What is this site about?

Who am I and what is this site about? First off my name is Ian Vicino and I am a scientist. By scientist, I mean I have experience researching neuroscience, virology, immunology, molecular biology, and computer science. You read that correctly, I have studied computer science. Even though I don’t have a degree in computer science I learned how to program and fell in love with computation. I have learned to code primarily in Python, but can also code in C++, C#, MATLAB, Java, React, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, and various other languages. I have coded microprocessors, developed artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, and generally had fun learning and solving problems.

I want this site to be focused on programming and artificial intelligence but with sprinkles of biology. Computer science and biology are actually combined to create the fields of bioinformatics and computational biology. These fields are where computer science is used to help analyze the data generated by biologists. Another field of computer science where biological findings can help is artificial intelligence (AI). Intelligence is made possible by the calculations within our brains, and this neuroscience can be studied to help create better AI. One company that is doing exactly this is Numenta (https://www.numenta.com). They have developed a novel artificial intelligence based on a theory of the brain called the Thousand Brains Theory. In my blog posts, I will be discussing topics like these and other related topics.

I will also share some of my programming applications or create new applications together with future blog posts. I hope this will inspire us, both you and I, to explore different programming challenges and potentially be a place where I can post coding tutorials. Although some of my code can be found on my GitHub (https://github.com/ivicino/) not all of it can be found there, and new code may be shared both on this site and my GitHub.

Now that we understand what this site is about, who am I? Although I have two biology-focused master’s degrees, life has not been easy for me. At the age of 13, I was in the hospital for 9 months, and was clinically dead, due to a coma I fell into due to a genetic disorder I was born with. Due to my genetic disorder, I have been in and out of the hospital more times than I can count. My family struggled my whole life to pay my hospital bills and I experienced physical and mental health challenges due to these hospitalizations. Life has not been easy for me, but I hope to make it easier for others. I want to help alleviate pain and struggle. If my blog can do this for others, it would be a success. I believe helping others get a better education, or get new skills, can be the best way to help them. With an education, someone can step out of poverty and get a better life for themselves and their family. Without education, it is nearly impossible to climb out of poverty. An education is the best way we can shift our lives toward success, and I hope to help promote that education.

What I like about computer science is someone can learn to create applications and programs on their own. This education can be obtained without any cost. There are many free courses and textbooks that can be found online to help learn how to code. My suggestion is you learn to code in the Python programming language as it is the easiest to get started with. After you have learned the basics, the best way to advance your knowledge is to attempt new coding projects, which I plan to put up soon.

Essentially, I plan to make this site a location where we can discuss what is happening in the news with computer science, learn how biology and biologists can benefit from computer science and computer science can benefit from biological findings, inspire new coding projects for beginning and experienced programmers, and a location to put up some coding tutorials or put up my coding projects. I will also put up some personal experiences and struggles because the hardships are how we all grow and they are important to discuss. If you are a biologist, programmer, someone interested in technology or blogs, or really anyone interested in learning, please enjoy my site and provide some feedback. Please let me know how I might help you or how you might help me improve my blog/code.

Ian Vicino