Prospective Student

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. I want to meet you ? How do I meet you ?

   1. I enjoy meeting students from IIT Delhi and from outside IIT Delhi. Unfortunately due to COVID I am not meeting anybody in person or face to face.

   2. But, firstly, I schedule all my meetings through my calendar on calendar.google.com/subrat.kar (see the link "Meeting Me").

   3. Sagarika helps by scheduling my appointments for me: Mrs Sagarika Dutta Bishwas - Phone 011-26596250 s.d.bishwas@gmail.com

   4. However, try calling me on 011-26591088 first - this is easier than face-to-face meetings.

   5. I meet my own students as per the following schedule (broadly, these meetings are in the forenoons only in Room 2A-202 or in the Embedded Lab II-320):My current schedule can be seen at http://web.iitd.ac.in/~subrat/schedule.html

   6. I really do not like to have people barging into my room without an appointment and asking if I have 2 minutes to spare. I don't have "two minutes to spare" when you barge into my room but I can spend a day with you if it is scheduled in advance. So please schedule meetings - I sincerely appreciate it.

   7. I also particularly do not like anyone (friend / student) disturbing me during the lunch hour (1300-1400) - this is because I usually schedule my audio conferences with students and project collaborators during the lunch hour (my lunch hour is actually therefore reduced to 10 minutes).

   8. I do not meet anybody outside working hours (0845-1730 hours).

2. I want to join you / work with you

• 1. As a Post-Doc Fellow ?

     1. Shortlisting Criteria

     2. The shortlisting criteria will be almost the same as applied for Asstt. Professors on contract. The concerned Department / Centre / School can also provide additional criteria. The Institute wide minimum shortlisting criteria are given below :

     3. MINIMUM SHORT-LISTING CRITERIA FOR Post Doctoral Fellow

        1. PhD with First class or equivalent grade in preceding degree in respective discipline, with a consistently good academic record.

        2. Maximum age must be 32 years for male and 35 years for female candidates (to be relaxed by 5 years in case of persons with physical disability, SC and ST), and

           1. · At least 2 refereed conference / journal papers (of which at least 1 should be in reputed journals)

        3. Selection Procedure

           1. The applicants for PDFs be periodically shortlisted by concerned Department / Centre / School by involving all the faculty members in view of the shortlisting criteria already finalized by the concerned Department / Centre / School.

           2. The candidates can be invited to submit a proposal for the feedback of proposed research and make a presentation either personally or through Skype before the faculty members of the concerned Department / Centre / School. Based on this the final shortlisting may be recommended and sent to Dean, Faculty for further processing.

  2. For a PhD / MSR ?

• • 1. PhD related part of the answer

    2. See http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ and http://myidp.sciencecareers.org/

       1. First, some reasons why you should NOT do a PhD (from the original post at https://www.quora.com/Why-shouldnt-someone-pursue-a-PhD)
          

"There are a number of bad reasons to do a PhD:

1. Doing it for the prestige

2. Doing it due to social pressure

3. Doing it because you "want to learn all you can about Area XYZ"

4. Doing it to avoid getting a job

5. Doing it because it seems "superior" to getting a job

6. Doing it because you don't know what to do with your life

... Basically, doing the PhD because of any external trigger or reasons -- your parents, social prestige, etc. is the path to failure. You cannot sustain yourself for 4--6 years based on how proud your mom will be when you become a doctor.

Financially, you should not do the PhD if you are expected to provide for a number of people in your family, or if you have large loans that need to paid off, etc. A PhD stipend does not allow you to save much.

In terms of personality quirks which makes doing a PhD difficult, there are many:

1. Arrogance. You believe you are intellectually superior to everyone, and so don't listen to advice from your advisor and colleagues.

2. Lack of self-confidence. A PhD requires that at least at some points, you need to believe you have good ideas, and to push those ideas forward (during meetings with your advisor, etc). I believe it is possible to do a PhD simply doing what your advisor tells you to do, but I wouldn't count it as the best use of your time (you won't learn much).

3. Lack of communication skills. Minimally, you need to communicate with your advisor. You can get a PhD by simply following orders, but I think a lot of interesting problems come about because a student tells an advisor, "I did that experiment last night, here's a little thing I couldn't explain.. "

4. Lack of adaptability. You will try a number of projects in your PhD that will fail. If it becomes clear a project is not going anywhere, you need to drop it and move on to the next thing, instead of sinking more time into a dead-end."

