WIMTACH Student Profile: Maanas Arora

Structure, communication and collaboration are critical elements for any successful research project. Students working at WIMTACH have the opportunity to develop these skills while gaining experiential learning by working closely with clients and industry partners. Maanas Arora is one such student.

Maanas was working at WIMTACH while studying at Centennial College in the Software Engineering Technology program. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, writing, piano, mathematics and psychology. Maanas joined WIMTACH to be a part of the artificial intelligence development team. “During my first semester, I became interested in gaining industry experience in artificial intelligence. Then, my professor Thiago Vitor de Castilho recommended me to WIMTACH for an AI position,” shared Maanas.

The first project Maanas worked on at WIMTACH was for OrthoBioMed. The project involved preprocessing large datasets for a deep learning model. He worked on two more projects as well. One project was for Veritas Eye, which involved computer vision and character animation. The other project for Scanbo Technologies involved wearable signal analysis.

When asked about working on these projects, he said it was a very positive experience. “[I enjoyed working] with advanced skills and technology to solve very relevant problems in the health industry that clients brought to WIMTACH. The projects I worked on allowed me to develop and test my skills in a very real industry environment,” he added.

During his time at WIMTACH, Maanas most enjoyed the supportive and encouraging work environment. He appreciated the opportunity to work directly with staff and other student researchers to further his industry knowledge. “I truly feel that the staff and students at WIMTACH were very accommodating,” he said. “[They] always saw the bright side of any situation, and were able to turn any challenge into an opportunity for growth,” he added.

He shared that he developed skills in the fields of artificial intelligence. Those fields included computer vision, deep and machine learning, algorithms for AI, data science and analysis, big data, and programming and web development.

“WIMTACH helped me develop my existing skills and the necessary soft skills required in the workplace, allowing me to ease naturally into the job market and choose from a wide range of careers.” said Maanas, who dreams of one day holding a senior artificial intelligence position in the technology, healthcare or education sector. 

When asked about advice for future student researchers, Maanas had this to say: “Feel free to bring up ideas, something that will help you be more comfortable, or something you need help with, as the team is always very supportive and won’t hold difficulties against you.”

While he admits working at home during the pandemic proved to be a challenge, the structure, communication, and collaboration Maanas witnessed at WIMTACH made it easy to adapt. “Although things were a little disconnected compared to what I would expect on campus, making sure everyone was on the same page helped a lot. Things went smoothly for the most part because [they] were structured very well, and communication and collaboration were active on Slack and Zoom,” Maanas said.

For more student success stories, please visit: https://wimtach.centennialcollege.ca/news/