If I could survive the next two weeks..

The next two weeks are going to be a handful.

By Saturday, I have to finalize a paper and lecture notes for a series of lectures.  In between this week, I have to examine a PhD thesis viva voce (thankfully via Skype). On Sunday, I will travel to Bhubaneswar for an ATM School in which I am giving the above mentioned lectures.  The scary part is that temperature at BBN is on the wrong side of 40, but the good thing is that I will get to stay in my favourite guest house.

Immediately after returning, I have to move to my new apartment at IISER.  The idea of packing, moving and unpacking is a bit daunting.  Instead of a big brand, I have hired a local packer and mover this time and even though I have good feedback about this company from my colleagues, I am still worried about things breaking or getting lost.  What if the packers show up late? The apartment security does not allow moving out after a certain time.  What if they don’t pack the items properly and it starts raining? On top of that, the movers mention that some local goons may gather around the truck and won’t let it pass unless you give them some money (it is called “Mahtari” in local parlance).  What if I don’t get the apartment keys on time (I am working with very short deadlines here as I have to travel again for a few weeks immediately after the move)?  What if the movers misbehave and don’t unpack or reassemble the furniture? What if this? What if that? Even as I write this, I realize that half of my fears are unfounded.  Strangely I had no fear at all while moving from Mohanpur to Pune, which was a much longer commute than the upcoming 4 kilometer move!  Then of course, there was the big move from Canada to Mohanpur!

My colleagues who have already moved seem to be settling down well – in fact, our registrar was the first to move into campus housing and has already taken care of a lot of issues.  So, I don’t have too many concerns about what happens after moving. Our new apartment offers pipeline gas – that itself takes care of one major hassle, that of going to a gas agency for issuing cylinders.  The dining complex is nearby: so, no worries if the kitchen is not set up immediately. 

I will finally get to live on campus: something for which I have been waiting for a very, very long time [remembering a campus housing experience from another lifetime :) ].

Now, if only I could survive the next two weeks…..

On motivation and competence

A commenter to the previous blog post, Aravind asks the following question:

“From my experience of a KVPY interview, I understand that you look for motivation in candidates. How do you assess motivation? How much of it figures in the final score? And what about competence?”

Motivation and competence are strongly related. A high score on a school board exam displays a certain level of understanding of textbook content. But a competent student doesn’t just work to score high marks: she will spend time in thinking about what she learnt, would seek conceptual understanding over a mechanical one and will keep practicing an idea beyond what textbook exercises demand. This competence can only be developed if the student is motivated enough to think of the subject as something exciting and not something on a “to-do” list [1]. Regarding your other question of how one assesses these qualities, I am afraid there is no standard procedure: otherwise we would have coaching institutes training students for these interviews as well [assuming they don’t already exist].

If other readers of the blog have a more substantial answer to Aravind’s query, comments would be highly appreciated!

[1] I am not discounting the competence required to approach a to-do list in an organized manner and accomplish all items in it in a timely manner!

More on student interviews

Mathematics @ IISER Pune is all set to start an Integrated PhD programme in the coming autumn semester. We finished interviewing candidates for this programme today. Sharing some thoughts from being a part of this process:

1)   We interviewed candidates shortlisted through the NBHM entrance exams and/or the JAM exam (jointly conducted by IISc and IITs for admission into their MSc/Int. PhD programmes). The candidates were either in their final year of undergraduate proramme or had finished it last year.  When we asked the latter what they did in the last one year, many mentioned that they took coaching for JAM exam. I was very surprised that there now exist coaching institutes for MSc entrance exams! When we asked why they did not instead register for an MSc at their university, they mentioned that their university marks were lower than the cutoff and JAM coaching offered a better alternative.

2)   There were a couple of colleges (not the famous, elite ones, but those which would be ranked from middle to low at their respective universities) from where multiple students showed up. These students did very well at the interviews and displayed high levels of motivation. Seeing the enthusiasm of these students, it looks like some faculty at these colleges are definitely doing the right things (which possibly include identifying bright students, training/counseling them, informing them about available opportunities and organizing lectures by eminent mathematicians which would spark their interest.)

3)   I still have the concern mentioned before that there could be students who are very good, but cannot perform optimally at interviews due to nervousness, a wrong set of questions [although we made every possible effort to give them a fair chance based on their preparation] or other factors. I wish the selection process could be modified to minimize such cases (so that we don’t lose out students with potential), but have no idea how.

