Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our June featured reviewer, S. Lakshmivarahan.
Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A) The confluence of computer science, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), and data science. Data science at its core deals with solving two inverse problems—data mining, which is model building, and data assimilation, which is an estimation of the model’s parameters using the same dataset that led to the model; and a forward problem, which is forecasting or prediction.
Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A) I have always had an intrinsic interest in music and rhythm, especially the mridangam—a two-sided Indian drum that is played with both hands. I would have pursued this.
Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?
A) As a graduate student from 1967 through 1972, and after 46 years (1973 to 2019) of full-time academia, I have had the good fortune of growing up with computer technology starting with punched tape and cards. I am now retired. Stored-program digital computers became a reality in the early 1950s, and computer science existed as a scientific discipline by the mid-1960s. Compared to the centuries-old physical sciences and engineering, this young science, within a short span of nearly seven decades, has touched every aspect of human life. And this impact will continue through innovations in AI and ML.
Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A) John von Neumann, for his multifaceted contributions to the mathematical sciences and computing.
Q) What is your favorite type of music?
A) Indian classical music.
Click here to read one of S. Lakshmivarahan's reviews.