Computing Reviews News

Featured Reviewer: S. Lakshmivarahan

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.

Featured Reviewer: Gulustan Dogan

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our April featured reviewer, Gulustan Dogan.

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) Deep learning accelerated the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) with its fast, magical black box nature.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I would be a doctor since I loved studying human biology in high school.

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) I think there will be advances in using quantum computing for AI. For instance, quantum computing will allow AI systems to detect patterns that traditional computers could not. In my research on AI, quantum computing is one of my planned future areas of study.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Al-Khwarizmi is my favorite historical figure. The word “algorithm” derives from his name.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) The sound of rain.

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Click here to read one of Gulustan Dogan's reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Marius Iulian Mihailescu

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our March featured reviewer, Marius Iulian Mihailescu. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) Over the past ten years there have been many great advancements in computing, but I believe the rise of deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI) has been the most significant breakthrough. It has the potential to drastically alter our lives in the years to come.

Deep learning includes teaching artificial neural networks to recognize patterns in massive datasets. It is a subfield of machine learning, which is a subset of AI. Natural language processing, driverless vehicles, image and speech recognition, and other fields have made tremendous strides because of this technology.

The availability of vast datasets, the rise in processing power, and the creation of more complex algorithms have all made deep learning viable. The application of AI has rapidly expanded across numerous industries, including healthcare, banking, and transportation, because of significant investments in research from companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I can’t see myself doing anything but computer science. It is my passion and my way of life. But if there were a career change opportunity in my life, I would probably look to the following:

• Entrepreneurship: I could start my own business, either in a field for which I am passionate or based on an identified market need.
• Science and research: I could pursue a career in a scientific field such as physics, astrophysics, geography, or meteorology. I could conduct research in academia or work in research and development for a company.
• Creative fields: I could explore careers in art, music, or writing. I could use my skills to create original works or collaborate with others on creative projects.

Ultimately, the choice of a career path depends on an individual's interests, skills, and passions. There are many opportunities available to those who are willing to explore.

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) Computer science has already brought about significant advancements in AI, machine learning, robotics, and data science. Looking forward, I believe that it will continue to transform many aspects of our lives via increased automation, improved healthcare, extended AI capabilities, enhanced cybersecurity, and more sustainable technologies.

Specifically, quantum computing has great potential, despite numerous obstacles. Academia and business continue to work at making this technology a reality.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer. Lovelace is a major figure in the history of computing because of her work on the Analytical Engine and her observations regarding its prospective capabilities. She was ahead of her time in realizing the potential of computers to perform tasks other than computations. Her contributions to the field continue to inspire many.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Rock (Nightwish, Xandria, Edenbridge); classical (Beethoven, Mozart, Bach); and 80s pop/disco.

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Click here to read one of Marius Iulian Mihailescu's reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Mohammad Sadegh Kayhani Pirdehi

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our February featured reviewer, Mohammad Sadegh Kayhani Pirdehi. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) I believe quantum computing has been a tipping point for computing, although it is still in its infancy. New requirements will demand higher computation speed.     

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I would only ever be working in the computer science field, particularly wireless communications.

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) In my opinion, computer science has passed its prime. There will of course be more advancements, but not like those seen between 1970 and 2000, a golden age of computing. Nowadays, as people look at the universe, many countries try to invest in science to gain more insights into other systems beyond our solar system, establish infrastructures on the moon for colonization, and so on. So, computing is an effective tool to realize these new objectives. My current work in channel coding and multicore systems relates to these issues.    

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) I cannot identify one “who.” Throughout history, many great people have made incredible sacrifices for the benefit of humanity, from Spartacus and Galileo, to Amir Kabir in my own country, to Patrice Lumumba, Albert Einstein, John Forbes Nash Jr., and countless others.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I am a music lover. Pop is my favorite.

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Click here to read one of Kayhani’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Jose Manuel Palomares

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our January featured reviewer, José Manuel Palomares. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) For me, the Internet of Things has definitively and irreversibly changed computing: billions of sources sensing the environment, acting on it, and sending data that is transformed into knowledge. All these facts reshape the conception and requirements of computing. The immediacy of real data can feed intelligent devices to produce knowledge; however, with billions of nodes sending data, networks must be efficient so that the huge amounts of date can be handled properly, for example, irrelevant data should be pruned as earlier as possible. This paradigm stresses the computing field in every different aspect: hardware, software, networking, power consumption, and so on. I think the IoT is the major challenge for computing in the foreseeable future.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) Probably something related to cinema and the audiovisual field. However, I also love rugby and I’m a rugby coach for kids in my spare time. Thus, if I wasn’t working in computer science, I could be a coach.

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) It is hard to know. I guess computers will be able to provide intelligent information obtained from billions of sources in milliseconds. Will that lead us to a Terminator-style apocalypse in which computers decide that humanity must be eliminated? No, I don’t think so. What about a WALL-E-style future in which robots do all the work humans did and humans become lazy beings? No, I think intelligent robots and devices, combining machinery and computing, will allow humanity to change their workforce to different scopes, and these devices will be constrained and limited by ethical issues as in Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics.”

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Actually, I don’t have a single historical figure: I believe in humanity as a whole. We have all progressed not by means of a single person but by the impulses of many people (who when combined are millions). One such relevant person, who acted as a science propeller, was Leonardo da Vinci: a genius, a person ahead of his era, a visionary.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I like rock music, and in particular heavy metal. 

