STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Yalamuri Sreenivasulu Reddy MS in Computer Science

Rapid advancements in technology and increasing use of internet devices resulted in a deluge
of data. The degree of understanding of the business, customer preferences and trends of the
market one can obtain by employing the right Machine Learning models on such data sets is
quite remarkable. Having worked in a firm that deals with millions of customers every day, I
have come to realize the importance of Data-driven decision making and personally witnessed
the difference it made to the company. This approach helped in cutting down redundant
operational costs and increasing the revenue by focusing on profitable divisions of the
company. Such an understanding of businesses transformations through data analysis
strengthened my desire to pursue a master’s degree in Computer Science with specialization in
Data Science and Machine Learning.

I opted for Electronics and Communication Engineering from National Institute of Technology
Calicut for my undergraduate studies. In my first year, I joined the ROBOTICS INTEREST
GROUP which is a group of students with a shared enthusiasm for technologies. I spent my
time here working with students from different disciplines building projects like Line
Following Robot, Self-balancing Robot and Wall Climbing Robot. These inter-disciplinary
projects enhanced my problem-solving abilities by providing me with opportunities to look at
problems through a different lens. By the end of the second year, I was more fascinated by
software programming and took a special interest in solving real-world problems using
software applications.

I delved into competitive programming in my third year and invested more time thinking and
working on solutions to real-world problems. At this time, we had the tedious task of walking
all the way up to a faculty’s office from our hostels to submit reports and clear our doubts.
Most often, we used to end up finding the door locked and feel disappointed. One morning, I
stumbled upon a technical solution to this very problem when I was on my way to a faculty’s
office. I approached my project guide, Associate Professor Lyla B. Das with my idea. With her
support, I built a Web-based BIOMETRIC ATTENDANCE SYSTEM to know the availability
of a faculty in their office. Faculty’s availability is reflected in an online portal which receives
updates from Raspberry Pi. Impressed with the project and our presentation, the inspection
committee awarded us the highest grade for the course. This experience empowered and
motivated me to explore more concepts in Computer Science.

In my final year, I widened my understanding of Computer Science by taking up courses like

Computer Organization and Architecture and Embedded Systems. These courses taught me the
fundamentals of memory models, different pipelining techniques, IO performance measures,
and Operating System scheduling and synchronizing. After gaining a thorough grounding in
the basics of computer science, I gravitated towards the advanced concepts like Machine
Learning. Hence, I took up electives like Pattern Recognition and Analysis, Fuzzy Logic
Systems. Since these courses had intense mathematical assignments I was able to get a sound
grip on Complex topics like Vector Spaces, Linear Algebra and Function Theory. Furthermore,
due to the numerous micro projects in MATLAB, I got the opportunity to practically
experiment with concepts like supervised and unsupervised learning, support vector machines,
feature training, and neural networks. With the knowledge I acquired on Machine Learning and
Neural Networks, I worked on two projects involving Image Processing, namely, Image
Segmentation using K-means clustering and Subtractive clustering and Optical Character
Recognition. After doing these courses I got fascinated about Machine Learning and did online
courses on Machine Learning. All these courses and assignments solidified my basics and
provided me with a firm base to proceed to higher studies.

After my graduation, I started working for the technology division of a leading retail giant
TESCO. During the induction time, my colleagues and I dealt with the problem of manual Gap
Scanning, scanning for gaps on shelves, in retail stores. We decided to go ahead with a
datadriven approach based on daily sales, shelf capacity and replenishment time. We used an
ensemble of classification and regression techniques to predict future gaps with an accuracy of
95%. The solution, if automated, would potentially save millions of pounds every year. This
project gave me a glimpse of the business potential of Predictive Analysis and reinforced my
desire to pursue master’s in CS with specialization in Data Science.

Later, in my scrum team, I worked with a group of programming experts and product managers
to build an Order Management System from scratch. The product orchestrates the journey of
an order right from its placement on the website to its delivery. As I started working with the
team, I noticed the difference between enterprise and college projects. An enterprise project
demanded organization and accountability through contracts, collaboration, and the right
deployment tools. As a result, I am now equipped with diverse software development skills.
On top of that, intense workload and strict deadlines have primed me to take on the academic
workload at an international graduate school.

My work at Tesco and interactions with employees from other companies aided in making my
career decision. I strongly feel the industry needs innovative solutions with the right technical
prowess and practical skills to solve their problems and I firmly believe such qualities can be
attained through a master’s degree. The industry-standard practical projects backing up the
theoretical concepts through NEU’s Experiential Learning and Co-op program, and abundant
opportunities to work on real-world problems make NEU’s program stand out from other
University programs. I’m captivated by the research work and publications of Assist. Prof.
Byron Wallace and Assoc. Prof. Tina Eliassi-Rad on Machine Learning and Data Science and,
given the chance, would very much like to work under them.

I sincerely believe that the top-class infrastructure and expert faculty coupled with the strong
curriculum at NEU would serve as a cornerstone in the pursuit of my master’s degree. Besides
the academic excellence, the global exposure through interactions with students from different
nationalities, cultural backgrounds and of varied ideologies would supplement my learning
experience by providing a well-rounded personal development. With my academic background
and work experience, I am confident that I will be able to cope up with the challenging
curriculum and meet the expected standards. I sincerely hope the Admissions Committee
considers my drive and passion for Computer Science and responds positively. The privilege
of being a part of your esteemed university would go a long way towards realizing my
ambitions.