About Me

Hi, I'm Paul Taele. I got my Bachelors in Computer Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin (yes, I'm a Longhorn). I also studied Chinese for three semesters at National Chengchi University (Taipei, Taiwan).

Year:
Masters in Comp Sci, 1st Year

E-mail:
ptaele [at] gmail [dot] com

Academic Interests:
Don't quote me on this, but I'll say Neural Networks and Multi-Agents for now.

Relevant Experience:
I doubled in CS and math at UT. I primarily programmed in Java while there, since that's all that was taught. I took a variety of AI courses at the time: AI, Neural Networks, Robotics, Cognitive Science, Independent Research (on the CS/EE-side of neural networks), and Independent Study (on the math-side of neural networks). That was fun.

Why I'm taking this class?
Because Dr. Choe told me to. Haha, not really (highly recommended it though). Besides Dr. Choe's recommendation, I found the course topic interesting, especially after I saw an application of sketch recognition (I think?) called the T.E.D.D.Y. system on YouTube several months earlier:



What do I hope to gain?
Without sounding too philosophical, I hope this course gives me a better insight of how AI is done outside of (or besides) my main interest in neural networks.

What do I think I will be doing in 5 years?
Still being a student? I hope that doesn't happen, but it won't surprise me if I still am.

What do I think I will be doing in 10 years?
I'm not sure. Thinking that far scares me.

What are my non-academic interests?
I'm a big fan of East Asian movies, TV shows, and music. This is a consequence of studying Asian languages for several years, I guess.

My funny story:
I didn't plan on being a CS major during undergrad (I was originally a business major at the University of Southern California). When I went to UT afterwards, I decided to do pre-CS though since all my friends were doing it (at UT, students have to apply as a CS major typically in their third year). Out of my friends, I was the only one who got accepted into the CS program. I made new friends and decided to double major in math as well since they all were also CS and math majors. Turns out that I was the only one out of my friends whom didn't drop math as a major. I made some more friends, and we all vowed to go to grad school after we graduated. Well...yeah, I'm the only one out of them that went immediately into grad school. Wait a minute, that's not a funny story at all. That's just plain sad...

Random Stuff #1 - Why is my blog pink?
It's not pink, it's salmon. And I think it looks hilarious. I figured no one else would choose this template, especially due to the lack of female classmates in this course.

Random Stuff #2 - Why am I doing grad school at A&M?
Haha, I sometimes wonder what I'm doing here after doing undergrad at UT. When I was thinking of doing grad school, my professors told me to go somewhere else for CS grad to gain a different perspective. I focused on A&M and UT Dallas because they were both in-state schools with decent CS programs, even though it turned out my profs originally wanted me to go out-of-state. In the end, I chose A&M for two reasons: 1) they gave me more money, and 2) Dr. Choe, one of the professors I would like to have on my advising committee, also went to UT (in fact, my prof for AI and neural nets and my prof for robotics at UT were his advisers when he was working on his PhD). Anyway, my friends gave me a new nickname: Traitor.

Random Stuff #3 - What do I think of College Station/Bryan?
It sucks.