The major update during the course of 2nd semester is that I have now changed my level to a PhD student. I am advised by Prof. Vasant Honavar. I am working one two (parallel as of now) threads of research - Semantic Web Services (Service Composition), and the Logical treatment of Preferences. I hope to make the threads meet for my thesis.
The three courses I had taken (Theory of Computation, Formal Methods, Distributed Algorithms) went of well, but more importantly, one of my papers got accepted in the Workshop on Web Service Composition and Adaptation (WSCA 2008). So I have some follow up research along those lines for the summer. Although I was about to get an offer for internship, I decided to stay and work on research and make some progress in the summer while my advisor and collaborators are around.
I am just done with my first semester at the MS program in ISU. It was a very good semester for me, and I could achieve most of what I planned during the last 4 months.
Most importantly, I have a major professor now, Dr. Vasant Honavar. I have zeroed in on the research area I am going to pursue, Semantic Web Services. Also, I am funded for my grad studies to be a Research Assistant in the AI Lab, directed by my advisor.
I had chosen my course work in the first semester such that I dont overload myself. It was ideal as I wanted -- not too easy, not too difficult. I had signed up for 3 courses: CS 511 Design of Algorithms, CS 572 Principles of Artificial Intelligence (included a project) and Semantic Web Research Seminar. Coming back to school after a break of 3 years, I initially felt a bit out of touch writing exams. However, I was back on track after the first few weeks. I should say I did decently on my courses, with an A- in Algorithms and A in Principles of Artifical Intelligence, ending up with a GPA of 3.84.
I am going back to school! I have decided to pursue my academic goals in the form of graduate studies in an institution of my choice. I am heading to Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa and will be attending classes starting Fall 2007. I will be flying to Chicago on August 3rd 2007 from Chennai.
I am relieved from HCL effective July 20th 2007, Friday. I was blessed with excellent peers and an excellent manager at HCL, making my life ever interesting and satisfying my thirst for solving problems by analysis and design. I really enjoyed working with HCL for the past 3 years.