Ability to look at life in a perverse (creative) way
Ability to look at life in a perverse (creative) way
(Mark Twain) Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter !
Patience and mental strength to negotiate the troughs (inevitable for every PhD)
Trust your gut feelings in spite of negative results
Luck favors the prepared mind (Pasteur/Hamming)
Good sense of humour – you will definitely need it!
Ability to smile (through gritted teeth) at advisor
Industry experience – NO!
Industry experience – NO!
"Real problems" only imply short-term applicability
May even be counter-productive since immediate reaction is to start programming, rather than conceptual thinking
PhD registration Research Scholar
PhD is “training to do research” AND “actually doing research”
Difficult to devote time due to academic and familial responsibilities
Difficult to devote time due to academic and familial responsibilities
Make sure to set aside a fixed daily time slot for research and make this sacrosanct
Course students can participate in the research work under your direction and thereby accelerate the progress
Relevant to society – NO!
Relevant to society – NO!
Relevant to industry – NO!
Right question: “Did I have fun thinking about the problem and did I devise elegant solutions that I am proud to show my mother (and she didn't find any mistakes in the proofs)?”
Doing a PhD is hard enough without the burden of additional expectations ...
All good dissertations find their way into the real-world sooner or later
Knows less about the topic than you do (even at the beginning)
Knows less about the topic than you do (even at the beginning)
Not visible in the research community
Says “Yes” to a student without assessment
Popular with students due to low expectations, not subject mastery
Most notable achievement in last five years has been getting his PF transferred
Junior Young Turk
Great enthusiasm and involvement
Current with research topics
Remembers PhD tribulations
Expects the world from you
Micro-management of your work
Senior Big Shot
Broad perspective of research area
Can advertise your work well
Provides academic freedom to explore
Perenially rushed for time
Will not write your thesis
ondu idly-vada / by-two coffee dost
ondu idly-vada / by-two coffee dost
Unless your thesis topic is “Topological sorting arrangements of circles and donuts”
Indian philosophy buff
Indian philosophy is an intellectual mechanism for providing extremely sophisticated reasons as to why work cannot be done
Lazy genius
Will drag you into the mud with him
Technically competent and ambitious
Technically competent and ambitious
a healthy spirit of both cooperation and competition
Willing to call “a spade a spade” and criticize you to your face
Brings out the best research in you
Take every opportunity to meet with the “movers and shakers” in the field
Take every opportunity to meet with the “movers and shakers” in the field
attend local international conferences such as COMAD, HiPC, FSTTCS, IndoCrypt, …
attend summer schools (Yahoo, Microsoft, …)
apply for six-month internships in research labs after you are about half-way through your thesis
send technical reports for comments outside
for funding, approach academies (INAE/IASc /NASc /INSA) and DST/CSIR/KSCST/VTU
Family
Family
starts calling you a “visiting professor”
question your sanity with cold-blooded regularity
Well-wishers
take great delight in asking you “Is the thesis done yet?” “Can we call you Doctor now?” “Do all PhDs take this long?”
It is your duty as a scientist to share your discoveries with others
It is your duty as a scientist to share your discoveries with others
Your work is understood only from what you present / publish
You are evaluated only based on what you write in your reports, etc.
