A Student's Daily Steps to Leading AI Innovation at Seidenberg

Darsh Joshi (MS in Data Science, ‘24) is a master's student at the Seidenberg School who skillfully engages in his technological passion through leading a multitude of projects involving artificial intelligence, data collection, and being involved with Pace’s very own Data Science club. Join us as we go through a typical day in Darsh’s life where he offers a glimpse of a busy career, handling it with grace and pure ambition.

The most ideal start to a good day in Darsh’s world would be sipping on a nice cup of coffee, either through Starbucks or any of the coffee shops that surround the NYC campus. He specifically enjoys roaming around the area in search of different kinds of salad places to eat at; a particular grub spot that has his heart is Raj’s Indian Kitchen right on 53 Nassau Street.

After a quick bite to eat, Darsh likes to get down to business, spearheading a variety of projects here in Seidenberg’s Computational Intelligence Lab. Filling the leadership position has always been a recurring theme in his life, first starting with a student leader position on his primary school’s quiz team, later on finding multiple student organizations and workshops as an undergrad. Darsh tells us, “It has been amazing leading a small team at the CI-Lab, as well as becoming the founder and President of the Data Science club." At Pace, he is easily able to apply extracurriculars that he enjoyed frequently in the past to his craft and studies.

It’s fascinating being a student and dealing with a leadership role as it places me ahead in my field where I’ll have to be heavily involved with clients and deliver the best product. As students, we are constantly delivering events and workshops to get more people involved.

Some of the research projects Darsh has worked on require an intense amount of time, effort, focus, and resources. Certain challenges stumped Darsh until he ended up in Seidenberg’s hands; “The Computational Intelligence Lab has helped me a lot. Juypter Server from that lab gave me a massive boost in terms of physical storage and computing power. Online articles and YouTube videos helped in wondering where and how to start.” Artificial intelligence is a massive part of Darsh’s trajectory, first beginning with his original goal of becoming a robotics engineer when he was an undergrad. Hearing about the exact nature of machine learning from one of his professors sent him on a journey through hackathons and a project where he had the ability to teach a machine a series of hand gestures and movements, going as far as to turning on the lights or even flipping the switch on a fan.

Onward, he has experimented with and achieved results with learning generative AI. This form of artificial intelligence technique involves creating or generating data that is similar to human-created content. Images, text, music, etc. are all elements of a larger subset of data where these models are trained to learn patterns before the generation process. Certain projects involved with this model concern the likes of data collection, data processing, generating reports beyond what is already established. It has a wide range of uses applicable for businesses and companies. AI innovation is led by aspiring and creative minds right here on the NYC campus. As of now, Darsh hopes to start and lead a startup business where he can solve numerous problems relating to his field, with an aspect of his work now being focused on machine unlearning.

As an international student, Darsh holds a lot of love for what Pace has to offer to his goals in life. When asked about what specifically drew him to Seidenberg, Darsh replied that it “was the location and the variety of courses that the Data Science program had to offer."

I’m able to take the maximum potential out of New York City for my major, alongside the design of the program helping me become a better candidate for my career.

And becoming the prime candidate is exactly how he spends his time. A well-rounded education aids in the development of his skills when he plans to transition into the workforce. Although he commutes, there are plenty of things that draw him to extending his stay on campus when he can. Access to the Seidenberg lounge is a big one; “It has everything I need to chill, starting with the kitchen appliances where I can heat up lunch.” Seating areas allow him to spend time with friends as well as set up quick meetings with his team. And a good hour and a half of what would be his commute time is knocked off simply from being able to work at Pace’s new 15 Beekman building!

As for Darsh’s advice to any prospective students who may be unsure or nervous about attending? “Take all that Pace has to offer. I see that there are a lot of students just attending lectures and going back home when they could be utilizing the resources and attending the events the university has for them.” Currently, Darsh and his team have conducted multiple events concerning the advancement of data research and science such as the Data Pipeline workshop, a Database Challenge, and notable guest speakers. He also aids in the promotion of the CI-Lab, aiming to create a productive and healthy atmosphere for any student to seek refuge in.