Md Zarif Ul Alam
👋 I’m Zarif, currently a CS PhD student at the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval lab of UMass Amherst, advised by Prof. Hamed Zamani. I’m also working as a Research Intern at NVIDIA . Before my PhD, I was working as a Machine Learning Research Engineer at a Dhaka and California based startup, Chaldal Ltd. (Y-Combinator S15). I completed my undergrad from CSE, BUET and also worked as a Research Intern at Xu Lab, Carnegie Mellon University in my senior year. My research interest lies in making machines see and comprehend . In particular, I am interested in language grounding, multi-modal learning and information retrieval. I am also into computational neuroscience. I love working on real world problems that have an impact, and obsess myself till I find a solution.
In an alternate universe, I would have been a political scientist. All my life, I have been in search of Øكمة (wisdom). I am forever a student of knowledge. The mysteries of history and geopolitics have always captivated me. I am a foodie and love trekking ( I’ve trekked the Himalayas! ). I’m planning to tour all the countries before 40! Sadly, I have put my travelling on pause, don’t know when it will resume :( Somehow made it to 4 continents so far! In my free time, I ponder upon the vastness of creation and the greatness of the creator, and of course planning for my next trip!
Fun fact : My Erdős number is 4 !
