91制片厂

Most students struggle to finish one master鈥檚 thesis, but by May 2017, Erol Aygar will have finished his second thesis in a year, earning him Master of Science degrees in and ifrom the 91制片厂.

Aygar鈥檚 first thesis, for his degree in computer science, was on scientific data utilization. It incorporated the work he conducted at the Data Visualization Research Lab at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping on the Durham campus. There he worked with lab director Colin Ware developing software for experiments, writing apps for managing large sets of data and co-authoring a scientific article funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Aygar's second thesis in information technology听is focused on an emerging field within the tech industry: voice recognition software. Hundreds of products are available today that feature some kind of voice recognition software, from mobile phones to home assistant tools like the Amazon Alexa and Google Home. One of the problems with voice recognition software, however, is it doesn鈥檛 always work great for everyone. Aygar鈥檚 thesis focused on the work he did with Michael Jonas, assistant professor of computer science, who is conducting research on better ways to apply the speech recognition process in developing applications.

Aygar said he was willing to take on the challenge of dual master鈥檚 degrees with encouragement from听 associate professor and coordinator of computing technology.

鈥淚 started as an IT major and switched to computer science because I have more than five years of experience in the field, and I performed really well in those classes in the first two semesters,鈥� said Aygar.

After hearing about Aygar鈥檚 indecision about the direction of his studies, Sabin suggested he seek the dual degree. He agreed to take on the task, and was able to use work he鈥檇 done as a student to complete both projects.

Before coming to the United States in 2013, Aygar lived in Turkey. He grew up in a small town in the southern region of the country and moved to Istanbul to go to college. After graduation, he worked for broadcasting company designing user interfaces and internet software. He then worked for a tech firm managing a team of 20 to 30 engineers and for Vodafone, one of the largest mobile carriers in the world, giving him significant experience as an engineer. While in Istanbul, Aygar also got his master's in engineering management.

鈥淲hen I came to the United States, I decided to make a change and started to look for alternatives,鈥� said Aygar. 鈥淚 was going to do an MBA, but since I had an engineering background, I thought 91制片厂 would be a good idea.鈥�

As someone who doesn鈥檛 shy away from a challenge, Aygar is considering a future either in academia or in the tech industry.

鈥淚鈥檓 thinking it might be a good idea to find a job and apply what I鈥檝e learned,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 know what I want to do in academia, and I know how to research, but I鈥檓 also looking to solve problems.鈥�

Aygar said he鈥檇 especially like to tackle problems in speech recognition software, and finding ways to improve that technology.

鈥淚鈥檇 like to apply the research I鈥檝e done to real working products,鈥� Aygar said.