Valerie Kinson is an Applied Artificial Intelligence major, studying abroad in South Korea.
What brought you to CECS?
“At a campus event, I went to the CECS table. At the time, I was still a computer science student. I spoke to Dr. Stepanov, and she told me about the AI program and introduced me to CECS as a whole.”
What interested you about the Applied AI program?
“As a computer science student, I was using AI a lot, especially to help myself learn advanced code and other things I wasn’t able to quickly understand. The AI itself interested me more, and I had no idea it was offered as a major until learning about CECS.”
Why did you choose your major?
“I like to code! Specifically with AI, the coding language is based on Python which is the language I wanted to learn more about. I was unable to explore much of that in my previous major. Once I started taking some AI courses, I was more comfortable with Python than other programming languages. So the Applied AI program was really interesting to me!”
What are you studying while you’re in Korea?
“I started studying abroad during the first semester of my sophomore year. I’m minoring in Korean language studies. The current university I’m at in Korea has its own AI program, so I transferred from the initial university here to this one.”
How does your coursework there compare to here?
“A common ground I see is that both use Python and are project-based. I really like that both my Korean classes and UT classes are project-based!”
What is your favorite part about being a CECS student?
“Being able to talk to other people about my major. When I tell people that I’m an AI major, they’re super interested at first. And I get really excited telling them what I’m learning and where I can go with a potential career. I think being a CECS student is really unique in the sense that it’s new!”
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned as a CECS student, so far?
“Being able to collaborate with peers interested in AI but in different fields. I met people that were interested in connecting AI with the medical fields, law and ethics, and business. Since I’m more interested in the programming side of AI, it’s really cool to be able to collaborate with them and learn how they connect AI to their passion.”
If you could tell other students one thing about CECS, what would it be?
“It’s very flexible! You’re able to connect what you want to study to so many different things. I think that flexibility is something you might not get with other majors and that’s what really drew me to CECS.”
What do you hope to do after graduation?
“I’m not sure if I want to pursue a career in America or Korea. Since I’m studying Korean language, I want to speak it professionally. A company I am interested in is Nvidia. They have branches in America and Korea. During my coursework in Korea, I had opportunities to attend talks by industry professionals from Nvidia, which provided valuable insight into their company!”
“I’m really interested in connecting language learning and translation with AI, so any AI start-ups or companies that are doing that would be really interesting to me career-wise.”