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Good day! Magandang Araw! og Maayong Adlaw kaninyong tanan!
I am Christian Riconalla, a Computer Science graduate of MSU-IIT batch 2004. I am definitely not a straight-A model student back in my day in MSU-IIT. However, a lot of IT skills I have mastered throughout my wonderful and colourful career, were honed and developed during my time as a Computer Science student of MSU-IIT.
If you are wondering who I am, you can check the attached photo from my last visit to MSU-IIT, spending some time with the CCS faculty and staff (I am sitting between Prof. Haroun Macalisang and Prof. Alquine Roy Taculin - second from the left. Also in the photo: Sir Dante Dinawanao, Sir Rene Crisostomo, Dean Rabby Lavilles, and Sir Richard Micubo).
As my way of giving back to the university that helped me jumpstart my career, I want to help the current students of MSU-IIT's College of Computer Studies (CCS) by providing useful equipment for their studies, research and overall quest for knowledge.
One of the key lessons I have learned in the IT industry is: Collaboration is the key to steady progress. Hence, in-collaboration with the SCS faculty, I am raising funds to purchase AI-capable PCs to allow SCS to build an AI Lab. The funds raised here will be used to purchase PCs with GPUs with a 16GB VRAM and are capable of training Large Language Models (LLMs) similar to ChatGPT.
If I try to do this on my own, I can probably get 1 PC unit. However, if we, fellow MSU-IIT graduates work together and pool our (albeit limited) resources, I believe we can get 3 or 4 PC units for proposed AI Lab. Please help me realise this goal.
Sincerely,
Christian Riconalla
The funds raised here will be used to purchase PC units and will be donated directly to MSU-IIT CCS.
The College of Computer Studies (CCS) plans to utilize the donated PCs in the following ways:
1. Support for Student Theses
- The donated PCs will provide students with access to powerful computing resources needed for their thesis projects.
- These PCs will enable students to work on computationally intensive topics such as:
a) Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) model training.
b) Fine-tuning of large language models (LLMs).
c) Development and testing of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) applications.
2. Advancing Faculty Research
- Faculty members can leverage these high-performance PCs for their academic-related research.
- Research areas that will benefit include:
a) Experimenting with advanced machine learning techniques and algorithms.
b) Conducting studies on natural language processing (NLP), generative AI, and other AI-related fields.
c) Exploring innovative applications in AR/VR technologies.
3. Opportunities for Innovation
- With the availability of cutting-edge hardware, CCS will encourage projects and research in emerging technologies.
- This will foster a culture of innovation and creativity, empowering students and faculty to tackle complex, real-world challenges.
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