Pulkit Bhasin
What are your year, your pronouns major and your hometown?
I am currently a junior majoring in Computer Science. My pronouns are the he-series. I was born in California, but I completed middle school and high school in New Delhi, India. Now, I'm based in the Bay Area.
What are your past and current committees?
I did CX my first semester, then RP, then DC, then Web Dev.
Why and how did you choose your major?
I was always really interested in introducing objectivity and transparency in different domains. Because of its application in different domains, apart from just tech, I like economics and finance. Another thing was, in India, the financial structure isn't always transparent, and objective, so you have inequities.
I interned at this FinTech company in the islands that automatically evaluated a credit score and gave me information about whether you were able to get a credit card or loan approved and if not, why. It was interesting because it really improves accessibility and information to different classes of society. That's what I like about computer science in general, its applications more than anything else.
What are some of your favorite TV shows?
I like Parks and Recreation. I like Bojack Horseman quite a bit. I know a lot of people stop after season one because they don't like it that much, but a lot of people say that they feel that season two is where it really picks up. I watched the entire show. I feel like a lot of people are expecting something more lighthearted and less invested than it actually is. It's pretty deep because you see an animated horse, and you don't expect the profound stuff it talks about.
What are some of your professional experiences, and what are your interests? Why are you interested in those?
I'm still figuring out what niche I want to pursue within computer science. But I think one that I've been really interested in is machine learning and artificial intelligence. Again, it's because of the applications that it has in different domains, using data to find more objectivity and transparency in different areas. Regarding professional experience, during my freshman year summer, I was a research intern within this lab, where I had to basically implement a CNN [neural network] to detect commercial vehicles on the road within New York. So we had open source images from New York camp street cameras and had to detect the number of commercial vehicles. The PhD student was working on calculating stuff like the last mile delivery problem, and he needed this information. So that was really interesting because as much as working with raw data is frustrating, and really, really annoying, the end results were pretty cool. Then, I interned at Google, where although my work wasn't directly ML related, I was in the augmented reality team. So I was sort of working on deploying a machine learning algorithm. Again, my work was more like development, then integrating that with a back end with their models. When I saw the impact that their models had, through my creation, I really found it fascinating because I enjoyed it. I'm currently also a research assistant within Haas, where we are basically working on evaluating whether providing training on negotiation and MBA training to students in Uganda has an effect on the negotiation power using experiments. So my job is to use NLP transcripts and a Naive Bayes model to evaluate transcripts and see whether there's a difference between the control group and treatment group. So again, it’s introducing objectivity to some extent because negotiation seems pretty subjective. But to be able to provide some quantitative information is pretty cool.
How have you used statistics in your professional experience?
My internship time and my internship didn't involve that much statistics because I was more on the deployment side. But in my current research, for example, statistics is pretty important. Since, in my case, you have a transcript. There are so many words and so many things. But the only way you can really provide any sort of quantitative information regarding it is using statistics. So statistics play such a huge and key role in being able to provide a lot more information about data that might seem vast and incomprehensible otherwise, and that's really cool.
How did you find out about SAAS, and why did you join?
I really loved the CX committee when I first saw it because when it came to work, I knew I was interested in things like data and how to work with data, but I didn't have the technical knowledge. So even though data consulting really piqued my interest, I didn't feel confident going to do consulting immediately because I didn't have the technical background. That's what I love about SAAS, that it has the perfect stepping stones to learn and reach that stage where you can have larger scale impact because you can go into CX first and then maybe IA for a personal and small scale project and then DC for larger scale projects. That professional growth is what really appealed to me when I first joined.
What is your favorite committee that you've been in?
When I came, I thought it might be DC, but actually my favorite committee was RP because I really loved my project, and also because I was a director for one semester. I really enjoyed that.
What was your favorite SAAS semester?
I think it would be when I was RP Director, which was Fall 2020. Basically, that was my first semester of sophomore year. I really enjoyed it because that was also a COVID time when I was basically stuck in my room and couldn't meet anyone. It was great to interact with so many people from SAAS online, both within the committee and outside of it. I think that was my favorite SAAS semester.
What was your main reason for staying in SAAS, since you've been in it for a while?
I think the people. I think they definitely promote both personal growth and professional growth. Personal in the sense that SAAS has a lot of fun people within the club. I really enjoy the social scene of SAAS. Essentially, you make friends, and you meet a lot of new people. I feel like you can also just promote professional growth in different ways. You can also always reach out to people that you ever need any advice on anything. I remember when I was applying for internship internships, and I reached out to Brian and he really helped me with my résumés, for example. You have so many events, and I guess it's just a wonderful environment and community overall.
Is there anything else you want to add about how SAAS helped you with your career professional development?
I followed the CX to CX director pipeline, so as of now, I'm only familiar with CX. But a lot of the past CX members go into RP or IA. So that's something that I've been considering, since that would definitely be really cool to explore my own interests and that real application of what you learned in CX. But another one that I'd be interested in is Web Dev, since that ties into the creative and technical intersections, and it'd be cool to see how coding can be used to apply to that web interface and see how users can interact with it. That would be something in the future that I would consider. But I'm very open to exploring the different committees, again with that exploration thing.
Right. Are you ever going to consider DC (Data Consulting)?
I felt like course selection workshops are always helpful and also just reaching out to people if you're confused about which classes to take and which classes not to take. Also, you have people to take classes with, like you have people from SAAS, and that always helps in its own way within professional growth. I also really liked the new system of cold grinding together and recruitment parties. I haven't been recruiting this semester, so I haven't attended any of them, but next semester, for example, when I will be recruiting, I definitely can see how that will be super helpful and super interesting. So I really liked that idea.
How did you make friends with people in SAAS, hnd how did you meet them?
I guess through committees. Mostly all the Donut bots were pretty helpful and just going to different events. I feel like everyone's so interesting. Everyone's so nice that every time you interact with someone new, you end up making a friend, which has been great.
The three SAAS values are community, exploration and mentorship. Which SAAS value do you resonate the most with? What does it mean to you? Do you have a personal vision for SAAS going forward?
I think it's exploration for me because I think SAAS allows you to both personally and professionally explore different things. There are so many people to talk to, and so many people you don’t normally hang out with, some who are from different committees to try out and really learn new things, and it definitely promotes growth in so many ways, which is why I think it resonates with me the most within this club. As for moving forward, I think it should continue the way it is. I hope SAAS continues to be an inclusive club in terms of including people of all knowledge levels because you have a committee for different knowledge levels, and that's really good. Also personally, it's very inclusive for new members in the sense that they're made to feel very welcome. I think that's the vision that I think that should continue in the future as well.
Do you have any advice that you would give to newer SAAS members?
Put yourself out there, and always try on different committees, talk to different people, attend events, classes, and a lot of social events. Even if you can't attend all, attend the ones that interest you, especially because you have so many activities, like mini golf, karaoke, or ice skating. So, if you do something that you're interested in, you end up having a lot of fun meeting a lot of new people, and it's really a win-win in every possible way.
What's your favorite class, and why?
I actually really enjoyed CS 170, and maybe CS 189 right now. It was really hard for me. At the time, it was really annoying. Some homeworks really made me want to cry, but it was rewarding. The satisfaction in the way it helped me improve my logical thinking and intuition was external. It's like CS 189 because I'm learning something that I enjoy. I'm enjoying my professors so far.