Entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence are coexisting fields for UTRGV graduate student Md Salman Rahman. They are his vessels to improving lives and helping his community.
Rahman, who is passionate about exploring novel ways to utilize his expertise in data science in the healthcare sector, represented UTRGV in November in the Blackstone LaunchPad Big Idea Competition. The virtual competition hosts students with no prior entrepreneurship experience to practice distilling and presenting latent business ideas.
Rahman was one of four grand prize winners, all earning $10,000 each.
His project, HealthAI, developed an artificial intelligence system where people can upload an image of their medical reports. An algorithm then reads it, trains them with machine learning and algorithms, and automatically detects diseases.
Rahman admits his lack of entrepreneurial experience initially was intimidating. Yet, the potential he sees in using entrepreneurship as a means to reach an audience, and the CIC’s support, were far greater than his fears.
“The advice I got was great,” Rahman said. “My strengths are mainly in research, and I was new to the experience. Having the CIC’s guidance truly helped me grow in my entrepreneurial and scholarly journey.”
A Compelling Move
After completing his undergraduate studies at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, UTRGV’s diverse range of both courses and research opportunities in the Applied Statistics and Data Science master’s program then compelled Rahman to leave his hometown in Bangladesh.
“I am very interested in data science and machine learning,” he said. “So, I am grateful UTRGV’s program has opportunities that have allowed me to work with professors in the medical data science field.”
Rahman plans to continue expanding HealthAI by deploying more models. He is seeking research opportunities and collaborators during the remainder of his master’s program. After acquiring a Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Data Science, he then intends on pursuing a doctoral degree in data science.
“I want to do something that impacts people’s lives,” said Rahman “So, I always ask myself, ‘How can Artificial Intelligence make the Healthcare system better?’ as I continue to research.”
Laurie Simmons, director of the Center for Innovation and Commercialization at UTRGV, said HealthAI could have a serious impact.
“His idea potentially could help change how diseases are diagnosed and lead to earlier detection and treatment,” she said. “This could be a game changer.”