Conducting NSF Funded Research in Artificial Intelligence

Major: Computer Science

“If it weren’t for CCM, I would not have had the opportunity to participate in this research …”

Joseph Gatto, of Morristown, a computer science major at County College of Morris (CCM), has long functioned from a right brain, left brain perspective, possessing a gift both for the abstract and detailed. After high school, he attended attended the School for Visual Arts in Manhattan as a film major for a year and then left to work in the film industry. He ended up realizing, however, that film was not a good career choice for him, so came back to CCM as a computer science major. "When I was younger, I had an interest in film making and doing special effects,” says Gatto. “I switched over to programming, particularly in artificial intelligence because I found it interesting and an excellent career choice.” As a result of his strong computer skills, Gatto was awarded a $5,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to take part in a summer-long research project at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Along with nine other students from New Jersey and New York, he worked for 10 weeks with NJIT Professor Usman Roshan researching artificial intelligence. Gatto’s part of the project focused on deep learning algorithms that allow computers to understand images better. “If it weren’t for CCM, I would not have had the opportunity to participate in this research project,” says Gatto. “Its reputation for being a top community college in New Jersey helped me tremendously.” Following his graduation from CCM, Gatto plans to earn a bachelor’s degree and then work on a doctoral degree in machine learning at Columbia, the University of Michigan or Rutgers University.