Computer Vision News - April 2020

2 Summary Wo en in Computer Vision 6 It was so fascinating to me. I thought, “Oh wow! I really want to know how these robots work! How does the brain work? How are they mimicking humans?” What brings all of these brilliant female scientists from Iran to cross the ocean and continue their studies in America? That is an awesome question! Iranian women have a very strong drive. We have been historically observing this. I personally, going through Iran’s history, have been noticing that, wow, throughout the whole history, Iranian women were always the trailblazers! They never wanted to follow. They wanted to lead, have their own path, and build their own path. I was very fortunate to have a family who really empowered me. I grew up in a situation where I had a voice, a very, very strong voice, and I could follow my dreams. While I was finishing up my studies, I had two choices. One was staying in Iran and continuing in an Iranian university. When I was looking at the job market for computer science and computer engineering in Iran, I wouldn’t say it wasn’t good, but that level of exposure, that first-hand science and technology that I wanted, I feel like it was missing because Iran is under sanctions. Major companies never had a branch there. Youwould never seeMicrosoft in Tehran or Google in Tehran. It is a perfect spot for them in the Middle East, but unfortunately, due to sanctions, they Tehran, Iran. After I finished my undergrad, I moved to Boston to pursue my PhD degree. The starting point was in my high school, they had some programming courses. They just wanted to teach us basic programming protocols and some commands. It was to bring us on board with the technology world, how the computers are being built, how the software is being built. I just found it fascinating and very empowering. Because if I know this language, then I can do anything. I can build any game. I can build any software. When we got our national university entrance exam results, I just got super excited because I could apply for computer engineering and computer science. I chose to focus on programming and technology. At that time, we had just started to learn about robots. Artificial intelligence was not as popular 12 years ago as it is right now. It had started to become a field. “The sky is blue everywhere.”