The voice within

“My interest in research stemmed from an internship that I undertook at IISc Bangalore during my Bachelor’s; the research environment was very nice and welcoming, the guidance from my supervisor and my seniors acted as a great incentive for me to pursue research. They also exposed me to the mathematics that I should know in order to make my work translational. Additionally, I didn’t want to be a part of the conventional crowd by taking up a job after my engineering. I wanted to do something different. IISc moulding my research interests and the support from my parents, who are retired professors, altogether helped pave my way into a PhD.

I enrolled myself in the doctorate program at IITK right after my Bachelor’s and the rigorous coursework that I had to go through in my first year, compensated for the gap in my knowledge about the field which in general, comes from doing an M.Tech. Importantly, my choice of a supervisor played a critical role in shaping my PhD journey throughout the span of six years. I based that choice on how approachable and friendly a supervisor was, rather than on the number of publications they had or how famous they were. I always knew I would be able to handle the technicalities associated with research, I just wanted a guide who would support me and not be too difficult to deal with.