Research as an Avenue for Curiosity | Abby Graese | TEDxUCCS

Summary

The speaker passionately discusses research as a means to satisfy curiosity and drive innovation across various fields. They share their personal experience in machine learning and computer vision, emphasizing the importance of perseverance, continuous learning, and collaboration. The summary highlights the challenges of imperfect experiments and the excitement of discovery, as well as the competitive yet supportive nature of the research community.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Research as Curiosity: The speaker emphasizes research as an avenue for curiosity, highlighting its role in pursuing new ideas and implementations across various fields.
• 📚 Traditional Research: Described as gathering data and information on a topic with an established knowledge base, akin to researching for a trip or a historical paper.
• 🛠 Active Research: The speaker differentiates between traditional and active research, where the latter involves taking curiosity into action to contribute to a field, such as machine learning or computer vision.
• 🧠 Machine Learning Context: Provides context on working with deep neural networks to teach computers image classification, illustrating the practical application of research in computer science.
• 💡 Finding Passion: The script shares a personal journey of discovering passion in research, where the speaker was inspired by a professor and immersed in meaningful work.
• 🤔 Embracing Challenges: Discusses the inherent difficulty and imperfection in research, acknowledging that not all experiments or ideas will be successful.
• 📈 Learning from Failure: Highlights the importance of learning from unsuccessful projects, using the gaps between expectations and outcomes to fuel further questions and exploration.
• 🤝 Collaborative Spirit: Despite competition, the research community is portrayed as collaborative, with researchers eager to discuss and learn from each other's work.
• 🧐 Humility and Learning: The speaker adopts a humble approach, assuming the role of the 'dumbest person in the room' to learn from others and ask intelligent questions.
• 📈 Growth and Comfort: Reflects on personal growth in understanding the fundamentals and vocabulary of the field, and becoming less intimidated by complex aspects like mathematical theories.
• 🌟 The 70/30 Rule: Coined by the speaker, this rule represents the balance between the struggle (70%) and the exhilaration of success (30%) in the research process.

Q & A

What is the initial kind of research most people think about?

The initial kind of research most people think about is gathering data and finding information on a topic with a solid knowledge base, such as researching a hotel for a trip or historical information for a paper.

What is the second type of research mentioned in the script?

The second type of research is an active task that involves pursuing new implementations and ideas to further the fields one is working in, such as in biology, communications, psychology, and computer science.

What is the context behind the speaker's work in machine learning and computer vision?

The speaker works with deep neural networks, a form of machine learning, to teach computers to classify images accurately, like identifying a picture of a cat as a cat and not something else.

How did the speaker's professor play a role in their research journey?

The speaker's professor saw potential in them and provided the opportunity to work in a lab, which allowed the speaker to discover their passion for research.

What does the speaker mean by 'assuming that I'm the dumbest person in the room'?

The speaker means that they approach their work with humility, always learning from others, and using their curiosity to drive their research and understanding of the field.

How does the speaker describe their experience with the vocabulary in their field?

The speaker initially stumbled over the vocabulary but has become more comfortable with it over time, although they acknowledge that there is always more to learn.

What does the speaker find beautiful about the field of research?

The speaker finds it beautiful that there is always more research being done, more papers to read, and new ideas and avenues to pursue, which keeps the field exciting and ever-evolving.

How does the speaker view the imperfections in their experiments?

The speaker views imperfections as learning opportunities, stating that they always learn something from so-called failures, and these gaps often provide the basis for asking new questions and pushing the field forward.

What is the '70/30 split' the speaker jokes about with their friends?

The '70/30 split' refers to the speaker spending 70% of their time struggling with challenges and trying to understand their work, while the 30% of success and breakthroughs is what motivates them to keep going.

How does the speaker describe the competitive nature of the research field?

The speaker describes the field as inherently competitive, with labs constantly striving for the next big idea or improvement, but also emphasizes that beneath the competition, researchers are collaborative and curious individuals.

What is the speaker's motivation for pursuing research?

The speaker's motivation for pursuing research is the active pursuit of knowledge, the desire to discover new things that did not exist before, and the opportunity to push the boundaries of what was previously thought possible.