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Hi All,

Its my great pleasure to have Chandra R Murthy, Assistant Professor at ECE department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore to talk about “How to pursue research”. This is one of the best interviews at Coffee With Sundar undoubtedly. Professor has a been kind enough to spare a lot of time in answering these questions. I hope his responses help you clear myths about pursue research!
Without further ado, its Coffee With Chandra R Murthy.

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Coffee With Chandra R Murthy

Me: Sundar Rajan G S
CM: Chandra R Murthy

Me: A student has decided to do research - how do u suggest that he does a self analysis to really find out whether he is really interested? (peer pressure is very common in colleges, so he might have resorted to research just because his friends are into it)
CM: This is an excellent first question! Perhaps, the best way for me to answer it is to talk a bit about what I think it takes to do research. Then, the student can determine on his or her own, whether or not research is their cup of tea.

Research is the process of discovering or inventing something new, with the keyword being new. How would you know that something is new? By exhaustively surveying and studying what is “old”, of course. So, the first step in any research is to look up google, IEEE Xplore, CiteSeer, etc (and any other search engine you might fancy) and dig up anything that was ever published in your field and make sure you know about it.
(Of course, I am assuming you have already picked the topic you want to do research in, but more on that later.) You may not have to read every one of them at the same level of detail, but certainly you do need to know the gist of what every paper says. Typically, one of the nightmares as a researcher is that you are presenting your results in front of an august audience, when somebody raises their hand and says “Have you looked at the paper by Jones, he does something very similar”, and you put on an embarrassed smile and say that you are not aware of Jones’ work!
In research, you get no credit for reinventing the wheel - even if it is a beautiful, perfect wheel! So, you do need to spend considerable time and effort understanding the prior art in your field.

I must mention that some people directly jump into a problem and solve it, and later look around to see what is already done. I wouldn’t recommend it.

The literature survey step does two or three things: first, if you like the papers you read, you know that you are indeed interested in that area. Second, you get to know what is already done so that you don’t end up reinventing the wheel, and third, there are many modern techniques to solve problems that can only be found in research papers, so there is no way to teach yourself the techniques without reading recent research papers.
Doing your research survey first is like putting the horse in front of the cart - the cart moves much more smoothly than if you tried doing it the other way around.

After the literature survey comes perhaps the most difficult step - to define a solvable problem. The keyword here, of course, is solvable. The problem that you define should be solvable not only in a global sense, but in particular, it should be solvable by you.
This is where guidance from your research supervisor comes in handy, especially when you first start out on doing research (more on this later). The supervisor usually has a broad knowledge, and can tell what problems are likely to be interesting and solvable.
If you work closely with your supervisor, then he or she probably also has a good idea about your abilities. So you would either define an interesting problem on your own, or define it with the help of your supervisor, and then start working on it. As you get more accustomed to the process of doing research, you will be able to define the problem completely on your own.

The third step is to solve the problem. Often, this will require you to look up references in diverse fields (especially in mathematics) to get hold of special tools to help you solve the problem. It is also customary to build a device or write a simulation software to show that your analysis is indeed valid.
In other words, you have to be able to offer evidence as to why your idea works.

The fourth step is to document your results, i.e., to write a paper, to make a presentation, etc.
Often, researchers underestimate the importance of this step, but selling your work is also extremely important. Just keep in mind that when you read a paper, you will find it interesting if you understand what the authors are talking about.
Likewise, when you present your results to somebody, they will like it if they understand the point you are trying to make.

The four steps mentioned above take about an equal amount of time, at least initially.
As you get good at writing papers, the fourth step can take less time, but it won’t be a quick write-up, ever. It takes time to write a good paper, to motivate your problem and why it is important to solve, to explain about past work in the area, to present your solution and then to summarize with evidence for the correctness of your solution.

I hope this description will help students make a judgment about whether or not they are cut out for research. Other points I can share are that you will like research if you like innovating or inventing, and looking beyond what is in the textbook or the problem at hand.
Often, there is an impression that research is fun because you are always doing new things, while (for example) a software position is monotonous. That is not at all true. Research often involves a lot of grunt-work where you are hammering away at a problem or spending hours and hours trying to understand one little equation in some paper.
Moreover, any position can be made interesting or monotonous depending on the attitude. I had an extremely well qualified and talented friend who once found himself in a verification/testing position in a start-up company. It was a tragic underutilization of his talent. However, he totally revamped the way testing was done at the company - he would never do the same test twice. He would do it once, and then figure out a way to automate it! In fact, he was doing research in how to efficiently do the verification/testing.
So it is wrong to think that research is only done by people whose job title says “research”!

Also - do not expect yourself to produce world-class research results too soon. Research takes time! To give you an analogy, suppose you know nearly nothing about the flute besides the basic notes and how to play them. Suppose also that you wish to become so good at it, that you can play the flute in front of an audience consisting of Hariprasad Chaurasia and other great musicians like him, and have them say good things about they way you play.
How long do you think it will take you to get that good?

Definitely, do not go into research because you have some idealistic notion that it is cool or fun or easy to do research.
It is a lot of work, and you should enjoy doing the work. In addition, research requires you to be able/willing to think laterally, to be curious and want to come up with new ways of doing things, to work extremely hard, and to not give up.
When Thomas Alva Edison said “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration”, he was not kidding! In fact, not only genius, even average research is 99 percent perspiration!