4)   If Indian institutes ever feel the need to organize faculty orientation programmes analogous to North American universities, these should include a session on conducting all kinds of student interviews.  We do this frequently (for example, KVPY, PhD, Int PhD etc) but even with the best of intentions, have no idea how hurtful or intimidating our behavior as interviewers can be to students.

The young supervisors

My former advisor Professor Ram Murty is visiting IISER Pune.  While he was waiting in front of the coffee machine, a cleaning staff member helpfully asked him if he was here for a PhD interview (he has probably been given directions to do so to any unrecognizable person as our Main Building is full of PhD aspirants nowadays).  After he started laughing, the cleaning person apologized and withdrew.  Prof. Murty later said to me, “Maybe life is giving me another chance to do a PhD. This time, you become my advisor.” Later, my student joined us and we took him to a room where we asked him a lot of questions that kept him on the board for 4+ hours.  This happens to be the room where we interview our PhD candidates – so, the jokes continued!

On a more serious note, he mentioned that he started supervising his first PhD student almost 10 years after finishing his PhD.  From what I hear, in USA and Canada, faculty members usually don’t take students until they get tenured, nor are they expected to.   Supervision of multiple students happens at an even later stage.  On the other hand, in India (at least at research and teaching institutions), faculty members seem to start supervising much earlier in their careers.  This is especially true for new institutes, which by default mostly get very young faculty and which have to build a PhD programme.  At some of the new institutes, especially new IITs, even people with contractual appointments have started working with students.  It is highly likely that the contractual appointments will be made permanent, but what is remarkable here is that these members are less than three years past their PhD. 

Questions for readers:

1)   Is it a good sign that the demand for PhD in India is as high as to require faculty to start supervising at a relatively younger age? Or is it something to worry about?

2)   I am of course thinking from a Mathematics-centric viewpoint.  Perhaps, it is more common in the experimental fields to start supervising at a much earlier age and in much larger numbers.  If you are an academic, what is the trend in your field at your institute or university?

3)   This also raises another question.  How important are students for your research programme?  Again, observing my experimental colleagues, it seems they really want to take students to work on their projects.  Am I mistaken?

Ranking guest houses

What are your favourite guest houses among those at academic institutes in India?  I have been to exactly 10 of them so far (yes, I actually counted.)  Not much of a traveler and not adventurous by any stretch of imagination, I do appreciate basic comforts and convenience wherever I am staying [1,2].  For example, clean bathrooms [3], air conditioners and accessible water purifiers (preferably in the same building, if not the same floor).  Other essentials for long term stays (though not much of an issue for short stays): internet connection, a good desk, digestible food and laundry facilities!

Here is a ranking of my favourite five:

5) IISER Mohali: I was there last weekend.  We were told to proceed to a place called “visitor hostel” on arrival at the entry gate.  I expected a damp, shared, two seater room with two beds, a dirty window and barely any space to keep a suitcase.  But, to my pleasant surprise, it turned out to be a clean and spacious room with a good desk, air conditioning, kettle and tea bags to make morning tea (but there was no coffee!) and a beautiful view from the windows.  Internet did not work in my room, but it did not matter because the weather in Mohali ensured that I was either preparing my talk or enjoying a National Academic Programme (aka NAP) while in the room.  This guest house is modeled after the next one on the list.

4) HRI Allahabad: I have stayed here two times, once in the main guest house and once in a serviced apartment on campus.  Both visits were during winter.  The stay was amazingly comfortable on both occasions.  Apart from basic conveniences like cleanliness, internet, simple North Indian meals in the main guest house etc, they also provide room service for tea/coffee in the morning and evening.  Since the weather was pleasant, on both occasions, I loved the fact that I could walk around their beautiful, well maintained and adequately lit campus.  The staff speaks excellent Hindi.  My first visit was in the winter of 2008 when I had very romantic notions about Allahabad (as about most things in life!)  I carried a collection of Mahadevi Verma’s poetry, which I would read out with my morning tea!

3) IISER Pune (Meera Mohan): I stayed here during my job interview and later, for a few days before finding accommodation in Pune.  At that time, IISER had rented a couple of five bedroom apartments in a residential building and converted them to guest houses.  While there, you would be taken care of by the resident caretaker, Ramji.  So, it gave a feeling of being in a house.  I have written more about it here.

