People of ACM European Chapters - Viera Rozinajova

May 28, 2019

Can you briefly describe your own line of research and how you became interested in this area?

My research area covers intelligent data analysis methods. In particular, I concentrate on advanced methods of predictive modelling, cluster analysis, anomaly detection and optimization. These methods range from statistics to machine learning approaches. For some problems, we also use biologically inspired computing. We work with static data, as well as with stream data. In both cases, our datasets meet the requirements of big data. Our focus is on intelligent adaptive approaches. Currently we evaluate our results in the domain of energy and on datasets generated in bioinformatics research. Recently, we have worked on the application of these techniques in the research of cancer treatment.

Since my university years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been my favorite field. My PhD and habilitation theses dealt with utilizing of AI techniques in software development. My interest in data analytics picked up on these themes and emerged very naturally when solving a project concerning the processing of energy data.

In your area of research, what recent advance/emerging subfield will yield important advances in the years ahead?

We are living in the era of Internet of Things (IoT). These devices generate continuous streams of data and our task is to extract meaningful information from these datasets. Traditional methods are in general not sufficient to meet this requirement. To get real value from them, machine learning techniques and computational intelligence has to be used. An important contribution is offered also by bio-inspired algorithms, which model natural optimization processes.

Extraction of relevant knowledge from data provides valuable insights and interesting applications, which can become part of our daily activities and significantly improve the quality of our lives. This is a strong motivation and a real challenge for further research.

Will you tell us a little about the Slovakia ACM Chapter?

The chapter was formed several years ago. It has around 20 members. The main activities include supporting university programming contests at the local and regional level, high school programming contests, student research conferences, the Czech and Slovak Student Research Competition, and creating a forum for the rapid dissemination of research results. One of our main goals is to get our students involved in the chapter’s activities.

What advice would you offer a younger colleague just starting out in the computing field?

Research is an exciting adventure.
Be curious and inquisitive.
Discuss the research problems with your colleagues.
If you have an opportunity, go abroad to reputable institutions—it provides you with valuable experience and another view of the world.
Don´t give up if something goes wrong.