In a more practical sense, if you found your undergraduate classes a drag, you didn’t enjoy the process of learning the new subjects in your curriculum, or if you found the going tough and the concepts difficult to understand, perhaps a research in the same field is not the best thing for you.
If you really want to do research, I would recommend switching fields and picking up an area that you find interesting - it should pique your curiosity and make you want to learn more.

Me: In a 4 year college term, when do you suggest is the ideal time for a student to decide upon his career - Research, Job, MBA etc., and if he resorts to research when do you think he should decide upon his topic of interest ?
CM: I would say that during the third year is the best time. You would have had a flavor of courses in your department, and you can look ahead and find out a bit about what is in store for you. You can find out about the kinds of jobs your seniors have got, the kind of research positions available, and the prospects for getting into the MBA or the IAS. Yes, the IAS is still a good option!

Me: Considering your field, a student of ECE has decided on research - how can he choose the right topic? ECE is an ocean with many applied applications too and every topic might be equally interesting and challenging for a freshman researcher - how do you suggest he take up the right choice which will suit him and which will help him ?
CM: I actually don’t know the answer to this question. My best suggestion is to look back (and forward) at the different subjects and decide based on
(a) which subject interested you the most, and
(b) which subject you did the best in.
These two aspects answer your questions about
which area would suit him (a) and
which would help him (b).
You can generally expect yourself to continue to do well in the area where you had an intuitive understanding and where you could do really well in your undergraduate study.
For many people, (a) and (b) coincide, i.e., we find a particular topic interesting if it is easy for us to understand, and if it is easy for us to understand, we generally do well in that subject.
But if the two are not the same, you will have to figure out how much weight you want to give to (a) and (b). That is, of course, dependent on the kind of person you are.
If you are an “anything goes” type of person (which most of us are, actually), perhaps the specific area you specialize in won’t matter to you, so you might be better off choosing the area where you performed well in your undergraduate.
There is no one answer that works for everybody.

Me: Adjunct to the above question - Unless he works on a research/project in a particular topic in some field, he cannot know whether that topic is really of interest to him or not. Now how do u suggest that he goes about finding out a proper guide whom can guide him on a research topic in that field ?
CM: Another good question. It reminds me of the story of Tenali Ramakrishna. Legend goes that when Goddess Mahakali appeared before him, She offered him a drink from one, and only one, of two cups: the cup of wisdom or the cup of wealth.
He said he wanted to taste both to see what they were like. Before She knew what was happening, he had gulped down the contents of both cups! I wish we could do that, to learn deeply about multiple topics and then decide which one to pursue research in.
In an ideal world that is what one would do. However, we are constrained by time, and cannot spend years studying a subject.

There are many ways to answer the question.
First, unless you are of the kind who simply cannot put your effort on something that doesn’t absolutely enthrall you, it doesn’t really really matter which field you specialize in.
And if you do belong to the former category, hopefully you already know what field you ought to be working in!

The second is to talk to your friends and ask them for their candid opinion about where your strengths lie. You can classify your strengths into
(a) analytical/mathematical inclination
(b) ability to build things and
(c) a knack for making things work.

Then you can talk to your undergraduate lecturers and see if they can guide you about what area to get into.
Another good rule of thumb is whichever subjects fascinated you, or whichever subjects you found easy, are good candidates for your future research area.

As for the best way to pick a guide, there is nothing like a one-on-one interaction to make sure you can talk the same language and understand things in the same or similar way.
If you can’t communicate with your future supervisor, it will be very difficult for you to do research under him or her.

Me: Some may say that reading research articles will help him decide the topic of his interest, definitely a freshman cannot make much sense out of a research article, at that stage he won’t be able to completely extract all the information possible from a research article - so for him every article will be equally entising, again - what do you suggest that he can do to pin point his area of interest ?
CM: There are some good magazines, such as the IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE Communications Magazine, or the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine
(there are similar magazines for every sub-field). These are partly meant exactly for this purpose - to help people who know little about the area get a better feel for it.
So, reading these magazines would work better than reading some esoteric research article that may not make much sense you.

There is no end to reading articles if you don’t narrow down your area of interest first.
As I mentioned above, unless you have a hidden, exclusive talent for something and no talent or interest for anything else, you can essentially pick any topic that seems interesting to you from the outside and take the plunge.
If you don’t like it, you can always switch topics later. That’s one good thing about research - nobody will hold it against you if you switch topics.
In fact, it is necessary, as topics mature and get “saturated”, you have to move to greener pastures. That said, just reading a bunch of papers in different topics, and not having any contributions at all, will not help you either.
So once you pick up a topic, do work at it long and hard enough to at least make sure you are completely disenchanted before moving to a different one!

Me: Is it always necessary to have a guide for research? Can a student go about on his own ?
CM: Having a guide is useful, at least initially. The main things a guide can bring to you would be to point you in a fruitful direction of research.
However, keep in mind that what you do is not going to be research if your guide spoon-feeds you through the process of doing research. The goal for any student should be to eventually become an independent researcher, so if you are able to get there directly, then why not?

Me: If a student is stuck at some point of his research, and he is not able to get the hurdle clarified by anyone, what do you suggest him to do at this junction?
Can he email profs in IISc, IITs or other schools asking his doubt? What are the chances of hearing back?

