{"626654":{"#nid":"626654","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Meet ML@GT: Greg Canal, a Data Scientist Inspired by Donald Glover","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ml.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EThe Machine Learning Center at Georgia Tech\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(ML@GT) is home to many talented students from across campus, representing all six of Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s colleges and the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtri.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI).\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThese students have diverse backgrounds and a wide variety of interests both inside and outside of the classroom. Today, we\u0026rsquo;d like you to meet \u003Cstrong\u003EGreg Canal\u003C\/strong\u003E, a Ph.D. student who enjoys playing jazz piano and hopes to work in a data science lab after graduation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHometown:\u003C\/strong\u003E Middletown, New Jersey\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAdvisor: \u003C\/strong\u003EChris Rozell\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECurrent Georgia Tech degree program:\u003C\/strong\u003E Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EOther degrees earned:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;BSE in Electrical and Computer Engineering, minor in Music, from Duke University\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell us about your research:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy research lies at the intersection of information and coding\u0026nbsp;theory with\u0026nbsp;interactive machine learning. Broadly speaking, coding theory is the study of how to get information from point A to point B as efficiently as possible, by encoding this information in two stages: \u0026quot;source\u0026quot; coding, where we want to compress the information into as few bits as possible, and \u0026quot;channel\u0026quot; coding, where we want to add redundancy to protect this information from corruption by noise and errors.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy goal is to leverage these concepts in designing optimal interactive machine learning systems involving humans; the human has possession of some knowledge (e.g., how to classify animal images into different categories), which is the information at point A, and we want to encode this information through labeled examples to teach a machine learning algorithm at point B. Just as in coding theory, we want to design adaptive learning algorithms\u0026nbsp;that\u0026nbsp;use as few labeled examples as possible (source coding) but also making sure to account for the fact that the human may have inconsistent answers with errors (channel coding).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFavorite Conference and why:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMy favorite conference is the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/icml.cc\/Conferences\/2020\u0022\u003EInternational Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)\u003C\/a\u003E, mostly because\u0026nbsp;I presented my work at it this year and\u0026nbsp;was a great opportunity to network in the field and see a variety of interesting work.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETell us about some of your hobbies:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI really enjoy studying and playing jazz piano. I love that improvisation, playing by ear, and performing with others are all core components of the genre. In college I played in a jazz ensemble, and since then I\u0026#39;ve played in a Georgia Tech jazz combo as well as at jam sessions around Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EFavorite Georgia Tech experience:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI lived in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/housing.gatech.edu\/building\/graduate-living-center\u0022\u003EGraduate Living Center\u003C\/a\u003E my first year, where I got lucky with randomly assigned\u0026nbsp;roommates. They have ended up being some of my closest friends during graduate school.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWho is someone that inspires you and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EDonald Glover, since he is extremely successful in so many different\u0026nbsp;creative areas.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your proudest accomplishment?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt this point in time\u0026nbsp;I would have to say getting a paper into ICML this year and presenting it (\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/proceedings.mlr.press\/v97\/canal19a\/canal19a.pdf\u0022\u003Eobligatory paper plug\u003C\/a\u003E). It was a culmination of ideas and\u0026nbsp;techniques that I spent a lot of time learning and helping to develop.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cstrong\u003EIf you were told you only had one week left to live what would you do?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGet a second opinion.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are your plans for after graduation?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026rsquo;d like to work in a data science research lab somewhere in the industry.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIf you could time travel, what period of time would you go to and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI would\u0026nbsp;go to a point in the future where I\u0026#39;d be able to travel through space, just because that\u0026#39;d be awesome.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat drew you to machine learning?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI became interested in machine learning through my study of signal processing, which shares many tools with ML. I was drawn to signal processing due to its versatility and power\u0026nbsp;to solve a wide range of interesting problems by using a core set of techniques.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPodcast, movie, tv show, or book? Why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI enjoy books because I can get completely absorbed in reading.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is your favorite place to study?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026rsquo;m a big fan of \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/kavarnadecatur.com\/\u0022\u003EKavarna Coffee Shop\u003C\/a\u003E. It\u0026#39;s a space where I can both focus on work and relax at the same time.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat are you most looking forward to in the next ten years and why?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EI\u0026#39;m looking forward to traveling as much as I can - in particular I\u0026#39;d like to travel to Ireland, where two of my\u0026nbsp;grandparents emigrated from.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat is one thing you wish people understood about machine learning and artificial intelligence?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026#39;s not a panacea. Before interpreting or\u0026nbsp;acting upon the results of ML\/AI systems deployed in the real world, it\u0026#39;s important to understand the limitations of\u0026nbsp;both the algorithm used and the data it was trained on.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Hailing from New Jersey, machine learning Ph.D. student Greg Canal\u0027s research lies at intersection of information and coding\u00a0theory with\u00a0interactive machine learning."}],"uid":"34773","created_gmt":"2019-09-24 14:57:24","changed_gmt":"2019-09-24 15:41:52","author":"ablinder6","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"626662":{"id":"626662","type":"image","title":"Greg Canal is a Ph.D. student studying computer engineering. ","body":null,"created":"1569338889","gmt_created":"2019-09-24 15:28:09","changed":"1569338889","gmt_changed":"2019-09-24 15:28:09","alt":"Greg Canal","file":{"fid":"238597","name":"IMG_4660.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_4660.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/IMG_4660.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1231611,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/IMG_4660.jpg?itok=nR8Elx6r"}}},"media_ids":["626662"],"groups":[{"id":"576481","name":"ML@GT"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAllie McFadden\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003Eallie.mcfadden@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["allie.mcfadden@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}