I am now back in India, still sick and under strong medication, which along with the jet lag and extreme heat ensures that I sleep through most of the day. I will be heading to N1 city tomorrow morning.
One of my important priorities for the coming two months is to supervise summer students. I am doing this for the first time.
Summer students at N1 come in through two main channels: the Indian Academy of Sciences- Summer Research Fellowship Programme and a fellowship programme run by N1 independently. The objective of both programmes is to give an opportunity to students from all over India, especially teaching-specific universities, to work with scientists at research-based places and get some exposure to scientific research (something that may not be available to them at their universities). Students from IIX institutes also apply to these programmes because their course work requires them to undertake projects during summer outside their institutes.
Students from the former channel apply directly to the Academy, indicating who they want to work with. The proposed summer supervisor has no say in the selection process, but has the freedom to turn down a selected applicant upon being informed by the academy. Two first year undergraduate students undergraduate will be working with me under this category.
Students coming in through N1's fellowship programme write directly to the faculty member with whom they want to work. I received several such applications this year. Instead of waiting till the last date of receiving applications and then deciding, I kept responding to the applications as and when they arrived.
I obviously did not expect undergrad students to write long research proposals. I just expected them to tell me about their previous coursework and what topics interest them. I also expected them to know a little about what I do before applying to me. As it turned out, even this was a lot to expect.
I received several applications addressing me as "sir" (In India, it is uncommon for students to address faculty members by their first names or even as Dr/Prof Last Name. Sir or madam is the most common form of address.) I also received many applications in which the applicant expressed an interest in working in a subfield of my STEM field which is currently very hot and fashionable. My own research area is very different from this research area. Anyone who visits my webpage can easily figure this out and also that I am not a "sir"! It was clear that the applicant was sending the same application everywhere and did not even bother to find out who the application was going to.
These applications were obviously rejected. If this student had prepared a good application in other respects (like a good CV indicating their previous academic performance and preparation), I wrote back to them mentioning that their "research interests" do not coincide with mine. Otherwise, I did not reply to these emails.
The applications that had me hopping mad looked something like this:
Dear sir,
I wish to pursue higher studies abroad. Please accept me as a summer student. Writing a paper with you with facilitate my application abroad.
Yours,
Clueless Undergrad
While I have nothing against students wanting to go abroad, I don't like students who state this as their main aim in working with me rather than gaining knowledge. I also do not like students who demand that I write papers with them! Depending on my mood and available time, I wrote back to some of these students indicating how their application is incomplete and inappropriate.
I did get a few genuine and honestly written applications and in a burst of enthusiasm, I accepted six of these.
There will be a total of eight summer students working with me this summer. Most of them are second and third year undergrads who wish to major in my STEM field, but have had little coursework in it so far. They are expected to study the topic assigned to them, work on problem sets, conduct experiments and submit a write up at the end of two months.
I think I could have done with a fewer number of students. But, now that the decision has been taken, I must do my best to make their stay productive.
I look forward to meeting them in a couple of days. My next post will be about my strategies for supervising all these students at the same time.
Right now, the antibiotics are kicking in and it's time to sleep (and I have miles to go AFTER I sleep.....)
One of my important priorities for the coming two months is to supervise summer students. I am doing this for the first time.
Summer students at N1 come in through two main channels: the Indian Academy of Sciences- Summer Research Fellowship Programme and a fellowship programme run by N1 independently. The objective of both programmes is to give an opportunity to students from all over India, especially teaching-specific universities, to work with scientists at research-based places and get some exposure to scientific research (something that may not be available to them at their universities). Students from IIX institutes also apply to these programmes because their course work requires them to undertake projects during summer outside their institutes.
Students from the former channel apply directly to the Academy, indicating who they want to work with. The proposed summer supervisor has no say in the selection process, but has the freedom to turn down a selected applicant upon being informed by the academy. Two first year undergraduate students undergraduate will be working with me under this category.
Students coming in through N1's fellowship programme write directly to the faculty member with whom they want to work. I received several such applications this year. Instead of waiting till the last date of receiving applications and then deciding, I kept responding to the applications as and when they arrived.
I obviously did not expect undergrad students to write long research proposals. I just expected them to tell me about their previous coursework and what topics interest them. I also expected them to know a little about what I do before applying to me. As it turned out, even this was a lot to expect.
I received several applications addressing me as "sir" (In India, it is uncommon for students to address faculty members by their first names or even as Dr/Prof Last Name. Sir or madam is the most common form of address.) I also received many applications in which the applicant expressed an interest in working in a subfield of my STEM field which is currently very hot and fashionable. My own research area is very different from this research area. Anyone who visits my webpage can easily figure this out and also that I am not a "sir"! It was clear that the applicant was sending the same application everywhere and did not even bother to find out who the application was going to.
These applications were obviously rejected. If this student had prepared a good application in other respects (like a good CV indicating their previous academic performance and preparation), I wrote back to them mentioning that their "research interests" do not coincide with mine. Otherwise, I did not reply to these emails.
The applications that had me hopping mad looked something like this:
Dear sir,
I wish to pursue higher studies abroad. Please accept me as a summer student. Writing a paper with you with facilitate my application abroad.
Yours,
Clueless Undergrad
While I have nothing against students wanting to go abroad, I don't like students who state this as their main aim in working with me rather than gaining knowledge. I also do not like students who demand that I write papers with them! Depending on my mood and available time, I wrote back to some of these students indicating how their application is incomplete and inappropriate.
I did get a few genuine and honestly written applications and in a burst of enthusiasm, I accepted six of these.
There will be a total of eight summer students working with me this summer. Most of them are second and third year undergrads who wish to major in my STEM field, but have had little coursework in it so far. They are expected to study the topic assigned to them, work on problem sets, conduct experiments and submit a write up at the end of two months.
I think I could have done with a fewer number of students. But, now that the decision has been taken, I must do my best to make their stay productive.
I look forward to meeting them in a couple of days. My next post will be about my strategies for supervising all these students at the same time.
Right now, the antibiotics are kicking in and it's time to sleep (and I have miles to go AFTER I sleep.....)
4 comments:
Hi newprof,
The e-mail is really very funny and inappropriate.
However, I'm glad you responded to some of them. These people probably don't have any mentors and could do with your advice.
Hi newprof,
I forgot to say that I hope you get well soon and have a nice time with your undergrad students.
Yeah...well honestly, with the benefit of hindsight, I do see how ridiculously tactless (and somewhat insulting) that email is; but I cant condemn the poor kid too much, for I have been guilty of lesser but similar crimes myself. I guess it is universally difficult for 17-18 year olds to realise that the world does not revolve around what they want out of life. :)
Hope you get well soon.
Hi Anon and TTE,
Thank you for you good wishes. I am feeling much better now.
TTE: I agree with you. Young undergrads may not know how to write appropriate letters. As Anon points out, they probably have no mentors to guide them.
I wrote back to some of these students and pointed out the information that they must include while applying for summer programs.
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