[mlpack] GSOC 2018 [Essential Deep Learning Modules]

[Ryan Curtin]

On Wed, Feb 14, 2018 at 05:29:39AM -0600, bansa031 University of Minnesota wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am Ayush Bansal, a second-year master's student at University of
> Minnesota, USA. I have a keen interest in the field of Deep Learning and
> Machine Learning. I have been using and exploring various deep learning
> models and techniques and am very interested in working on Generative
> Adversarial Networks. I have worked on them for my project last semester
> especially in the framework of Capsule Networks. If possible I would like
> to work on the proposed idea of either Stacked Generative Adversarial
> Networks or Improved Techniques for Training GANs. I would love to increase
> my knowledge in the field of GANs and possibly other models in Deep
> Learning.
> 
> If allowed I would also like to implement Capsule Networks in MLPack. All
> in all, I would like you to consider my ideas and give me guidance on this
> project.

Hi Ayush,

Thanks for getting in touch.  I think capsule networks could be a nice
addition to mlpack, but a thing to keep in mind is that your proposal
should be pretty clear on the API that will be provided to users and how
users will use it.  For capsule networks, I know that training can also
be very slow, so we should focus on a good implementation that is as
fast as we can make it.

For the GANs, we had a student (Kris Singh) work on implementing them
last year but the project was not fully completed.  I would suggest that
you take a look at the PRs that are currently open.  Shikhar Jaiswal has
been working on finishing the various parts of the components, so it
might be worthwhile to talk to him to see where he is and if there is
anything you can help with.  Stacked GANs or improved GAN training
techniques are a nice idea; a proposal for this should definitely take
account of the current GAN implementation status and figure out what
needs to be done there.

I hope you are enjoying Minneapolis... I was there a while ago and liked
the city.  I wanted to jump into the Mississippi River but it was cold
and probably that is not a good idea in general... :)

Thanks,

Ryan

-- 
Ryan Curtin    | "It is very cold... in space."
ryan at ratml.org |   - Khan