Thamme Gowda is a Research Scientist at Microsoft Translator. He obtained his Ph.D. (2022) and MS (2017) from USC, both majoring in Computer Science. Previously, he worked as a Research Engineer at USC ISI (2017-22; for five years!), a Data Scientist intern at NASA JPL (2016-17), a Committer and Project Management Committee member at the Apache Software Foundation, a full-stack software developer at a startup (2012-14), and co-founder at Datoin.com (2014-15).
His recent focus is on neural machine translation and rare phenomena learning problem (dissertation, slides).News and Journal:
| 2022/12/07 | I have officially started my new role at Microsot Translator a month ago! I have been busy learning Azure and ecosystem. My new teammates are awesome and inspiring! There are plenty of exciting problems to work on 😀 I am feeling grateful for the opportunity. |
| 2022/10/21 | My time at USC/ISI has come to an end🥲. I am looking forwarding to starting a new chapter at Microsoft! Thanks to my friends and collaborators; special thanks to my advisor, Prof. Jonathan May, for the support, all the lessons, and mentorship over the past years. |
| 2022/10/12 | My O-1A visa has been approved! Thanks USCIS! Huge thanks to many outstanding researchers made this possible by submitting recommendation/reference letters to the US govt. |
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| 2022/05/28 | Professional:I am eagerly looking forward to joining Microsoft Translate as a Sr. Researcher if USCIS approves my (O1) visa. Thanks to everyone who talked to me during my job search; special thanks to Microsoft, Amazon Alexa, Meta, AI2, and NASA JPL teams. Personal: I got married! |
| 2022/03/28 | I've successfully defended my Ph.D. dissertation! (dissertation, slides). (I'm looking for a new role!) |
| 2022/03/24 | One of my tools (mtdata) is simplifying the training data downloading at
Workshop on Machine Translation 2022. |
| 2022/03/16 | I've released a massively multilingual translation model that translates 600 languages into English; see the demo at rtg.isi.edu/many-eng |
Education
2018-2022
2015-2017
2008-2012
Professional Career
2022/11 - Now
2017/07 - 2022/10
2016 - 2017
2015 - 2016
2014 - [2015]
2012 - 2014
More ?
I speak Kannada/ಕನ್ನಡ, Telugu/తెలుగు, and Hindi/हिन्दी (+English, of course!). I was raised by a family of farmers in a southern Indian village. So, beside the "professional" experience that I have displayed here, I also have much more experience in agriculture that you will not hear: vineyard, silkworms, dairy, sheep, poultry...!
I came to this grad school for learning the artificial intelligence, but I also ended up learning a bit about myself/consciousness:
While coding an artificial soul for machines
He wins his gifts, defeats his curses
And discovers his own soul that thinks and feels!
Consciousness is divine [Prajnanam Brahman]
This self/Atma is divine [Ayam Atma Brahman]
You are that [Tat Vam Asi]
I am (part-of) it [Aham Brahmasmi]