CM: There are a few things you can do if you are stuck.

First, ask yourself why you are stuck - whether it is because you don’t have enough information or because the problem is basically difficult.
If it is the former, you can try to look around and see if you can find a good reference that will explain a bit more about the problem you are looking into, and see if you can get some hints about how to solve the problem. Identifying when the problem is basically difficult or unsolvable is actually not easy - you will have to make a judgment call on it, and hope that you are right!

I would say that your chances of hearing back if you write to a faculty would be very good, provided that you phrase your question well and show that you have done your background work.
Make a nice write-up explaining about the problem you are looking into, and show the steps you have taken to try and solve it, and finally explain why and where exactly you are stuck.
Often, writing up this document will itself help you figure out the solution! Of course, the assumption here is that you will write to a faculty whose research interest matches with yours…
if that is not the case, it is possible that you may not hear back. But, don’t take it personally, write to another faculty. Also, you don’t need to restrict yourself to faculty in the IITs and IISc..
you are welcome to write to anyone, anywhere in the world! What’s the worst that can happen? That the person will ignore your email, or write back asking you not to bother him or her, but that’s not a big deal, right?

Me: Sure sir. There is certainly nothing to lose.
Me: Is Research only about publishing papers and getting citations? Is there something more to research than just publishing scores of papers ?
CM: Of course not. Publications are merely the way research is evaluated. I hope people doing research are doing it because they like the process of doing research, and the publications comes as a by-product, not the other way around!

Me: What do you think is the most vital and unique part of Research that can never be got in any other spectrum of professions?
CM: As I mentioned above, do keep in mind that any profession can involve research, depending on how you approach it. So I guess the answer would be that the unique part of research is its uniqueness, that you are riding a wave that nobody has ridden before.

Me: Some people work on topics that are completely theoretical, whimsical and have no practical application at all, what do u suggest on these research topics? Working for long hours, putting in loads of effort and proving something which has no practical implication, which can never be realized, which is just there only on the paper - do u think these research are sustainable ?
CM: I’m guessing the person who wrote this question is not terribly fond of theoretical research! There are many research problems that have little or no practical application, but calling them whimsical would be to trivialize the researcher’s efforts!

Research does tend to be futuristic. If you could think of a practical application today, probably the research would have already been long done.
In addition, not by everybody, and not all the time, does research with immediate practical application get conducted.

There is a place for every kind of research. There is a place for fundamental (or theoretical!) research, a place for practically oriented research, and even epsilon-delta research (where you extend existing results by a tiny amount). Therefore, the best way to look at it is what kind of research is most meaningful to you. What kind of research you enjoy doing the most.

Whether such research is sustainable or not, the answer is completely clear: yes. If you look back in history, any country that has done well, has done so because they have been ahead of their time. And they could get ahead of their time because they encouraged research. Advances in research are possible by a combination of advances in theoretical and practical problems. We should allow people who are extremely good at mathematics to come up with new results in mathematics without bothering about practical applications, and leave the finding of applications to other brilliant minds who are more suited to that kind of research.
This, of course, makes it clear that research is sustainable only if it is done in sufficient “volume” so that all kinds of research can happen and feed into each other.

Me: Why did you chose on coming into the academia over taking up an engineer post in any core company ?
CM: Simple! I am happy being in the academia!

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Sure Sir, Thank you sooo much for sparing your time and answering these questions. I really appreciate ur effort.
On behalf of Coffee With Sundar Readers, a very special thanks to you sir!

Readers, hope you enjoyed this special edition of coffee with experts! click here for previous editions of coffee with experts.

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I am extremely happy to announce that CWS readers get a discount of Rs.1000/- on subjectgre.com

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Hi All,

We had a cultural evening for independence day.. here at IIMB.. We had talent shows from dance, drama and music troupes.. I got to chance to act in a play - Sure Thing..

Sure Thing is a short play by David Ives. It has 2 characters - Bill and Betty.. Bill is trying to “line maarofy” Betty.. and screwes up a number of times.. (A bell rings whenever things get screwed) Eventually Bill “connects” to Betty, after a lot of fight.. Its a hilarious play and brings out what typically goes wrong when I guy meets a girl and “tries” for her..

Note:The video is shaking a bit initially.. Swalpa Adjust Maadi (Please adjust)

The last time I acted in a play was in School in 10th Standard.. Only thing in between was.. a very minor 10 seconds role in one movie spoof @ NITT.. So I am acting in a play after long time and throughly enjoyed the experience.. I always wondered how it feels like when some one comes out of these stage shows and say “yes! We have done it”.. I have seen many of those from distance.. But being a part of it.. and experiencing it first hand was awesome.. It was a special moment..

This play was directed Saikat Banerjee (My Section Mate @ IIMB)… He is an amazing director.. The other crew members include Aditi (My Betty), Komolika & Ashish. Incase, you havent seen me before, I am they guy in formals.. wearing the tie.. with a “funky” hairstyle for the play.

Have Fun.. leave your comments about the play & my acting

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Hey All,

Its time for a special episode on Coffee With Experts!! Today, We have a person, who has made it to Google inspite of all odds against him. Its my pleasure welcome Naga Naresh Karuturi from IIT Madras for a show on Coffee With Sundar!!

You might wonder, what were the odds against him.. Read this article on rediff.com

Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and moves around in his powered wheel chair.

