Manuel Widmoser

Purdue CS: Tell us about yourself.

MW: My name is Manuel Widmoser, I am a first-year Master's student at the University of Salzburg. Before I began my studies, I did an apprenticeship as a chef, later I decided to pursue the more versatile path of computer science. Other than cooking I love traveling, music, playing the guitar and retro video games.

 

Purdue CS: How did you become interested in computer science and research?

MW:I was interested in computers and programming since my childhood. My neighbor studied computer science when I was young and would always show me little tricks. This experience was very cool and fascinating to a young child. Nowadays, I am interested in many different research topics due to the influences of my professors. Therefore, my research interests are still not entirely well defined but include natural language processing, compilers, memory management, and machine learning.

 

Purdue CS: What are your future plans in the CS industry?

MW: I am currently pursuing a Master's degree in Computer Science and will continue on for a PhD. In the future I can imagine myself to studying or working anywhere. Right now my preference are for a city in the United States, Europe, or Israel. I definitely would like to be somehow involved in research, but I am not able to say whether in academia or industry. Sometimes one has to be in the right place at the right moment.

 

Purdue CS: What are you working on during the GoBoiler Internship?

MW: I am working on semantic parsing problems in natural language processing, particularly how to represent whole and long natural sentences as AMR graphs. The internship will deepen my understanding of natural language processing and machine learning techniques significantly. Furthermore, I am very eager to gain more research experience and collaborate closely with Professor Dan Goldwasser and his research team.

 

Purdue CS: What influenced you to apply for the GoBoiler Internship?

MW: For me, traveling is one of the most exciting things in life, to see different places on earth, different cultures, etc. I prefer to be abroad as much as I can. Moreover, being at Purdue University is a wonderful and great opportunity. To apply for the GoBoiler Internship Program was an easy decision.