The “Get to Know…” series is meant to introduce incoming students to the people in ECE and learn more about the ongoing research and work happening in ECE!
Hooman Vaseli is a 4th year PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering! He received his Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Electrical Engineering at UBC.
Hooman’s focus is in the Robotics and Control Lab (RCL) where the research focuses on machine learning, computer vision, and Natural Language Processing (NLP), specifically for automatic analysis of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and medical imaging data such as echocardiography (echo), which is the ultrasound images and videos taken from the heart. He is focused on improving risk prediction of ischemic stroke by analyzing patients’ echo and EHR.
In this instalment, Hooman shares his current research focus, advice for ECE students, and more!
What courses were you a TA in?
I TAed CPEN 211, CPEN 333, and ELEC 371.
What advice would you give second-year students to succeed in their ECE studies?
Find what you are passionate about in this vast field of ECE. If you like programming, learn coding and algorithms very well (even if you are in ELEC), especially if you want to focus on Artificial Intelligence, because, unfortunately, not so many researchers in the field have your background or the kind of opportunity you have now in learning proper coding skills. And no matter what grades you get at the end of the day, enjoy life as it’s short!
P.S. For CPEN211, Verilog is not like software programming that runs line by line! Imagine you are drawing the blueprint of a circuit but through coding. So it’s an “everything everywhere all at once” kind of thing!
What is your favourite coffee/tea drink to order?
Vanilla Cold Brew
Favourite hobby?
Right now, salsa dancing at UBC Salsa Rueda Club. It’s fun, a good exercise for hand-eye coordination and memory skills, and I get to meet new people.
Where is your favourite place in Vancouver? Favourite spot on campus?
I love everywhere in Vancouver! Ocean, mountain, city! Probably Cypress Mountain is my favourite spot for its nice hiking trails and ski resort. My favourite campus spots are Rec Center for the bird-coop gym and leagues I used to attend, and NEST for our student clubs.