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Click here to read one of José Manuel’s reviews.

 

 

Featured Reviewer: Romina Fucà

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our December featured reviewer, Romina Fucà. 

Q) What is the most important thing that has happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) I have been helped by computers in the last ten years like never before. Over the past decade, their speed has increased, and what was once a suggestion for me to explore in research has become a daily guide for my work. With the advances in technology, I let go of my narrow, small-scale aspirations and began to think of the bigger picture by interfacing with real scientists around the world. I sometimes say “I live in the cloud” because remote cloud services help me meet my needs every day.

Q) If you weren’t working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I would be a guide in a fine arts museum. When I was a child, I used to travel with my parents in a caravan, and we visited many interesting historical and artistic sites in Europe and elsewhere. Churches, castles, and ancient relics of the past gave me the ambition to learn a coherent chronology of paintings and painters. I now easily recognize their style and historic location.

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) I’m a humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS) education tutor who branched out into technology and computing, so I personally see computers advancing toward human skills at an increasing pace, with the likelihood that they will be able to perform comparably with humans before the end of my career. I work to let the public know that modern computing uses different logic than the old, classic programming languages with which we are familiar. I have learned much from reflecting about computers, and so too can others benefit from learning new ways to communicate with them. We will probably be able to expand or abandon our usual ways of communicating for better styles, and perhaps—who knows?—we will successfully meet life on other planets.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I love instrumental music such as Gabriel Yared’s By the Sea and The English Patient, John Barry’s Born Free, and Astor Piazzolla’s music featured in Frantic; these are usually queued up in my list of favorites, as well as being the soundtracks to well-known movies. In addition, I like popular songs such as “I Will Remember You” by Sarah McLachlan, “Somewhere Only We Know” and “I’m Not Leaving” by Keane, and “Somewhere My Love” by Ray Conniff and The Singers.

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Click here to read one of Romina’s reviews.

 

Featured Reviewer: Joseph M. Arul

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our November featured reviewer, Joseph M. Arul. 

 Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) The most important thing that’s happened in computing in the past 10 years is in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), where tremendous improvements and a major turning point have taken place. It used to be that mainly deductive reasoning was applied to the field of AI. But due to the introduction of graphics processing units (GPUs) and faster machines, inductive learning combined with deductive reasoning started to produce some end results. Thus, many companies and countries started to invest in the field, and AI has since improved the lives of many people and many countries around the world. Today, AI has infiltrated every part of our lives as society takes advantage of its benefits. I am sure that quantum computing, too, will be a turn for the better in the near future.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) If I were not working in the computer science field, I would work with people who are struggling to make ends meet, that is, help them to improve their livelihood and apply technology in beneficial ways. This population could include farmers, day laborers, or those who have little basic education. Basically, I would try to bring a smile to their faces.

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) I am sure that, within a few years, the quantum computer will change the world and the way we compute things. That being said, every field in computer science has a different outlook and could change the world in different ways. Since quantum computing provides a new way of looking at problems, we may have to think differently. I am looking forward to working in quantum computing in the future.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) My favorite historical figure is Mahatma Gandhi. With a determined mind—and without violence—he brought freedom and independence to India. He also spoke about the unity of all religions.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I like relaxing music with guitar and trumpet sounds. Soothing songs for meditation.

Click here to read one of Joseph’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Bálint Molnár

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our October featured reviewer, Bálint Molnár. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) New database technologies and various methods of computational intelligence—artificial intelligence (AI), data science, machine learning, and so on—have found widespread application in practice.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) A historian who studies the changes to everyday life throughout history.

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) It will be necessary for people to obtain higher-level education and skills that include not only computer literacy but also the handling of complex systems in human environments. I work on business processes and workflows in enterprises that exploit recent technologies such as blockchain and AI/data science

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Archimedes—he developed many advanced (though premature) ideas in mathematics.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Rock and classical.

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Click here to read one of Bálint’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Jon Millen

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our September featured reviewer, Jon Millen. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) The developments that made the biggest splash in the past ten years were based on inventions made more than ten years ago. The most recent is Bitcoin, as well as other blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. Quantum computing is starting to look practical, but it originated around 1980. The success of AlphaGo in beating a master at Go was an application of deep learning, which was bolstered by back-propagation algorithms from around 1986.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) Probably designing video games.

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) Computer science has always been about elegant algorithms, invented by creative researchers. You never know what exciting innovation is coming next. 

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Albert Einstein. Isn’t he everybody’s favorite?

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Blues, boogie-woogie, folk rock, classical Spanish guitar.

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Click here to read one of Jon’s reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Hamdy Soliman

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our August featured reviewer, Hamdy Soliman. 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) The emergence of quantum computing and the possibilities it brings, both in terms of novel algorithms and computing architecture, but also its threat to existing security designs.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) A restaurateur or chef. I love to cook!

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) With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) and advances in security and machine learning, sensors will become ubiquitous and will dominate all aspects of our lives, including being embedded throughout our devices and bodies. The research I am working on contributes toward future IoT use cases as well as securing sensor communications.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) My favorite historical figure in computing would be Claude Shannon. His work was the basis for a lot of information theory (back then "communication theory") and he made big contributions to cryptography and telecommunications. He also invented the first wearable computer (for all you Apple Watch fans out there).

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I enjoy orchestral/classical music.

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Click here to read one of Hamdy Soliman’s reviews.