Isnt Naresh Inspiring? Here is a small chit chat with Naresh!!

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Coffee With Naga Naresh Karuturi
Me: Sundar Rajan G S
NN: Naga Naresh

Me: Hi Naresh, welcome to CWS.. How do you feel when got into Google?
NN: Thank you for inviting me on your talk show …. I was very happy .. now enjoying my time working there ….

Me: How was your experience at IIT Madras. Did you face any difficulties in academics or life @ IITM.. How did you handle it.. How was ur social life.. friend circle etc.
NN: Life at IIT Madras was one of the most amazing experiences … I would term it more as a learning experience …. I did not face any difficulties in academics or life @ IITM … all the classes are arranged such that I will not have any accessibilty problems .. even if some classes are arranged at a place where I will have difficulty attending them … the faculty got them shifted as soon as possible .. I have a lot of very good friends … some of them are MTech, PhD ..

I would say the people with whom you can interact in IIT will have a lot of impact on you …whether it is academic or social life .. I learned a lot from them …

Me: At any point in time, did you feel bad about people showering too much concern on him ? Does it hurt you in any way ?
NN: of course .. too much of anything does not taste good … rather they hurt .. I would term it as discomfort … I shouldn’t get hurt (feel bad) when someone shows concern .. I try to just realise how good they are .. if possible convey them that there is no reason for concern ( which I never did … if my parents are there with me .. they take up this job ) ..

Me: What’s your future plans and aspirations?
NN: I prefer to have short term goals. I feel one can be more focussed then. Currently, I feel that the best course of action for me is to focus on the task at hand

Me: What are your passions? What drives you to do what you have done?
NN: I don know how to answer this.. Yet to identify one.. it is the same as for any student i think

Me: Can you talk about some significant moments in your life? Is there anything in his past life that you wish to revert ? or wish that it had not happened ?
NN: Significant moments.. lots of them.. my accident.. 10th class.. JEE exam.. 7th sem and lots more moments… Why I meant JEE, 7th sem are important because .. those are the times when major things happened .. like I cleared JEE ..so got into IIT .. in my 7th sem I decided to take up a job instead going for higher studies … these are times which moulded my future and there is no time in past which I wish to change .. Whatever has happened is happened… I look forward to future..

Me: Naresh, Do you have any thoughts to share with Specially abled children & their parents on how well they can bring them up as a usual person?
NN: May be they could look around to find out what the sharpest of their friends or seniors are doing and ask themselves if the physical challenge they have is really a deterrent for achieving the same. For intellectual pursuits, the answer is mostly ‘no’.

I feel how they come up in life depends a lot on family and friends. The people around should ensure that he is not given any special treatment unless there is a necessity for it. They should make him feel that he is not any less capable. I will give my life in school as an example. I was punished all the same as my friends were. No special sympathy showered. But I was carried to my classroom by my friends - this I needed. This is just an example Even my parents treated me on par with my sister. I am going to places where I can’t go by myself with others help. Apart from this, I feel that I am not getting special treatment in things which I don’t require any special treatment. This kind of behavior helps those children a lot. this is my perception .. it may vary from person to person .. bcoz physical challenges are not same for all

Me: How are you handling the publicity that you have got! I am sure, you would have got a lot of mails and scraps. How do find this situation?
NN: Good question. I am beginning to feel the pinch now. In the first interview, I enjoyed talking as I was free then. I was full of spirit in speaking to the press for the first time. But now there are other important things that are piling up. Also, telling the same story again and again is boring. In particular, it raises some doubts as to whether I have done something significant to speak so much. I feel that the newspapers interview me not because I have done something different but because I was different and have done a normal thing. So I should work now and make sure next time they talk about me is bcoz I have done something different

Me: Wow!! Thats awesome… Doing something different.. What is the msg that would like to convey to CWS readers?
NN: From my stay in IIT, I have learnt that one has to prioritize his/her jobs wisely. If this is done systematically, in course of time one can see the amazingly large quantum of work carried out by him. But I learnt it the hard way May be you people should learn from my mistake..

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Thanks a lot Naga Naresh!! I am sure you are going to a great inspiration for many of us.. All the best for your future.. Hope you accomplish a lot of things @ Google!!Readers, Hope you enjoyed this edition of Coffee With Experts! For previous episodes of Coffee with Experts, click here.

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Whats happened to me for the past one and half months.. No posts.. Nothing.. Am I alive.. Am I dead.. Whats happening here @ IIMB

Hmm…. There was freshness in the air when I came in.. There was an element of anxiety… There were butterflies in my stomach.. How will it be??? Who am I going to meet? What am I going to do? What am I going to study? I mean.. Whats happening in life around me.. There is sooooo much change.. But as always, time is the best answer for all these.. Life has moved on… for the past one and half months.. It is soooo fast here.. Competition in everything.. Right from club induction to surprise quizzes to exams to what not.. It just keeps you on your feet.. I cant just afford to blink.. What a life!! Man.. its fast..

