Andrei Luchici

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, R&D, Development

I am a curious person. I want to use mathematics and to develop technology to improve our society. I am fascinated to figure out or learn about how things work, especially when it comes to people. I am passionate about the use of mathematics in almost everything, especially social sciences, and I like startups and technology.
Practically, you could say I wear three hats. I teach and research machine learning, artificial intelligence, and their applications to social and biological sciences at the Romanian American University; I am a researcher and technologist at SiloApp, and a community organiser, researcher, and mentor at CMI. However, everything I do is related to finding new ways to use mathematics and data to create better tools for businesses and to understand people and our society.

I have wanted to do research and be an entrepreneur since I was a child. However, that doesn't mean I stayed true to this path always. I jumped fields and domains and professions several times until now.
My journey began when I went to London to study Mechanical Engineering (I wanted to build robots). Three years later, I graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree and was bored. Engineering wasn't stimulating enough so I jumped ship to research. I started and completed a PhD in Computational Biomechanics. By the time I graduated, I was fed up with the academic environment so I left and became an AI/ML consultant. Over the next few years, I worked with startups, moved from London to Copenhagen, moved back to London, moved to Romania, then became a CTO, all while mentoring and advising.
But, after almost 12 years of searching and different experiences, I convinced myself that all I wanted was to be a researcher and entrepreneur more than anything else I experienced.

Hmmm, this is a tricky question. I am not the best person to answer this question as I immerse myself in my work. I make no distinction between work life and personal/family life.
But, if I were to offer an answer, I think work-life balance means living a life where you truly enjoy all your activities throughout the day, a life where you don't need to split yourself between "work" and "life" activities.

I believe that possessing knowledge and expertise and not sharing it somehow decreases the value of what you’ve learned over time. Being a mentor offers the perfect position to share your experiences with others. However, the job doesn't end there. Being a mentor means more than equipping others with the skills they need or offering advice; you automatically become your mentees' number one fan. You are there, rooting for them when they fail and succeed.

Don't be afraid to try; you will never know if you enjoy it or if you will be capable of doing something until you've given it a go.