2) IMSc Chennai guest house: This guest house looks extremely ordinary and not much care has been taken to furnish the rooms aesthetically.  But, within minutes of checking in, you realize that it has everything one would need: air conditioning, decent bathrooms (and quick servicing if there is a problem), clean linen, high speed internet and a big desk.  It also has a mini refrigerator, a kettle and adequate number of cups, glasses and spoons to make coffee or tea if you need some.  At 6 am, the canteen  (right next to the guest house) serves you fresh filter coffee [4].  Water coolers and purifiers are accessible and the cleaning staff also regularly replenishes the water in the rooms.  If you are staying for a long duration, then there are functional laundry facilities and shops close by for daily needs.  The location is not that great, but it is close enough to IIT Madras for one to take a pleasant walk/run there in the mornings in the company of friendly deer. The possibility of having idlis or dosas every morning ensures that you basically can’t ask for anything more!

1) KIIT University guest house: KIIT university is a private university in Bhubaneswar, which has hosted NBHM workshops in the past.  From the word go, everything here is awesome.  Clean rooms, air conditioning, water purifier on each level, good internet connection, friendly staff and an air conditioned canteen in the same building.  It doesn’t offer filter coffee or South Indian breakfast, but the reason I rank it above IMSc is the following incident: I was provided with an internet username and password while checking in, but it would not work on my Mac. I called the reception and since it was late evening, they sent someone from the kitchen (of all places!) to help me.  The guy came in, shrugged and promptly changed the proxy settings on the Mac.  A guest house where a cook can solve computer network issues has to get top ranking!

[1] Some friends convinced me to go camping once.  I did enjoy it a lot, but did not see the need to repeat the experience.

[2] Abhishek is the complete opposite.  He will happily stay overnight in a Greyhound bus/station, at an airport or in a youth hostel room with 10 other people.

[3] Bug-free bathrooms would be great, but basically impossible anywhere in India, I think! 

[4] During my last stay, however, the canteen building was under renovation – so, meals were served in a makeshift arrangement inside the institute.  As a result, there was no early morning coffee.

PhD selection via interviews

This is the season of PhD admissions.  A lot of Indian institutes are conducting interviews for their PhD as well as Integrated PhD programmes and I regularly meet exhausted colleagues at the lunch table discussing how many students they have met since morning. 

I have often wondered about the method of selecting candidates at Indian institutes.  As a new faculty member in 2010, I naively believed that we should also follow a system similar to North American universities: rate candidates  “in a wholesome manner” by the NET/NBHM scores, university exam scores, statement of purpose and reference letters.  As is now obvious to me, there are at least three problems with this:

1)   We all know how reliable university exam scores are. 

2)   The concept of writing an SOP confuses most students, (who don’t get adequate guidance from their college/university professors.)  At IISER Kolkata, we used to ask students to submit a write up about their mathematical interests.  Most students would end up writing this at the reception in a very shaky handwriting while waiting for their interview call.  The others, who had written the statement at home, simply copied passages from famous books of G.H. Hardy, Paul Halmos etc.

3)   Reference letters also did not usually help.  Sometimes, we got very weak students with glowing reference letters.  On a couple of occasions, we had some students who answered a lot of questions very well, but had poor letters!  In some cases, the college lecturers thought reference letters were character certificates!  [Note: writing reference letters is a bit of a hassle because even in the age of email, most of our institutes (including the elite ones) do not accept letters online and ask students to get letters from their referees in signed and sealed envelopes.]

 In the given circumstances, interview seems to be the most suitable option in choosing candidates.  The reference letters and the SOP that the student brings along hardly play any role in the selection process and even the mark sheets are sought purely for official purposes.

 I have the following concerns about the interview procedure: 

a)    A lot of students get nervous and anxious during interviews.  They need a little more time to open up and feel comfortable.  Come to think of it: a nervous student enters a room full of stern-looking faculty members [1](the number could be anything between 4 and 8!) who hand him a chalk and ask him to start solving questions on the board.  There’s a good chance that this student is writing on a board for the first time.  The student may have difficulty understanding what a member is asking or may not be able to answer a particular question.  This makes him or her more nervous and as the rest of panel (with the best of intentions) starts giving hints to this student, the student loses the ability to focus on the problem and think straight.  Often, a friendly and more experienced faculty member is able to make the student feel comfortable.  At IISER Kolkata, we once had a student who suddenly started panicking and sweating.  One of the interviewers made him relax for a bit and asked him about his favourite actor.  This student brightened up as soon as the discussion veered to Shah Rukh Khan.  Next thing we knew, he was back on his feet and performed very well in the rest of the interview.  So, this problem is mitigated to some extent by friendly faculty members who can question students without intimidating them.

