Mozhdeh Rouhsedaghat received her bachelor’s degree from the EE dept. of Sharif University of Technology. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Media Communications Lab at the University of Southern California, under the supervision of Prof. C.-C. Jay Kuo. Her research interests include computer vision and deep learning. She was a research intern at PayPal during the summer. Here is a short interview with Mozhdeh.
1. How does the study in USC and MCL help you?
During my Ph.D. studies at USC and MCL, I achieved a solid understanding of deep learning and machine learning and strengthened my research skills. So I was able to explore a research area during my internship and achieve great results. At MCL lab, we write weekly reports and hold seminars which helped me improve my writing and presentation skills as well.
2. How was it like working at PayPal?
This year because of the global pandemic, all the interns worked remotely. So PayPal provided the required equipment for all the interns and the University Program Team at PayPal tried to make the whole experience more interesting and exciting. I had daily meetings with my mentor and weekly meetings with my manager. Overall, I was very satisfied with the whole experience.
3. Do you have any suggestions for current graduate students?
When you want to apply for a position make sure that the mentioned responsibilities match your goals. For example, Ph.D. students usually prefer a research position. My second advice is to apply early for the internship positions as most of the positions are offered 5-7 months prior to their start date.