But amidst all these.. I find time for myself.. for listening to music.. for putting up blog posts.. for spending time with people.. introspecting about life.. Ofcourse, studying which is always there!! There is enough time for you to do WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO.. The question is.. do you really want to do something

So.. Whats my daily schedule like? Well.. Wake up in the morning around 7:30ish.. Get ready and rush to class @ 8:30.. (I have missed 2 classes for over sleeping) Classes are 1.5 hours long.. Damn it!! If that is not painful enough, I have to sit in the last bench.. Thanks to alphabetical ordering of seats.. Its extremely difficult to stay focussed for full time.. No laptops in class.. So, you inevitably listen to whatever is told in class.. Then we might have some workshop in the afternoon.. If not.. then I go to sleep in the afternoon.. Then I do some “work”.. Finally dinner.. And then more “work”.. In between.. I get to “discuss” group work etc etc.. Finally go back to bed anywhere between 1 and 3 on a typical day.. The toughtest part here is to co-ordinate with various teams.. You end up in different teams for different subjects.. So… Time management is the most crucial thing out here.. And I am learning to manage my time better.. There is no end to learning..

So.. What else happens here???? Lots.. Emotions everywhere.. Emotions everytime.. As always, there were moments of happiness, sadness, disappointments.. Hope.. Fight and more fight and more fight.. You compete.. you compete like mad.. No with others, you compete with yourself.. To bring out your best.. Amidst these fights.. you get to admire some of the most beautiful brains in the country Trust me!! Ladies (please note my respect. I am not using chicks :-)) here are amazing.. “Beauty and the brains” - Trust me.. I am seeing it.. Btw.. If you start dreaming of coming to IIMB only for this.. Stop it there.. “Almost all of them are Committed”

Back to serious stuff.. I guess the first thing I noticed when I came here was.. A good number had a very high attitude.. “I have made it to IIMB” kind of stuff.. Life is made.. Accomplished all.. types feeling was there in the air.. Ofcourse, one open exam in financial accounting brought people down to earth.. Whoever said exams were only to test your level of knowledge..

Well that also reminds me.. There were a number of things I experienced for the first time in my life.. First was the open book exam.. I had never given an open book exam in my life.. till the first quiz.. Then ofcourse, the surprise quiz.. Man!! Surprise quizzes are damn annoying.. they are not difficult.. But you keep revising the old thing again and again and again.. hoping that someday the test would be given.. Finally, when u give up.. the prof would give the test

I attended a number of great talks.. like the one given by Subroto Bagchi.. Not only that, there are other alumni panel discussions, talks by country heads, professors sharing knowledge.. etc. etc.. It is fun… I also danced for the first time at the party floor.. We have L^2 day dance party once a month.. I am extremely happy that I dance (if u call it dance :-))
Ofcourse, I was also surprised by the amount of “noise” which people make in the name of class participation.. Its desperation at its very best!!!

What happened to Coffee With Sundar in this whole thing?
Slowly but surely, Coffee With Sundar is gaining foot hold here.. Lots of people know me through Coffee With Sundar.. Its fun and exciting..

At the end of the day, I realized one thing.. I can anything in life.. Its only a question of wanting to do it.. Be it the fast paced life or a slow paced (moving) lecutures.. I am just living it.. Well, may be even loving it

Cheers and have fun till I catch u next time..
More on Life @ IIM Bangalore.. as life unfurls..

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Hi All..

Last time, when I put up talk - Go Kiss the World!!.. I got a lot of mails.. asking me for details of talks or events which happen @ IIMB.. which junta can take part in..

So… here is the first in the series.. - Eximius - The Entrepreneurship Summit!!

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What is EXIMIUS?

It is IIM Bangalore’s inaugural entrepreneurship summit on 22nd and 23rd of August 2008.

It presents a wonderful opportunity for students and aspiring entrepreneurs to validate your ideas, network with like-minded people and gain valuable feedback from venture capitalists before you step into the real world. Are you game enough?

 

 

 

But I am not really into the whole entrepreneurship thing / I have a PPO / there’s too much work, why should I come?

So you missed out on the Google IPO. Not to worry, EXIMIUS is your chance to be part of history. Twenty years from now you will look back and say – I was there when this whole thing started. You’ll get a chance to hear wonderful speakers, meet
inspiring people, broaden your horizons and have loads of fun! What’s more, you also get a chance to win cash prizes worth Rs. 3.5 Lacs.

 

 

 

Cool, you convinced me. So how can I participate?

EXIMIUS caters for everyone – here’s a sampling of our major events:

 

 

 

Ingen - Invites innovative business ideas in the field of education. At stake - huge cash prizes, and an opportunity to get your idea completely funded.

 

 

 

Innovation Challenge – Have an idea that will Transform India but don’t know how to take it to the next level? Test your idea amongst hundreds of others – and, if you get selected, present it to an elite panel of judges in front of a critical audience to earn invaluable feedback and recognition. And cash!

 

 

 

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Hi All,

Its exam time @ IIM B. Thats y no posts for a while.. I will get to back blogging in 3 - 4 days..

I will put up about life @ IIMB .. from my past 1.5 months experience.

I dont know if you guys read this article.. http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/28sl1.htm

This article talks about a very inspiring guy - Naga Naresh… Must read article I would say..

Mr. Naga Naresh has agreed to give an interview for CWS.. Read the article.. if you feel like asking any questions… Please mail me within next 3 days..

Seeya after 3 days…
Till then enjoy this speech given by Chetan Bhagat.

Keep the Spark

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to  become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates - there is so  much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they
will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks.. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find.. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is
lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp’s flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn’t any external measure - a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement.

But it isn’t the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won’t be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday?

