Who Am I
Hi, my name is Matheus Kunzler Maldaner and I am currently a Data Science undergraduate at the University of Florida with a minor in Computer Science. I originally moved from Brazil in 2017 for the pursuit of a better education and safety and have since then sought to make the most of the opportunity I was given. I attended highschool at Marjory Stoneman Douglas where I had the privilege of working closely with amazing teachers, which allowed me to obtain leadership positions in clubs and organizations I was involved in. Moving on to my college life, I applied to the University of Florida under the impression I would like to pursue a degree in Astrophysics, though my heart quickly drifted towards UF's Data Science program, which was new at the time and is a combination of several Computer Science and Statistics courses. After a tough internship application season last summer, I wanted to challenge myself by taking a graduate Machine Learning course which humbled and taught me a lot. That class led by Dr. Silva is what lead me to apply to the Florida Institute for National Security (FINS) lab, where I currently conduct research on Neuro Symbolic AI (NSAI) which seeks to combine symbolic reasoning and neural networks, leveraging the strengths of either method and achieve fully explainable AI frameworks.
My Current Goals
Besides taking classes with the aspiration to be the first in my family to graduate from a United States institution, I am currently writing a literature review on Neuro Symbolic AI frameworks under Stephen Wormald's mentorship at FINS. Concurrently, I seek to apply the research skills learned through NSAI on another paper I am writing independently with friends from other universities on how feasible the concept of an Artificial Brain and replicating the human conscious is with the current state of technology. I believe getting a first-author publication would help me getting accepted into a prestigious PhD program in Machine Learning and that is my primary goal at the moment. Outside the classroom, I currently serve as Vice President of the American Statistical Association (ASA), Workshop Director for the Data Science and Informatics (DSI) Institute and a mentor for both the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers where I help a fellow data science major through her courses and a mentor for the ASA x DSI mentorship program where another mentor Blake Wood and I oversee a group of underclassmen undertake projects. At the moment I seek to keep gaining experience through research programs or internships this upcoming summer, in a way that can propel me forward in this fast paced industry.
What's Next
Looking ahead, I seek to pursue a PhD where I can dive deeper into AI research and contribute to groundbreaking discoveries, especially in the development of new and more optimized machine learning models. My vision is to be at the forefront of AI innovation, be able to attend conferences, spread knowledge and most important, meet likeminded people in this field. I dream of helping create a future that reflects my values and aspirations - one where technology and humanity converge to unlock new possibilities. At the end of my life, I seek to have helped pave a path for the pioneers of tomorrow, leaving a meaningful and positive impact my parents would have been proud of.