Hi, I'm Avishek Biswas

Senior ML Scientist
MS, Clemson University.


First and foremost, I'm a Machine Learning Guy


I have undertaken projects in many different disciplines of ML - Computer Vision, NLP, Reinforcement Learning, Network Science, Robotics, Biomedical Data Science, Autonomous Driving, etc. Some of these projects have been at an industrial scale, some were research projects that led to publications and poster presentations, some were for my Youtube channel, some I did to ace an exam,  and some were just crazy adventures I took on a random Saturday afternoon. 




 Awards and Achievements





Background

I am working as a Data Scientist at Quiq, one of the fastest-rising startups in the world of customer-business chat services. At Quiq, we spend hours developing and deploying cutting-edge Machine Learning and AI techniques to enhance the quality and efficiency of conversations between end-users and live agents.  My role requires a ton of NLP and Deep Learning research, and also train models with production deployment and scalability in mind, and striving for quiq releases and immediate product impact.


Prior to working at Quiq, I completed my Master of Science (MS) in Computer Science from Clemson University in May 2021.  At Clemson, I worked for three out of my four semesters as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) and Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA). My research experiences at Clemson cover a variety of fields: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Character Animation, and Network Science.


My Master's Thesis at Clemson involved using Deep Reinforcement Learning to train physics-based character controllers. The thesis covers two research projects - "Learning Coordinated Locomotion from Latent Coactivation Space" and "Training Physics-based Characters to Dance to Music". The former project, titled  Motor Babble: Morphology-Driven Coordinated Control of Articulated Characters, recently won the best paper award at MIG (Motion In Games) 2021. The latter project won the Peer-Voted Best Poster Award at MIG 2020.


Here is a more detailed description of my projects

Industrial Experience

Senior Machine Learning Scientist - Advanced Conversational Techniques, QUIQ INC (May 2021 - May 2024)

This was my first industrial stint as a Data Scientist!  I am the first Data Scientist hired at Quiq, which not only put me in a position of responsibility but also accelerated my growth in the field. Being an active part of building end-to-end Machine Learning frameworks, from data cleaning to model training to deployment, has given me a wholesome view of Machine Learning and has been an incredible learning experience on top of my time as a research assistant in grad school. 


Key Achievements:



Senior Software Developer - Capgemini (2016 - 2019)

I worked with Capgemini India as a Senior Software Developer from Sep-2016 to Mar-2019.  I was part of a Oracle Applications DBA (Database Adminstrator) Team. My professional experience working as an Oracle DBA in Capgemini has given me invaluable technical insights into Database Systems, Automation, and Linux. Equally importantly, it has enriched my leadership qualities, team spirit, communication skills, and my ability to deliver my best in critical situations!


Key Achievements:

Graduate Research Experience


Dec 2019-May 2021: Working with Dr. Victor Zordan, Dr. Ioannis Karamouzas, and Dr. Avinash Ranganath in the intersection of Physics-based Character Control and Deep Reinforcement Learning.

Please visit the Projects page for further details!


Teaching Assistant Experience

Spring 2020: CPSC 4050/6050 - Computer Graphics, by Dr. Daljit Singh Dhillon.

Fall 2020: CPSC 4420/6420 - Artificial Intelligence, by Dr. Ioannis Karamouzas

Spring 2021: CPSC 8810 - Deep Reinforcement Learning, by Dr. Ioannis Karamouzas



Courses



Extra Curricular Activities

 I used to compete in over the board Chess tournaments until couple of years back. In my free-time, I still like to play some Blitz on Chess.com and make Youtube Videos on Machine Learning.