They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature’s design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever.. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school. Where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling
of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don’t take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes.  One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don’t be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really
temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I’ve told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you.

But it’s life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at
something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that’s where you want to be.

Disappointment’s cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts , having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions
in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you.

In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty darn lucky by Indian standards. Let’s be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don’t. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don’t get literary praise. It’s ok.
I don’t look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It’s ok. Don’t let unfairness kill your spark..

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may
drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, you eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from the land of billion sparks.

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dear friend…..

Hey All..

Today, we have a very special person on CWS!! The person I am talking about got a 1480 in GRE, which was a record in NIT Trichy for almost 8 months.. This walking dictionary was mechanical engineer @ NIT Trichy.. Its my pleasure to introduce Shriram Srinivasan.. was christened as GREram for heroics in GRE.. To be honest, GREram was one of the best students in mathematics our batch.. If you are considering to apply to TAMU.. you *must* read this interview..

Without further ado, Over to GREram..

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Coffee With GREram

*Brief Intro about yourself..
Before I begin, I must say I am not having coffee with Sundar, or anyone for that matter. I never drink coffee since I do not like it…:-) So lets settle for Badam Milk with Sundar. But thats too rustic a name and he will lose all his readers with that one, so perhaps to keep him happy I will just go along and watch him have the coffee With those insightful comments, let me introduce myself :-)’

My name is Shriram Srinivasan. I finished my B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Trichy in 2006. So as you can guess, I was Sundar’s batchmate, and later on “wingmate” too, as we called it. I am here in TAMU since Fall 2006, pursuing my MS and PhD in the Mechanical Engineering Dept. I am working in Mechanics applied to fluids which entails mainly theoretical/modelling work.

* Entry Criteria:
To talk of TAMU, I will choose my words carefully, because this is no longer an intra-college document where I can speak the way I normally do without mincing words, so some tactful statements are in order

To give a brief overview of TAMU in general, its a very big university with a whole lot of departments. The best departments, in my view, are aero, industrial, petroleum, and civil engg. Of course I take the highly ranked nuclear dept with a pinch of salt because there are hardly a handful of colleges in US with nuclear engg!

First a few words abt each of these depts are in order.
Aero - Consistently ranked highly, aero in TAMU is a great department. They only offer selected admits with funding, and dont deluge their department with Indian students the way Mech or Industrial does. All their research divisions are well funded, though some of it is for US citizens only. As a result , their selection criteria is far stricter than others.

Civil engg - It has sub-departments, Structures, Materials, Ocean, Geotechnical, Transportation, and Environmental. Materials group is probably the best in the US after UIUC, and they are extremely well funded along with Transportation. Ocean engg is something very few Indians go for, but it is an excellent place all the same. Structures is not well funded, though highly ranked. Geotech I do not know much about. Environmental gives out many Indian admits, and their selection process is not very stringent I would say.

Industrial - They are poorly funded, so much so that they fund only their PhDs and rest do an M.E rather than M.S to finish early. They offer an admit to practically whoever applies (for MS that is) since they don’t have funding, and last year they gave out some 60 Indian admits.

Petroleum - Probably the richest department on campus. I do not know much about their admits, but they wallow in dollars And with Houston having so many oil companies, the students wallow in money too

With that I will now come to the Mech Dept. The Mech Dept shares its USP with that of TAMU - the best education at the cheapest price :-). They offer a 50% tuition waiver to practically every student for the first two semesters. Take that with the fact that TAMU is one of the cheapest schools, and its no surprise to see so many students trying for TAMU. The downside is of course that the dept has a selection policy which is, to put it mildly - “less stringent” the way I see it. Last year, in fact , every year, we have a lot of admits from Hyderabad, Bombay, Chennai, and interspersed are admits from NITs and IITs. The NIT crowd, am happy to see is growing

- Approx CGPA range
Based on the tone of my writing, it will be very easy to get deluded into thinking that TAMU admits are given out to everyone who applies. I would hasten to add that it is not so. A common trend I find in all admits to engineering departments is that students often seem to be top rankers or atleast high scorers if they are from private colleges in Bombay, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc. There are many people from IITs/NITs with GPA close to 9, in fact, most of the NITT students here (excluding me :-D) have CGPA in 8.5 - 9.0 range. So I would think that academic performance in undergrad is given importance. In EEE specially, I find there are lots of people from BITS (Pilani).

Since I had a GPA of just above 8, I would think that is a reasonable requirement for admission Looking at my case I would surmise that students with lesser GPA generally make up with high GRE scores…
The reason TAMU can give so many admits despite having such selection parameters is due to the sheer number of people who apply. It is that large pool of applicants that allows the admissions committee to give out so many admits without significantly lowering student quality.

- Research Experience at undergraduate level.
Almost everybody here seems to have done the usual things and to be at par with the rest, it would be advisable to do some research at the undergraduate level itself.. For many people, it helps in finally clinching the deal with professors - the fact that you have shown interest and worked. However, I would hasten to add that this seems to hold true only for the younger faculty. The very senior professors are never swayed, and they dont really bother about your research experience at undergraduate level.

- Gre & Toefl scores range..
Its a difficult question to answer. I know of scores from 1200-1500. But on an average I would say its 1300+. TOEFL is just a cut off criteria and not important for selection.

