Interview with CS PhD Alumni Series: Maryam Imani PhD’20

Computer science and software engineering PhD holders today enjoy a great variety of employment prospects. Opportunities are ample, ranging from working in research and product development divisions of companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon, to becoming faculty members in academia to working for or creating their own technology startup. Higher-level positions at companies are also becoming more accessible to computer science and software engineering PhD graduates, as it is common for employers to reserve their top-ranked positions for doctoral degree holders. With the following interview series, we hope to engage students who want to learn more about the PhD program by learning about those who have gone through it.

Prior to joining UT Dallas, Maryam Imani obtained a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Shahid Beheshti University in Iran and completed her master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from Alzahra University, Iran. After embarking on her PhD studies at the Amirkabir University of Technology, she made the difficult decision to discontinue the program. This experience led her to pursue new opportunities, including a position as a visiting scholar at Stony Brook University in the United States. Subsequently, she decided to begin a new PhD journey at UT Dallas under the guidance of Professor Latifur Khan and Professor Bhavani Thuraisingham.  In 2020, she successfully graduated with a PhD degree from UT Dallas. Currently, she holds the position of data scientist at Walmart Labs, where she has actively contributed to research and practical initiatives, remaining committed to continuous growth and learning.

What inspired you to pursue a PhD?

There were a few factors that motivated me to pursue a PhD. (1) My passion for gaining new knowledge; (2) The opportunity to contribute to knowledge in my field; (3) A chance to engage in intellectual collaboration; and (4) to explore broader career opportunities.

Why did you choose to pursue your PhD at UT Dallas?

I chose to pursue my PhD at UT Dallas because of its strong ranking in computer science and the opportunity to study state-of-the-art topics in research labs. There were opportunities to collaborate with different professors on diverse projects. Additionally, UT Dallas was known to host conferences and workshops that help with knowledge exchange and networking with professionals in my field.

What made you decide to choose what you were studying?

The decision to pursue a PhD in computer science in the Data Science track was influenced by several factors. Firstly, I have always been interested in Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP). The opportunity to dive deeper into these topics and contribute to its advancements motivated me to pursue further education and research in this area. Moreover, my background in computer science at both the bachelor’s and master’s levels significantly influenced my decision to continue studying in this field. In my previous academic and work experiences, I had a chance to learn more about various topics in the artificial intelligence field, which helped me to decide my future studies more confidently. Additionally, the field offers plenty of job opportunities, with high demand for professionals in this field. It also opens doors to advanced academic positions, research institutions, and labs.

Can you describe your experience studying at UT Dallas?

UT Dallas is known for its strong programs in various disciplines, including computer science, engineering, business, and natural sciences. Students have access to state-of-the-art facilities, research labs, and resources that support their learning and intellectual growth. The students can readily get involved in real projects and can apply their knowledge and expertise as research assistants, especially en route to the PhD.

One of the notable aspects of studying at UT Dallas is the opportunity to work with renowned professors and research labs. The university attracts top faculty members who are experts in their respective fields, providing students with access to cutting-edge research and mentorship. I had the honor and privilege to study under Professor Khan’s and Professor Thuraisingham’s supervision.

The campus provides numerous organizations, clubs, and activities covering a wide range of interests. Students can engage in extracurricular activities, participate in leadership roles, and make lifelong friendships and connections.

As a woman, do you have any advice to future students who wish to obtain a PhD at the UT Dallas Computer Science Department?

Remember, anything that you plant during these years; you will harvest in the near future. So, be patient, stay focused, remain persistent, and seek support if you need it. With dedication, hard work, and a passion for what you’re doing, you can thrive and excel in any PhD program.

What other projects did you take part in while studying at UT Dallas?

As part of my Big Data course project, we developed a real-time fault diagnosis framework for wind turbine gearboxes, using vibration data to predict faults. We published it and its extension in a conference and journal.

What is your primary area of research? What type of research will you be doing?

My primary area of research appears to be focused on the challenges and solutions related to machine learning and big data analytics, with specific applications in the social science and blockchain domains.

Please explain your thesis in layman’s terms.