• • 2. 2. Ask yourself the following questions and let me have ALL your answers in an email:

          1. Why do I want to do a PhD ?

          2. In which area do I want to do a PhD ?

          3. Can I self-motivate myself towards a research goal ?

          4. How have I self-motivated myself in the past to this point ?

          5. AFTER the PhD - Where do I see myself / what do I see myself doing ?

    3. Should I choose to do a PhD in a Department (like EE, CSE) or in a School (Bharti School of Telecom, Khosla School of IT) or a Center (Center for Applied Research in Electronics) ?

• • • 1. Depts have faculty working in many diverse areas, Schools have a focus on a particular area (telecom, IT) and Centers typically encourage applied research.

      2. But the PhD is granted by the Senate of IIT Delhi - it is not granted by a Dept, School or Center. So your PhD Certificate just says that you are a PhD from IIT Delhi and your thesis says what you worked on.

• • 4. Admission Procedure related part of answer

• • • 1. First, the procedure is that you apply for a PhD / MSR and get selected. Selection may involve getting shortlisted after a written test (sometimes) when we have many applications.

      2. If you have missed the online application round, you can apply throughout the year using the PhD offline application (or for the MSR program using the MSR offline application form below).

      3. The primary round of admissions are held in the month of May (typically). There is another smaller round of admissions held in December (called Second Semester admissions). You can apply throughout the year but interviews for all non-primary admissions (throughout the year, including second semester admissions) are conducted only when there are enough applications.

      4. Since 2015, for faculty already engaged in a teaching position in a existing Institution, there is a special PhD scheme called Visweswaraya PhD Scheme - please find the application attached at the bottom of this web page (listed as Young Faculty Research Fellowship click here ).

      5. Then you pay your fees, and go around the Department meeting everyone and discussing his/her research interests. Ideally, if you want to work in area "X", anybody you meet in the Dept should be able to tell you the names of everybody working in Area "X". You are supposed to meet all of them.

      6. Then YOU select your Supervisor and Lab after deciding who you want to work with.

      7. There is no real need to meet me (or anybody).

• • 5. What about the admission and the interview ?

       2. 1. Admission tests and interviews are usually held in EE Dept for both EE and Bharti School. The dates for issue of Application Forms can be found in the Academic Calendar ( http://www.iitd.ac.in/content/academic-calendar )

          2. The criterion for selection changes slightly from year to year.

          3. Please first see the Frequently Asked Questions at http://web.iitd.ac.in/~subrat/ee/pg-admissions-2016.html .

          4. In addition, you should check if you are meeting our shortlisting given at http://ee.iitd.ac.in/admissions.html

             1. 1. Make sure you meet the BTech cut-off AND the GATE score cut-off.

          5. The typical curriculum for the interviews is (I list only the areas I am associated with):

          6. FIRST, we will ask you which area you are most comfortable in. Then we will ask you questions. So do come for the interviews well-prepared !

          7. [for Computer Tech] Algorithms, Engineering Mathematics, Computer & Data Networks, Programming, Languages ...

          8. [for Communication Engg / Networks] Engg maths, Comm Engg, Signals & Systems, Sig Processing, Telecom networks, Computer Communication Networks ...

          9. [for Optical Communication] Optoelectronics, Optical Fibers and media, Optical Devices, Optical Networks, Optical Phenomena ...

          10. For admissions - see ee.iitd.ac.in/admissions.html .

          11. Dates for this year's interviews are: see http://ee.iitd.ernet.in/admission.html

          12. (SECOND ROUND OF PhD ADMISSIONS - scheduled typically in December - contact the EE Office )

• • • • • 1. (FIRST ROUND OF PhD ADMISSIONS is usually held in the month of May)

• 3. For a MTech / BTech project ?

• • 1. Please schedule an appointment.

• 4. For an Internship ?

• • 1. First, please apply. The Internship I coordinate is the GIPEDI - see bit.ly/gipedi . I will examine your application when it is sent to me.

    2. I will discard resumes which are sent without my asking for them.

• 5. For a project ?

• • 1. Please schedule an appointment (see the top of this page).