- Does the university require subject GRE?
Not that I know of.

* Aid scenario - #number of ppl who come in with aid, chances of aid after coming in, more details on RA/TA/small work around campus.
Generally everybody is offered the out-of-state tuition waiver for 2 semesters, which amounts to almost 50% of the tuition. Many PhD students, and some exceptional MS students come in with a TA. Students coming in with RA is a matter that depends on the prof. Many profs would like to see how you work etc. before putting their money on you.
Since TAMU is a huge university, you have positions called GANTS (graduate assistants non teaching) in some departments which will pay your tuition and give you a stipend too. These could be, for example, doing some web programming/matlab work in the dept of kinesiology, or some data analysis in the dept of entomology, or work in the helpdesk of the computer centre. Such positions are advertised, and interviews held before selecting a candidate. So in general chances of aid brighten after the first semester. Without quoting figures, I would say that most people find some form of aid by the end of 2 semesters. Web programming/ webmaster type of positions are quite common. However it mostly benefits the cse/eee guys rather than mech
The campus jobs have got tougher with the huge influx of Indians every year. As we all write similar things in the CV, and most are quite proficient in English, it really is a lottery applying in the dining services or as an office assistant

* how much money should one shell out for the entire course if it completely unfunded..
Considering you finish in 2 years, i.e., total 4 semesters (summer not included), and assuming you pay full tuition and fees, you pay $6000 per sem….thats $24,000 for the whole course..living expenses extra… to contrast this….scroll down below and take a look at figures my friend Vikhram has quoted for UIUC in an earlier post. And if you get the 50% tuition waiver which most do…that makes it only $12,000 for the whole course. You will now understand why there is a stampede to apply to TAMU. Its certainly not the best university around, but you get good education and great jobs at the cheapest price!

* What are the living expenses?
I am not very sure about this - lets say $600 per month. The point is if you get any on campus job you will always cover your monthly expenses. Its only the tuition and fees that you should worry about.

* Career opportunities after the course?
Personally, I often feel TAMU is somewhat like NITT in the sense that when you do get a job you often wonder if you are actually worth that much :-D.. To clarify, I certainly wondered when Tata Motors gave me a job!
On a more serious note, people are fond of bandying big words like recession etc. I dont know what it means and I dont really care at this point of time. But I do know, that if you are in the non-circuits, i.e, civil mech, chem, IE, chances are you will most likely be working for an oil company or some energy services company, because every second office in Houston is that. Recruitment in the US is zone wise rather than country wide as in India, so sometimes it can be a problem. Most biomed/biotech companies are in California, hence it becomes a little difficult for those departments. CSE/EEE depts rake in the money as usual

* Typical Money made during internships?
I dont know about this. Depends on whether its a circuit or non circuit. But it would certainly help you pay the fees for the next sem.

* How easy it is to switch departments?
Quite easy. I know lots of people who do that. If you have found a guide/advisor who is a prof in another dept, then his approval is enough. In other cases too changing departments is not that big a hassle.

* switch from Phd to MS?
It is done sometimes due to extenuating circumstances, like if a student loses funding, or due to personal problems he/she cant continue for a PhD. But to address what the question is actually getting at, please do not apply for a PhD just for the lure of funding if you are not sincere about it. Its also fine if you have a TA and then you switch. But once you are being funded by a faculty member, its expected that you be upfront about what your aims actually are. If the prof is irked he can do great damage to your career. So to sum it up, please dont try to fool people.

* Any other issues/ inputs which will be helpful.
The Mech dept has many research groups in it. I will just mention the ones which are particularly notable. The turbomachinery group is very well funded and well known. It has profs working in rotordynamics, heat transfer, seals, etc.

The materials research group is also well funded. Mechanics, both theoretical and computational though not as endowed with funding as some other groups, has some of the best professors in the US. This covers material modelling. viz, elasticity, plasticity, viscoelasticity, fluid mechanics, as well as FEM and computational methods. However, the design aspect is almost nonexistent and we hardly have a couple of profs working on that.So students interested in design, TAMU Mechanical engineering is not the right place.

Another thing I feel quite strongly about is choosing advisors. Getting stuck with the wrong person can sour your experience. I know it seems like a great thing coming in with an RA, but you really dont know what kind of person he is till you come here and find out. And sometimes it doesnt turn out well. So in a place like TAMU, where expenses are not that high, I would suggest that students should not be in a hurry to choose advisors. Spend your first sem taking courses, seeing what you like. By the time your first sem ends, you would alteast know whom to avoid
Another reason is that when you finish undergrad and come here, the areas you thought you liked may not be the ones you actually want to work on. Often you take a graduate course and you might be completely bowled over by a different subject, or a prof in a different area. So its a good thing to keep your options open for a semester so that you choose right. I personally came here thinking CFD and fluid mechanics were synonymous,and that CFD was what I wanted to do. But my first course in continuum mechanics changed all that

Before I end, I must quote some words of wisdom I was given by a senior of mine, who told me that its not a great feeling studying in an Ivy League school with zero funding, trying to finish your courses fast, because you lie on your bed before you sleep thinking of that 15lakh loan and the interest that’s accruing even as you sleep. ;-(
Graduate school is a very enriching experience, and I do wish for every student that you are able to feel the wonder of it, get the best out of it, without letting that student loan in India dictate your decisions.

Wish you all the best!!

