As a kid growing up in Hyderabad, India, Anupranay Thouta was always passionate about technology. Whether it was hardware or software, Thouta enjoyed interacting with new pieces of technology, learning about artificial intelligence and exploring the neural networks and elegant math behind it. He was inspired by the technology and AI research coming out of the United States, especially Silicon Valley, and hoped to work there one day. Over the summer, Thouta’s dreams became a reality when he served as a machine learning intern on the Metropolis team at NVIDIA.

At NVIDIA, Thouta worked on training computer vision models for Automated Optical Inspection and Standard Operating Procedure monitoring for manufacturing assembly lines. His work focused on improving how these models could detect defects and recognize process steps so they could perform more reliably in real manufacturing environments. Thanks to hands-on classes at MSOE, Thouta felt prepared to tackle any challenge thrown his way. “MSOE also taught me how to approach unfamiliar technical problems, learn quickly, and experiment until I found something that worked.”

The internship experience at NVIDIA empowered Thouta to apply the skillsets he learned in class while working on real-world projects. “It was exciting to be surrounded every day by people working on AI technologies that I had previously only read about or followed from afar,” said Thouta.

Through his internship, Thouta gained valuable insight on how AI is changing the workforce and how to adapt to those changes. Working in industry also taught him the importance of teamwork, communication, problem solving and utilizing your resources. “I realized that the value of an engineer is increasingly in understanding the problem, making good architecture and design decisions, asking the right questions and knowing what to trust, what to verify and what to delegate. The combination of technical judgment, communication and ownership was probably my biggest learning from the summer.”

When he wasn’t crunching numbers at his internship, Thouta enjoyed exploring the Bay Area and San Francisco, meeting new people and networking with individuals from different parts of the tech community. “It made the whole summer a really memorable experience, both inside and outside of work.”

Thouta returned to MSOE at the end of summer and began his final year at MSOE. Thouta was originally drawn to MSOE because of the university’s strong focus on AI, hands-on learning, small class sizes and Rosie the supercomputer. “The idea that undergraduate students could actually have access to a supercomputer and use it for AI, machine learning and other computationally intensive projects was incredibly exciting to me, especially because those were exactly the areas I wanted to explore.”

As an international student, Thouta was forced to get out of his comfort zone as he navigated college life. He utilized MSOE’s resources and built relationships with faculty, staff and students that helped him achieve great success. “My favorite part about MSOE is how easy it is to build meaningful relationships with professors and continue learning beyond the classroom. While I was taking Dr. Josiah Yoder’s Deep Learning course, I would often stop by his office hours to talk about topics I was curious about. Those conversations eventually led me to pursue undergraduate research with him, studying generalization patterns in modern overparameterized neural networks. I really value being at a school where professors are so accessible and where a classroom interest can grow into a deeper research opportunity.”

Thouta also serves as a Multicultural Student Ambassador and Peer Advisor to help fellow international students transition to MSOE. “My biggest advice to international students is to not be shy and to push yourself to talk to people outside your comfort zone. Moving to a new country can feel intimidating at first, but meeting different people and getting involved makes a huge difference. I would also encourage students to take advantage of all the resources available on campus, attend career fairs early, talk to professors, and start looking for internship opportunities as soon as possible. Getting industry experience while you are still in school not only teaches you a lot, but can also make the transition into a full-time career much easier.”

The little kid in India who once dreamed of studying in America and working in Silicon Valley has already accomplished so many of his goals, yet he has even more opportunities ahead. After he graduates from MSOE, Thouta will join NVIDIA’s Metropolis team full-time. He’s looking forward to work on cutting-edge AI and making improvements to a variety of projects. “What excites me most is helping bring AI beyond the screen and into the physical world.”