The path less travelled

“I was introduced to science and research only after I joined IISER-Mohali for an integrated Bachelor’s and Master’s. Prior to opting for a course in basic sciences, I wanted to take a conventional engineering route. I actually went back to Delhi College of Engineering after doing two weeks’ worth of classes at IISER. Having spent half a day there made me realise engineering wasn’t something that interested me, and I took the first bus back to IISER.

The interdisciplinary curriculum at IISER was very conducive to spark my curiosity in research. I interned in various laboratories throughout my course and obtained the Khorana Fellowship to work at a laboratory in the US. I loved research, however, the time commitment associated with PhD always made me a little skeptical. Therefore, I never actively sought PhD positions and only applied to the TIFR PhD exam because I had plans of going out with friends afterwards. But as fate would have it, I got an interview call from TIFR, Mumbai. Although I did not choose to join there, I enrolled myself for a PhD at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore.

Through all of my internships, I always had an opportunity to join brand new laboratories. The laboratory I ended up for my PhD was no different. My PhD advisor was among the first to introduce chemical ecology as a separate research field in India. My research consisted…