Research as an Avenue for Curiosity | Abby Graese | TEDxUCCS
Summary
TLDRThe 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
- π Research as Curiosity: The speaker emphasizes research as an avenue for curiosity, highlighting its role in pursuing new ideas and implementations across various fields.
- π 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.
- π 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.
- π§ 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.
- π‘ 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.
- π€ Embracing Challenges: Discusses the inherent difficulty and imperfection in research, acknowledging that not all experiments or ideas will be successful.
- π Learning from Failure: Highlights the importance of learning from unsuccessful projects, using the gaps between expectations and outcomes to fuel further questions and exploration.
- π€ Collaborative Spirit: Despite competition, the research community is portrayed as collaborative, with researchers eager to discuss and learn from each other's work.
- π§ 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.
- π 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.
- π 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.
Outlines
π The Essence of Research and Personal Growth
The speaker begins by distinguishing between common research activities and a more active, curiosity-driven approach to research. They share their personal journey in a machine learning and computer vision lab, emphasizing the importance of pursuing new ideas and implementations. The narrative highlights the passion and dedication required in research, as well as the collaborative and competitive nature of the field. The speaker also discusses the challenges of imperfect experiments and the learning opportunities that arise from failures, framing these setbacks as necessary steps in the pursuit of knowledge and innovation.
π The Drive Behind Research and the Power of Success
In this paragraph, the speaker delves into the motivation behind research, describing it as an active task of discovering new knowledge. They reflect on the competitive yet collaborative environment of research fields, where labs compete for breakthroughs while also fostering a community of inquiry and discussion. The speaker conveys the human aspect of research, portraying researchers as individuals driven by curiosity and the desire to expand the boundaries of understanding. They conclude with a personal anecdote about the balance between the frustrations of research and the exhilarating moments of success, which ultimately fuels their passion for the field.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Research
π‘Curiosity
π‘Data Gathering
π‘Machine Learning
π‘Computer Vision
π‘Deep Neural Networks
π‘Innovation
π‘Competition
π‘Collaboration
π‘Failure
π‘Success
Highlights
Research is an avenue for curiosity, with different types including gathering data on established topics and pursuing new ideas in various fields.
Day-to-day research involves finding information for practical purposes like travel or academic research papers.
Active research involves pursuing new implementations and ideas to advance fields like biology, communications, psychology, and computer science.
The speaker's passion for research was ignited by working in a lab on machine learning and computer vision for over a year.
Machine learning involves teaching computers to classify images accurately using deep neural networks.
Research provides the opportunity to contribute to growing and relevant fields in today's society.
The speaker found their passion for research when they started working on ideas outside of formal lab hours.
Working with intelligent people helps the speaker understand the theory and impact of their research.
Assuming the role of the 'dumbest person in the room' encourages asking more intelligent questions and learning from others.
There is always more research to be done, with new papers and ideas constantly emerging.
Research is inherently difficult, with no perfect experiments and many ideas not working out as expected.
Learning from failures is a crucial part of the research process, as gaps between expectations and outcomes drive further questions.
The speaker jokes about a 70/30 split between struggling with challenges and experiencing moments of success.
The 30% of success keeps researchers motivated through the 70% of difficulties and challenges.
The field of research is competitive, with labs vying for breakthroughs and novel ideas.
Despite competition, researchers collaborate and facilitate discussions, interested in each other's work.
Research is driven by curiosity and the desire to push the boundaries of what was previously thought possible.
Transcripts
research as an avenue for curiosity
before we get started I just wanted to
get a couple of definitions out of the
way because there are different types so
the first kind of research is probably
the research that we all think about
initially it's gathering data finding
information on a topic that has a solid
knowledge base behind it so this is the
kind of research that we would do if you
were going on a trip
so finding information on a hotel or
museums that you could go to while
you're there there's also this is also
the same type of research that you would
do if you were doing a research paper on
a historical figure like Thomas Edison
you'd take the time to go check out a
book look at some information on the web
find all of that information so this is
what a lot of us do on a day to day
basis but what I want to look at is
different so I want to look at research
is an active task its pursuing new
implementations and ideas to further the
fields you're working in so this is
taking your curiosity and putting it
into action so this can happen in a lot
of different fields from biology and
communications to psychology and
computer science and this is the kind of
research that I love so I in addition to
being a student here I've had the
opportunity for the past year and a half
to work in a lab doing research in
machine learning and computer vision and
to give a little bit of context behind
what that is we work with deep neural
networks of form of machine learning to
teach a computer that when we show it a
picture of a cat it should classify it
as a cat and not as a dog or a boat or
anything in between so in a broader
context however I have the opportunity
to do meaningful work in and contribute
to one of the most relevant and growing
fields and in today's society in the
past year and a half after one of my
professors saw something in me that I
never would have seen in myself I've had
the opportunity to find my passion I
kind of knew it was my passion when I
started going home and thinking and
eating dinner and 20 minutes later I'd
pull up my laptop and start working
again because I would find a new idea or
something else that I wanted to work on
because if my experiments not running
it's broken and there's something I can
do to fix it
or if I have an idea to how better get
information out of that experiment I'm
running so I have the opportunity to
work with people who are extraordinarily
intelligent every day they help me to
understand the theory behind what we're
working on and the big picture impact
that we our work is going to have so I
always take the stance of assuming that
I'm the dumbest person in the room but
I'm learning to ask more intelligent
questions and using my curiosity to
drive what we are doing and how to
better use that in to in furthering the
field so I definitely know more than I
did a year ago I'm more comfortable with
the fundamentals
I no longer stumble over the vocabulary
that I read every day and I'm less
intimidated not completely not
intimidated but less intimidated by the
mathematically intensive parts of the
papers that I read but the beautiful
thing about it is there's always more
research being done so there's always
more papers to read more vocab to
stumble over my favorite and there's
always new ideas and avenues to pursue
because of this so the difficult part
about this is that it's hard you are
never going to have a perfect experiment
you're never going to have an idea
you're always going to have an idea or a
project that doesn't work out like you
hoped it to I just got finished working
on a project a couple months ago where
I'd spent three months trying to get it
to work and we were like I guess it
doesn't work at all so let's move on to
the next one so we do get to learn from
this information though we always are
going to learn something from these
so-called failures and it's often these
gaps between the expectations and the
actual outcomes of what we're learning
that provide us with the anomalies in
order to ask another question to push
the fuels further shift directions and
continue to work I have a joke with a
lot of my friends that it's a 70/30
split so we spend 70% of our time
banging our heads against
the wall and trying to understand the
theory behind what we're doing it trying
to understand why it's not working
but it's that 30% that keeps us going
through that so it's the 30% of crazy
success where your experiments are
running you're getting information out
of the out of your experiments the
results are good and it's just that
feeling where you get that in the pit of
your stomach because it's working you're
getting what you want
so this 30% is what keeps me going
through the 70% especially when I pair
it with the motivation behind what we're
doing so the pursuance of research is
the pursuance of knowledge is an active
task so you're finding out new things
and new things that didn't exist before
so we it the field itself is inherently
competitive all of the labs are always
vying for that next accuracy jump or the
next novel idea that's going to change
the field and that's a that's an
opportunity so we get to use these and
force collaboration between them as well
because all of the authors are always
willing to answer your questions they're
always willing to facilitate discussions
and they're always interested about your
work as well because something that you
say may be the anomaly or the spark that
hits in their brain that leads them to a
new idea so underneath all of the
competition we are just people who are
really curious about what we're working
on and we want to do more and want to
know more in order to push the
boundaries of what we previously thought
was possible thank you
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