Gustavo is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a Computer Science and Cognitive Science major at Northwestern University, Chicago. He spent 3 months at TMDT with the support of DAAD Rise.

How was the arrival at the Institute?

It was really lovely. Jannik (my supervisor) & his fiancé picked me up at midnight from the airport and helped me get set up at my place and at work. I got to meet my neighbors too, all of which were students from the university.

How did you get accepted at the institute?

I applied through the DAAD RISE program and got picked out of all the applicants by my supervisor (Jannik Peters) to do research with him.

How did you get supported?

It was really good. All of the Ph.D. students I met at the lab were really friendly and helped me a lot throughout my research. Special shoutout to Robert for helping me with Cassandra/Slurm, Christian for Reinforcement Learning, and Jannik, Hasan,  Constantin & Richard for conceptual questions.

What do you like about TMDT, what don't you like?

What I liked the most about TMDT were the people and the work environment. The food at the main campus was really good but, to be honest, the food at the second campus (where I worked) wasn't the best. 

What was new in your studies?

The whole field for me was new. My only exposure to Reinforcement Learning (RL) was a class I took before coming to do research this summer which covered only the very basics of deep RL. I had never done any actual research in RL, much less Multi Reinforcement learning. That coupled with the fact that my research was actually in a niche field of Multi RL (Emergent Language) made everything I experienced during my research new and exciting.

Any surprises in your research context?

Emergent Language in Multi-Reinforcement Learning, and Deep RL in general, is much harder than I thought it would be. There are so many possible new ideas and so much engineering that has to be done to assure those new ideas are being tested to their full potential... it truly is a very challenging field of research.

What did you learn?

Many, many things. In terms of new skills, I learned how to use RLlib for a multiagent setting as well as RLlib in general, Tune for hyperparameter search, Cassandra/Slurm, and finally "Weighs and Biases". I also got a lot of experience coding with Gym, using Pytorch, editing/creating RL environments, doing experimental design, and reading RL papers.

That being said, the main lesson I learned from my research experience at TMDT is that deep learning is tricky. Neural networks can learn from anything, even from signals that are buggy/faulty. Because of that, a lot of care has to be put when creating/editing code. Furthermore, I cannot stress the importance of engineering when it comes to this field of research. An idea can have really good potential, but if the engineering isn't done right it will just not work. Therefore, as a researcher in this field, you need to have a lot of confidence that your idea is a good one since you'll have to stick with that idea for a while as you systematically tune all the parts of your algorithm/model to find its best setting.  

What is the biggest difference between here and your home university?

I'd say, on average, people have a better work-life balance at TMDT.

What is the biggest difference between your hometown and Wuppertal?

The Weather :/

Where did you stay?

I stayed at Max-Horkheimer-Straße, which is a complex of buildings where students from Bergische Universität Wuppertal live. It was awesome. I got to meet a lot of students and had a lot of fun. They even had an in-dorm student-run bar. It was also very close to the main campus, as well as right in front of a bus stop, that could take you anywhere in Wuppertal. The only disadvantage is, that the room isn't huge. That being said, the room is a great deal; you won't get a better room for the same price anywhere nearby. 

What were your first german words?

Danke, guten Tag, Auf Wiedersehen...

What was your position in the TMDT Soccer Team?

By the end of my summer, I think I played all positions, but I mostly stayed in the defense.

What was the best trip during your stay in Wuppertal?

Düsseldorf.

Have you ridden the Schwebebahn?

No, I didn't!! I think that's what I regret the most. I did see the elephant picture.

What is the best food in Town?

The best food I ate while in Wuppertal was the pierogis Julian's mom made. But if you do not have the pleasure of meeting Julian or his mom while at TMDT, I'd say Hans im Glück is one of the best spots.