marathons of TV shows, movies, and anime with captivating characters with whom I resonate, including the freedom-seeking Eren Yaegar, the brave and the bold Batman, morally complex Jamie Lannister, and the hilariously irreverent Michael Scott.
In recent times, my professional endeavours have centred on the captivating domains of explainable machine learning, computer vision, and AI for health. These pursuits underscore my unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology to enhance the well-being of individuals and communities.
Resume
Python
C
Java
Javascript
SQL
Cypher
and others..
Kon'nichiwa!! I'm currently on the exciting path of pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. My adventure in computer science began with a memorable two-year stint at the Solarillion Foundation in Chennai, where I first dipped my toes into the fascinating world of Machine Learning Research. Let me tell you, that experience ignited a real passion in me. Now, UCSD is the real deal—it's got top-notch professors, cutting-edge research facilities, a seriously competitive peer group, and a network of accomplished alumni that's pretty darn impressive. And here's the scoop: I'm all set to don the cap and gown and graduate from UCSD in June 2024. So, stick around because there's a lot more to come in this journey, and I'm stoked for my upcoming years.
School
Show Courses
2004 - 2018
High School Courses
Bachelor of Computer Science
Coursework
2018 - 2022
Semester 1
Master's in Computer Science
Coursework
2022 - 2024
Quarter 1
2019
From
Research & Teaching Assistant, Server Maintenance and Development
2022
To
My journey at the Solarillion Foundation began in December 2019, when I started as a research assistant. During this time, I led a research team of five where we worked on fake news detection, which resulted in publications at a renowned international conference in Australia (AusDM). Additionally, I contributed to the field of malware analysis, where I held the role of second author, and our work earned recognition at a conference in Poland (ICCS).
In March 2020, I took on the role of teaching assistant, where I had the privilege of mentoring over 15 students during their orientation phase. I taught Python and machine learning, guiding students through data wrangling, modelling, and result analysis—laying the foundation for solving complex machine learning problems. As a dedicated member of the project review committee, I reviewed and provided valuable insights for over 20 students' project reports. My involvement didn't stop there; I played a crucial role in the Server Team, where I developed modules and maintained the compute server at the Solarillion Foundation. Throughout these experiences, I've had the opportunity to contribute significantly to both research and education while honing my skills and expertise in the field of computer science.
2023
From
Research & Teaching Assistant
Present
To
My academic journey has seamlessly converged with my graduate school experience, fostering collaborations with esteemed research labs. During the Winter 2023 quarter, I worked at the Nemati lab, where I confronted a pivotal challenge in medical data analysis. Due to the inherent variability of data collection practices across healthcare institutions, the data available for modelling is very sparse. Such data results in a large number of uncertain predictions where the data points are clustered around the decision boundary. These potentially ambiguous predictions can significantly hinder the reliability of the predictive models. To address this, I implemented variational auto-encoders to derive a latent representation space, generating augmented data that, when integrated with the original training data, substantially enhanced the performance of a sepsis predictor.
Fueled by an insatiable curiosity about the intricacies of the human brain, I joined Prof. Shtrahman's lab in the Department of Neuroscience. My current focus revolves around exploring hyperexcitability and synchrony in neuronal activity within an epilepsy mouse model, utilizing calcium imaging data from the dentate gyrus and CA1 region. My responsibilities include establishing a robust data pipeline, automating simulations with MATLAB scripts, and conducting statistical analyses. These analyses aim to uncover distinctive neuron firing patterns associated with normal and epileptic brain activities, considering both sparse and dense neural code data. Also, I employ various statistical tests to identify correlations in neuron firing behavior.
Beyond my research pursuits, I had the privilege of serving as the Teaching Assistant for CSE 21: Mathematics for Algorithms and Systems Analysis. In this role, I managed a class of 35+ students, formulated examination question papers, organised weekly discussion sessions, and held office hours. I am excited to continue in this role for the Fall 2023 quarter, with an expected class size of 200+ students.
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