Hey, my name is Seif. I'm an incoming Masters student at the University of Alberta studying Statistical Machine Learning.
I finished my undergrad with a major in Mathematics and minor in Computing Science. Part of my initial interest in Machine Learning (ML) research was a desire to apply the highly theoretical mathematics and statistics I picked up in my undergrad. In that pursuit I get excited about technical and theoretical problems with real world applications.
Currently I'm working on Performative DRO. This takes on two parts, 1) Performative Prediction — this is the study of training ML models that affect the data they're supposed to perform on (think google maps actually changing the flow of traffic based on its recommendations) and 2) Distributionally Robust Optimization (DRO) — this is a framework for training models in a way that minimizes the worse case loss it could see. This has been shown to develop more fair models that value performance on minority groups. I've been working on this project for two summers now under the supervision of Dr. Frei and Dr. Hegde.
Outside of my courses and research I'm also a Co-Founder in UpYourGrade. Our mission is to help students transition from highschool into university and guide them to achieve their goals in university.
In just one year we have already helped hundreds of students through our free seminars, resources, packages, and individual 1-on-1 tutoring.
Finally, to really get to know me, the most important aspect behind my life is my religion. It motivates me and is a primary driver for most of what I do, and without Allah I would not have any of the knowledge I have, nor the opportunities I was given. One of my favourite chapters in the Quran is Surah Yunus. I love learning about Islam, whether its through studying the Quran, learning arabic (and classical poetry), or studying Islamic law. Islamic knowledge is a topic I truly never get bored of.
If my research interests you or if there's anything you would like to discuss, I'd love to connect and discuss. As well you should check out my blog! I'm planning on putting there really niche topics that my friends are annoyed hearing me talk about. This would probably include topics in pure or applied mathematics, statistics, and AI.
PS - This website is actually a fork from my good friend Justin's website. He's an absolute genius who's working in compiler optimization. You should go check him out.
Just a bunch of my thoughts put in a place
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