The rapid generation of large volumes of data from various domains has led to the emergence of big data. Extracting valuable knowledge from this vast and diverse data presents a challenge for the data mining community. In this context, scalable analytics frameworks are needed for efficient data acquisition, filtering, and analysis. The dissertation focuses on the social science and blockchain domains. It addresses the challenges of location extraction from political text data, and vulnerability detection in blockchain smart contracts. Existing solutions in these areas have limitations, such as lack of granularity, reliance on external knowledge, and human expert dependency. To overcome these limitations, the dissertation proposes novel scalable frameworks. PROFILE (Primary Focus Location Extraction) is introduced for accurate extraction of primary focus locations from political news articles in different languages, i.e., English, Spanish, and Arabic. A scalable framework for detecting vulnerabilities in smart contracts is also developed, addressing the inefficiencies of existing methods. Empirical results demonstrate the superior performance of these proposed techniques compared to state-of-the-art methods in these areas.

Can you tell me a bit about your best paper award?

In 2019, I had the honor of submitting my research paper to the  Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Collaboration and Internet Computing Conference. I was thrilled to receive the best paper award. Our paper explored the intersection between social science and computer science, delving into a multidisciplinary topic that bridged the gap between these two fields. The best paper award has been a significant milestone in my academic journey and a source of inspiration to pursue excellence in research.

What type of obstacles did you overcome while obtaining your PhD?

Finding an innovative and superior topic for a PhD thesis was, indeed, a significant obstacle for me during the PhD. It was time-consuming and challenging to find a topic that had not yet been extensively explored and offered opportunities for contributions. Another challenge was the unavailability of resources and data. For example, in my case, there were no labeled datasets of event news in different languages. As another obstacle, it was also challenging to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

Where are you currently working, and how did your PhD help you get your current job?

I’m currently working at Walmart Labs. During my doctoral studies, I had the opportunity to participate in an internship at Walmart Labs. There I gained practical experience and was able to apply my research skills at the company. This internship allowed me to showcase my dedication, expertise, and ability to contribute effectively, which led to a full-time position offer at the end of my PhD. My PhD played a significant role in training me in critical thinking, problem-solving, and how to demonstrate my research abilities in this role.

What type of work do you currently do? Can you tell me about your work at Walmart Labs?

I have been working on the Catalog Data Science team for three years. I have done different Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) projects on products’ attributes. I recently joined the Inventory Target & Placement team with Machine Learning and Optimization projects.

What kind of advice would you give to a woman just starting out on obtaining her PhD?

1. Believe in yourself and your capabilities.
2. Build a supportive network: Seek out mentors. Connect with fellow women in your field or join their communities.
3. Set reasonable goals and milestones!
4. Take care of your physical and mental well-being.
5. Engage in conferences, seminars, and workshops to present your work and expand your professional network.
6. Balance work and personal life.
7. Be patient and be kind to yourself.

What was your process for getting ready to defend your PhD?

Firstly, I needed to complete the dissertation. This included conducting final experiments, writing up my findings, and addressing any feedback or revisions from my advisors and committee. Then, I needed to schedule a time with the committee and notify the university. Later, I arranged several mock defenses with my lab mates and friends to simulate the actual defense experience. This helped me with feedback to identify areas that needed improvement and to boost my confidence. Finally, I organized all necessary documents, created handouts, tested the devices (projector, connecting cables, etc.), prepared a backup laptop with my slides, and sent a reminder email to the committee the day before the defense.

If you could go back in time to talk to yourself during the first year of your PhD, what would you say to yourself?

Enjoy the journey, as the PhD is just a destination for a moment.

We spoke to two of her past PhD co-advisors Drs. Latifur Khan and Bhavani Thuraisingham about Maryam. “Mariam was not only brilliant in her research in data science she tirelessly worked for women in data science at UTD by organizing our annual event while she was a phd student. The global women in data science event is organized at Stanford university while numerous satellite events are organized around the world. Mariam also coordinated our efforts with Stanford. She is also a role model for other female graduate students working in data science and cyber security,” said Thuraisingham.

“Maryam was key to our collaboration with political scientists at Epps on a multimillion dollar NSF project. She developed novel data science techniques for political event detection that resulted in publications in top tier conferences,” added Khan.

ABOUT THE UT DALLAS COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

The UT Dallas Computer Science program is one of the largest Computer Science departments in the United States with over 4,000 bachelors-degree students, more than 1,010 master’s students, 140 Ph.D. students,  52 tenure-track faculty members, and 42 full-time senior lecturers, as of Fall 2022. With the University of Texas at Dallas’ unique history of starting as a graduate institution first, the CS Department is built on a legacy of valuing innovative research and providing advanced training for software engineers and computer scientists.