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GREram, Thank you soo much for these amazing responses… All best with your doctorate..Readers.. as always.. hope you benefitted from this discussion.. For previous episodes of coffee with experts, click here.

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Apping and MS Vs Phd

In today’s world when students are having so many options, they face a lot of stress. This is especially true when students with great aspirations, dont get the suitable rank to meet their dreams..
There is so much confusion.. Should they go for a good college with a “Ok-oK” course? or should they choose the “hot” branches in any college they get the seat?
There is so much to worry about… And here is person who makes student’s life easier (especially when it comes to IIT seat selection).. Its my pleasure to welcome Mr.USN Murty, a passionate student counselor from Hyderabad.

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Coffee With USN MurtyMe: Sundar Rajan G S
UM: USN Murty

Me: Sir, can you give a brief introduction about yourself? When did you start counseling students? Do you do this as a “for profit” activity or more as a service?
UM: I am Dr USN Murty working as a Scientist F/Deputy Director Head Biology, IICT - a national Lab under Ministry of Science and Technology Govt of India since 1984. I am basically a medical entomologist, presently working on application of Information technology for the control of vector borne diseases like Dengue, Filariasis, Malaria etc.

I have started counseling students way back in 1990.. I will do this job as a service.. that is my hobby which I am really passionate about.

Me: Why have you chosen Counseling.. What drives you to do this?
UM: This is only my service and hobby.. It is not my career. I have knowledge in this area and I am passionate about this.. Hence I am continuing in this field. I will give counseling personally.. I also counsel through media like local news papers and ETV2

Me: Sir, in your recent experiences.. how many people go for medicine compared to engineering? What do people give importance to.. Medicine or engineering?
UM: Unless student is interested in MBBS he/she will not go for Bio, physics, chemistry group in plus two… If they do not get MBBS normally.. they go for repetition rather than joining in other courses like BVSC, BDS, BSc Ag etc., Otherwise most of the students will go for engineering due to some peculiar reasons like “fast settlement”, ease of getting seat since more colleges are established in AP (260 colleges under JNTU).. After BE or B.Tech they can go to US for MS program followed by Job. This has become a regular practice in AP.

Me: Sir, You counsel students who have finished engineering.. What are the recent trends?
UM: Normally they look for good universities if their GRE and TOFEL is good. Otherwise they look for any university.. Irrespective of the standard of University to secure admission. This is quite normal in the case of engineering students who wish to go for US for higher education. Very few will go for Higher studies in India in engineering discipline. Now a days some of the students are getting absorbed in IT companies. After acquiring job experience they are keen about MBA in premier institute. This is another new direction of engineering graduates,

Me: Sir, not all students get to do the “happening” branches in top colleges.. They have to take a trade off between going to top colleges or choosing a favourite subject.. What do you recommend? And on what basis do you recommend to the students.. How do you judge if a student will do well in XYZ department instead of ABC department
UM: Good question. Every student will aspire good branch in good college, I suggest them to go for any kind of subject in good college since basic degree is only a general engineering subjects not a specialized subject like M.Tech or MS. For eg in IITs I suggest them to go for his own choice of branch in any IIT though all branches in IITs are equally valued internationally.
The judgment will be based on his rank. In case if he secured a good rank naturally he will go to good college choose good branch. The question of counseling will come into picture where student rank is just average or above average, There my guidance or any counselor guidance will be vital.

Me: In the past, have you done some mistake in judging.. If so.. how do you handle it.. If not, what makes you to get it right every time you counsel a student.
UM: I will tell every student after my counseling to discuss with others and his relatives also. So question of mistake does not arise in such situation.

Me: What are the most common branches which people want to choose? Assuming that a student’s rank doesnt fetch a seat in that branch, how do convince him to take up another branch? And what are the recommendations that you give to that student.
UM: For eg a students gets a rank of 1000 for which he may not get ECE and Computers then I suggest him to go for MEch that is hard core engineering and I will explain the built facilities of Mech Eng with live examples. If his rank is poor then I will explain about civil engineering and its opportunities in India and abroad as well. In the case of civil students can go for jobs related to pollution control that will give lucrative salaries in abroad. Most of the people does not like civil that is wrong concept. Mech eng will have excellent role in CAD/CAM and design of equipment etc.,

Me: In this whole rat race of engineering entrance and seat selection.. branch selection etc.. we forget people who take pure science.. Do you convince people to take pure science? If so.. What advise do you give them.
UM: It is excellent question. Students who secure very poor rank will come to me with an ambition of computer or ECE branch requirement. I will try to convince them to go for B.Sc so that they can enter into IIT MSc through JAAM admission. Normally no one like my advise then I will tell them to go for M.Sc. Physics , Maths or Chemistry in IITs. This also will not be taken by most of the students unless they are interested in research. There are some instances where All India Rank IIT No 1 opted for M.Sc. Physics in IIT kanpur. This is an exceptional case. Such cases will be referred to many of the students who come to me.

Me: What are your other activities that you do related to career?
UM: My research is mainly focused on control of vector borne diseases by using simple information technology tools. Other societal projects also have been successfully completed by me and our technology also transferred to many agencies for its implementation in rural areas.

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Thank you very much sir! Our country needs services from counselors like you

Readers, hope you enjoyed this edition of coffee with experts. For previous editions of coffee with experts, click here.

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