Introduce yourself!
Hi, I’m Andrew Magnuson, an incoming third-year EngSci Student.
Why did you choose EngSci?
As a person interested in AI, it was honestly a tough choice between this and a computer science program. I ended up choosing Engineering Science because I wanted to get more experience with the many engineering applications my later ML [machine learning] work might be applied to, while still getting a close focus on AI through the Machine Intelligence option. I also figured that, since a lot of my previous AI learning has been through online sources, that I could similarly bolster my knowledge on the side during the first two years.
How is your social and academic life? How do you maintain a work-life balance?
I’d say my social life is pretty ok?! Having free time has become much more of a deliberate effort, though. After many, many years of my school struggling to get me to use a scheduling app, it seems uni has finally made it necessary. I find that scheduling time where I work on weekly or biweekly assignments, while also scheduling time to meet with friends or chat after classes helps keep everything organized and removes some stress from the massive workload. It’s also useful to plan to get stuff done early. I say this not because I’m an early bird, but because not doing so has very bad consequences down the line (plus, I can use it to get ahead on the courses I enjoy most).
What did you learn as a U of T Machine Intelligence Student Team (UTMIST) Director?
I learned a lot about how to manage a team. Most of my previous programming work has been in relative isolation – I’d spent time making personal projects, small websites, AI datasets and implementations, but had never had to communicate these ideas with others during the development process. I had also never had to manage the tasks and roles of multiple people working on a singular goal. There were many new questions I had to tackle: how to split up work, how to remove conflicts in code, or how to ensure the focus of the project was in the right directions. As a Director, I had to work on all this, and found that many concepts from Praxis came about when looking for solutions to these problems.
How was your experience leading a team?
Fun! My team is fantastic, and we really elevated the software beyond anything I could’ve made on my own. We came up with countless interesting ideas – UI solutions, modifications to the original evolutionary algorithm, unique solutions for the architecture of the model, new papers in the field to read… it was good fun. We also booked weekly meetings in Gerstein (a U of T library) where we could work together in person on problems, which helped us feel more tightly knit as a group.
What are your recommendations for incoming first years regarding extracurriculars?
Definitely try to get involved! In my first year I unfortunately didn’t join any, and really regretted that as I went into second year. Clubs open up applications over the summer and during early Fall term, so definitely keep an eye out! I’d also recommend reaching out to upper years in the clubs or attending their showcases if at all possible – they’ll often have plenty information on how to get involved or learn more about their work.
What are your involvements outside the Engineering community?
I’ll meet up with my high school friends at U of T every once and a while. It’s pretty nice to see the campus from a different perspective; spending all this time in the Engineering section of U of T oftentimes has you forget how many other buildings there are on campus. I especially love when I get the opportunity to visit the Earth Sciences building – the greenhouse is beautiful!
What is your favourite course? What made them stand out to you? How about your most challenging course?
Despite the brutal exam, I really enjoyed ECE253 [Digital and Computer Systems]! The weekly labs were a fantastic way to get hands– on experience with the topics we were learning – as we learned about logical gates and latches, we also implemented them on an FPGA with physical switches and 7 segment displays. The course does a great job of laying out the material in a clear and sequential manner, though I found my success in the course was mostly due to my interest and experimentation with the material. Toying around with both SystemVerilog and Assembly in order to make various projects gave me the creative boost I needed during second –year, while also allowing me to refine and expand my skills in both languages. For example, when I did some work recreating a 2A03 chip in SystemVerilog, I learned tons more about how to do various frequencies of clocks as well as send variable voltage signals out of the FPGA to a speaker.
I think the course I’ve had the most challenging relationship with is Praxis. As a first-year design course, it presents a large chunk of terminology and concepts that do not have much anchoring in your previous knowledge. What this means is it’s hard to elucidate exactly what is missing in your understanding of concepts. You may think you understand a term just fine, then use it in a midterm or tutorial and find that your understanding was slightly off. Over the various iterations of the course throughout EngSci, I found the most effective strategy to overcome this was speaking to the TAs or professors. They are often very willing to help explain concepts, and you have the opportunity to ask example questions or review work with an expert in the domain.
Currently, you are doing research at RVL (Robot Vision and Learning). What advice do you have for students who are looking to get into research?
You can look online to see if there are any professors who are hiring students. I simply looked up cool people I wanted to work with. What I have found to work best for me is cold emailing profs. I looked through Vector Institute members and their webpages, and figured out what I wanted to apply for. I initially had a long list of people I wanted to work with and had to take some time to condense my list. It’s important to find people you want to work with and that their work interests you.
Once I had this list, I started emailing professors – it’s always good to start early, around December or January. Use well-crafted cover letters. When I looked up “how to make a nice cover email,” I found that there were many templates. One thing I would say is that professors are regular humans too. When emailing them, make sure it’s formal, but also bring in your own personality. First impressions matter! Also, some labs get many emails from EngScis, so be sure to mention things outside of the degree too. Another tip: email graduate students that work there and get to know what they’re doing in the lab and if it interests you.
What is one piece of advice you want to tell incoming first years?
Have fun!