Paulo Da Silva Soares

PhD Student
Office: N/A
Interests: Computer Vision, Social Network Analysis and Machine Learning
Advisor: Dr. Kobus Barnard

Biography

I was born and raised in Olinda, a city in the state of Pernambuco, in the northeast of Brazil. I earned my bachelor's and master's degree in computer science from the Federal University of Pernambuco then I joined the industry and had been working for the Brazilian oil and gas national company, Petrobras, for the last 6 years as an SAP solution architect.

​​​​​Research Interests

My master's research was in social network analysis. Currently, I am interested in combining this field with computer vision and machine learning, in general, to make computers capable of understanding the theory of mind.

What long-term project do you want to work on?

As a first-year Ph.D. student, I am still exploring the projects I can work on. However, most likely I will be working on the design of intelligent agents capable of collaborating with humans in the achievement of specific goals by understanding people's behavior as they work in teams.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I enjoy the way we can make machines solve complex problems in so many distinct areas. I also love solving mathematical and statistical problems related to machine learning in general. Finally, as a TA, I really like to disseminate knowledge and help students to overcome obstacles.

What are your career goals?

Once I finish my Ph.D. I want to get back to the industry and be able to use my knowledge to solve real-world problems. I would really love to see the results of my research being applied to the benefit of society.

​​​​Tell us something interesting about yourself!

I love cooking, mostly I enjoy trying new recipes. I also like to ride my bike in the early morning on my way to the gym. Besides, I love watching comedy movies, traveling and learning a new language when I have a spare time.