Sanchari Sen Interns with IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Sanchari Sen had the opportunity to intern with IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York during the summer of 2019.

Sanchari is a PhD student at Purdue University under the direction of Professor Anand Raghunathan. Her research interests include energy efficient architectures for deep learning, software techniques for accelerating deep learning, approximate computing and neuromorphic computing.

Sanchari’s technical focus during her internship was exploiting sparsity on IBM’s RaPiD Al accelerator through micro-architectural and dataflow enhancements. One of Sanchari’s favorite parts of working with the team at IBM was brain-storming with people from different backgrounds to get unique insights into a problem. The most valuable take-away that Sanchari got from her internship experience was implementing seemingly simple ideas to improve industrial products by overcoming multiple hurdles posed by the products’ unique design constraints, which are often overlooked in an academic setting. Sanchari also enjoyed regular trips into New York City, had the opportunity to stay at a 3-star hotel, and enjoyed the free coffee and snacks while in the workplace.