I have now completed a month at IISERP. Apart from some delays in arrival of my household luggage from IISERK and acquiring internet connection at home, the transition has been very smooth. Well equipped office space was alloted to me on Day 1, administrative joining-in formalities were done promptly, I found a suitable apartment [1] and got a new car on Day 2 and started driving practice immediately thereafter [2]. While I waited for my luggage etc to arrive from N1, I enjoyed the warm hospitality at my favourite guest house.
My colleague, Prof. Sunil Mukhi, who joined a couple of months ago, summarizes his impressions of IISERP very well in this post and I couldn't agree more.
Here are some things that I like most about my new workplace:
1) The Mathematics group, of which I am a member, is fairly well staffed. Other than a comfortable teaching load, this ensures that committee work and other responsibilities get evenly distributed among all members. So, while a couple of colleagues can focus on, say, building the course curriculum, some others can take care of student counseling etc. One group takes care of seminars etc and another takes care of library matters pertaining to Mathematics. We even have a Happiness Committee which organizes regular get-togethers to facilitate interaction between faculty and students. I will write later about the responsibilities given to me.
2) We have a separate course structure for PhD students. Mathematics graduate students need more course preparation than other STEM fields and we have the requisite courses to offer to our students. My student seems to be benefiting from this a lot. While he has started work on his PhD project, he is taking some core foundational courses that he had missed out before.
3) My colleagues, including the senior ones, across all STEM fields, are in general, very friendly and approachable. This is totally not meant as a complaint, but it took me a lot of time to make friends in my former workplace. For months, I went to the office, did my work and came back home without talking to anyone. It was more common there for people from the same grad school to hang out together.
By contrast, over here, it is impossible to be left alone in a corner while having lunch at the faculty lounge. Even if people come in groups, they reach out and talk to others on the table. I like that very much.
[1] "Suitable" is an understatement! This apartment is a dream. The kitchen itself is bigger than the biggest room of my previous dwelling!
My colleague, Prof. Sunil Mukhi, who joined a couple of months ago, summarizes his impressions of IISERP very well in this post and I couldn't agree more.
Here are some things that I like most about my new workplace:
1) The Mathematics group, of which I am a member, is fairly well staffed. Other than a comfortable teaching load, this ensures that committee work and other responsibilities get evenly distributed among all members. So, while a couple of colleagues can focus on, say, building the course curriculum, some others can take care of student counseling etc. One group takes care of seminars etc and another takes care of library matters pertaining to Mathematics. We even have a Happiness Committee which organizes regular get-togethers to facilitate interaction between faculty and students. I will write later about the responsibilities given to me.
2) We have a separate course structure for PhD students. Mathematics graduate students need more course preparation than other STEM fields and we have the requisite courses to offer to our students. My student seems to be benefiting from this a lot. While he has started work on his PhD project, he is taking some core foundational courses that he had missed out before.
3) My colleagues, including the senior ones, across all STEM fields, are in general, very friendly and approachable. This is totally not meant as a complaint, but it took me a lot of time to make friends in my former workplace. For months, I went to the office, did my work and came back home without talking to anyone. It was more common there for people from the same grad school to hang out together.
By contrast, over here, it is impossible to be left alone in a corner while having lunch at the faculty lounge. Even if people come in groups, they reach out and talk to others on the table. I like that very much.
[1] "Suitable" is an understatement! This apartment is a dream. The kitchen itself is bigger than the biggest room of my previous dwelling!
