I am primarily interested in developing and applying automated techniques for extracting information from large amounts of complex, and often noisy, data for descriptive and predictive purposes. I believe that this is one of the most challenging problems faced by computer scientists today and that developments in this area will have far reaching consequences on the way people use and interact with technology. My interest in Machine Learning stems from the immense power of ML algorithms for discerning useful patterns in data. I am also interested in the larger domain of Artificial Intelligence as it is the Holy Grail of automation. Combined, these fields hold great promise as a potent tool for, efficiently and effectively, putting the ever amassing sea of data to the best possible use for mankind.
More recently, my interests have been in the field of Natural Language Processing and Understanding. Machine understanding of Natural Language texts can be argued to be one of the most important tasks in AI. For the slightly initiated, here is an interesting (though,some may argue, biased) piece on this subject. Given my interest in data and its potential, I have to admit I lean heavily towards Norvig on the Chomsky-Norvig line.