Topic Proposal: Artificial Intelligence

I have had a strong interest in computer science for a long time. For my research subject this
year, I would like to concentrate on Artificial Intelligence and broaden my skill set in this field of
study.

When I first started programming in 7th grade, computer science was not really my interest,
nor was it my forte. Not to mention, my father is also a software engineer, and just looking at his
work just made me uninterested in programming. To me, it looked very complicated, tedious, and
boring; therefore, I spent most of my time conducting independent research on astrophysics, which
was an interesting topic to study as a hobby, but it started to get tiring when I entered high school.
As a freshman, I enrolled in AP physics and enjoyed the class very much for the first semester
because the physics concepts I learned and the mathematical problems I was able to experiment
with were entertaining, but, later on, my interest wavered because I was only analyzing and solving
hypothetical situations rather than implementing my creativity to construct a product to benefit our
current world. My perspective of what I wanted to pursue in the future completely changed as I
went through my first year of high school. My sophomore year was the year where I finally found
out who I wanted to be, an artificial intelligence programmer. As the year progressed, I found out,
ironically, that I liked coding, unlike my 7th grade counterpart. This passion for programming got
larger and larger as I attended my computer science class and prepared for my C++ programming
competition for the Business Professionals of America (BPA) club. The fact that I had consistently
got a perfect average in computer science along with the fact that I advanced to the national level for
BPA heightened my interest in programming, thus leading me to the topic I want to pursue today:
artificial intelligence.

I enjoy collaborating with others for hours at a time, while also working independently to the
same extent, since, according to Myer-Briggs personality type indicator, that I am extroverted and
thinker, and I while I do enjoy working with other people on projects, I prefer to do my critical
thinking and problem solving independently. Being able to do this is an important aspect of AI
programming as many programmers tend to get projects where both independent work, such as
coding assigned parts of programs, and collaborative work, such as discussions and implementations
of individual programs or algorithms, is required. Even though adaptability to different
environments is necessary for AI programmers, knowledge of certain coding languages and
proficiency in certain math skills is helpful when starting to become an AI professional; luckily, as I
know three coding languages and have taken advanced math courses, I am adept in these aspects.
Many people only know one coding language, if they know any at all to begin with, but my curiosity
and passion for programming has led me to learn three programming languages: Java, Python, and
C++, which are the most widely used languages for AI programming. Furthermore, I have taken AP
Statistics and AP Calculus while many other students have not giving me an advantage. All these
skills are important for AI programming, which shows that I am one step ahead of my peers and
another step closer to becoming an AI professional.