C/C++/C#, MATLAB and LaTeX lessons in EDINBURGH by PhD student in Engineering with a degree in mathematics

Find out more about Masoud

• Can you tell us about your first experience using a computer?

  I first ever saw a computer in the company where my dad was working as an accountant in the early 90s. He wasn't using one but there were others who did and all I could see was a black screen with letters and numbers on it. I was very intrigued to learn about that black box. In high school, I had a PC and started learning MS-DOS and QBasic programming which were very similar to what I saw as a kid.

• 2) What is the technological evolution that has marked you most and what will be, in your eyes, a turning point in this field?

  I think the paper ADAM "A METHOD FOR STOCHASTIC OPTIMIZATION" was a revolution in IT and in particular statistical learning. The paper was a game changer and revived neural networks which revolutionised the data science field and programming.

• Explain your expertise, your interest in it and, more broadly, its importance in the computer world.

  I love mathematics and computer science. And that is what I have been doing for the past 10+ years. One intersection of these is numerical mathematics and the other is statistical learning. Both of these are the highly demanding jobs in industry and research and crucial for both developing and developed countries.

• Do so-called 'visionaries', such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg inspire you or do you have other role models?

  My role models are great scientists and mathematicians. Unfortunately, most of them are barely known to the public. My idol is David Hilbert. He has posed a lot of questions in different fields of mathematics for some of which even now and with the aid of computers, we are unable to provide an answer.

• Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  "The more you learn the more you realise you know less". Once we get arrogant and we think we know a lot is the same moment we stop learning.

• What would you say to an uncomfortable person in front of a screen who says that "IT is too complicated"?

  If it's difficult, we are learning it. If it is too easy, then we are probably wasting time and it's time to move on to something else.

• 7) What are your other passions, related or non-related to computers?

  I love music and music theory. I play two instruments (one a newbie, other one intermediate). If I was not a mathematician/computer scientist, I probably would have been a musician.

• What makes you a Superprof in IT?

  I don't want to just transfer the knowledge to my students. A recorded tape can do that to an infinite number of people. What a recorded tape cannot do is to excite a student about the topic. I want my students/tutees to experience the same (or more) level of excitement I have when I am learning something new. I want to spark their interest so that they become ambitious.