We are so glad to welcome our new MCL member, Ranga Sai Shreyas Manchikanti! Here is a short interview with Shreyas:

1. Could you briefly introduce yourself and your research interests?

My name is Ranga Sai Shreyas Manchikanti (long! I know). I am a graduate student studying for the Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. I have spent almost my entire life in a city in southern India called Bangalore before coming to USC. I did my undergraduate degree from National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal in Electronics and Communication Engineering. I was working at Goldman Sachs as a Software Developer for the past 3 years before joining the graduate program. I have a strong passion towards computer vision and it’s application in everyday life. Specifically, I am very motivated to work in robotics where the images captured by the robot perform a huge role in understanding the environment and performing actions to navigate in the environment.

2. What is your impression about MCL and USC?

Since I joined USC, I have had the chance to meet amazing people all around me. The environment provided by the USC campus inspires me to work had and improve myself. Also, the various facilities available at USC are state of the art and I am very glad to have come to this place for my Master’s degree. MCL is a first research group that I have ever been a part of. I feel that there are a lot of highly skilled and motivated people here at MCL and I am very happy to have the opportunity to work with so many talented people. The weekly gathering of MCL members is also a great activity that helps me to meet others and learn about their research. I like the leadership of Prof. Kuo in this group and believe that being a part of this group helps me to become a better researcher.

3. What is your future expectation and plan in MCL?

I have joined MCL for doing research in image processing and computer vision techniques. I am learning a lot from the guidance of Ph.D students and Prof. Kuo in my current research. I would like to continue exploring innovative solutions to various research problems under guidance of Prof. Kuo and would like to develop as a researcher with necessary skills that would help me to pursue a PhD degree.