b)   Because of the above reason, some students require more time than the others.  So, it is difficult to stick to the same time period for all students.  But, there is an administrative issue that interviewing a student for x minutes and another one for x+10 minutes could potentially lead to questioning from students (or their parents!) and even RTI enquiries!! 

c)    In order for an interview to be effective, the questions have to be well thought out.  Sometimes panel members can ask questions which may be too hard or inappropriate for the interview.  Answering such questions may not necessarily reflect the abilities one is looking for.  I once heard of an incident in which a faculty member asked the student to state and prove a highly nontrivial theorem.  The student was unable to do so.  When others discreetly told this member that this question might be too hard, he staged a walkout in front of a nonplussed student.  On one occasion, when I was in a panel and was asking a simple question about convergence of sequences, another interviewer openly snubbed me and insisted that we ask “real” questions (which in his worldview meant questions about solving differential equations!)  As you can imagine, I had to exercise extreme self-restraint to not retort [2].   Interviews cannot possibly be of any use if they turn into pedantic discussions (or wars) among faculty about what is important and what is not.

Perhaps these problems are not very serious and can be avoided if faculty with a serious interest in the quality of PhD students come together and design the interview procedure properly.  If a sufficient number of faculty members volunteer, the interview panel can be carefully chosen to reflect all the foundational areas that the student needs to be tested on. 

I recently heard of an interesting initiative at IISER Bhopal.  They organized a workshop for a couple of weeks in which students attended lectures on topics that were well represented in the Mathematics group there.  This workshop was followed by interviewing interested participants for the Integrated PhD programme.  This not only introduced the students to the research specialties of the group, but also enabled them to interact with the faculty and feel comfortable during the interview. This helped IISERB to attract some strong and interested students in this programme.

Questions for blogosphere: do you think fine tuning the interview procedure would be a good way of selecting students? Or do you have other ideas?

[1] Despite our best efforts, I think Mathematics faculty end up looking stern most of the time :)  
[2] Even though I don’t dispute the importance of solving differential equations.

Student desertion

Yesterday, I heard the most peculiar conversation between two people.  One of them, it seems, had either moved jobs or left his job or perhaps retired- it was not exactly clear.  The other person asked him what happened to his PhD students at his former institute.  This person shrugged and replied, “I don’t know.  They probably found someone else.”

His response made me wonder about the responsibilities of advisors towards students.  Should they not even attempt to make alternative arrangements for their PhD students if and when they move?  In a lot of cases that involve moving to a new institute, the student moves with the advisor.  This requires a considerable amount of paperwork if the student has a CSIR fellowship.  The new institute may have additional requirements for the PhD programme.  But, these things can be managed.

If it is not possible to move, the student works with someone else at the same institute.  In some cases, the new advisor also has similar research interests, or the PhD supervision is done jointly with the former advisor so that the student can continue to work on the same project.  But, I am also aware of many cases where students had to significantly change their research plans.  Nonetheless, usually, students are not left out in the cold and alternate arrangements are made with active involvement from the former advisor. 

One would hope the students of the person mentioned above were able to move to a new advisor and their programme was not disturbed too much.

But, his cavalier response made me wonder: If an advisor leaves, who is responsible for their PhD students? The advisor or the institute?

Chandigarh

I am visiting IISER Mohali to attend the annual Ramanujan Mathematical Society Meeting.  I am preparing for my talk tomorrow – so, this won’t be a very linear post.  Just some random thoughts:

1)   I have now visited four of the IISERs: Kolkata, Pune, Bhopal and Mohali.  All have their own advantages and special qualities, but in terms of accessibility, the institutes at Pune and Mohali easily score over the others. 

2)   It’s a different matter that traveling from Pune to Chandigarh isn’t all that easy.  There is only one flight from Delhi to Chandigarh, which leaves Delhi at 9.45 am.  So, one has to either travel to Mumbai to catch a flight, take an early morning 5.30 am flight from Pune to Delhi or take a later flight from Pune to Delhi and then travel from Delhi to Chandigarh by bus or train.  Interestingly, there is a direct flight from Bhopal to Chandigarh (which halts at Delhi).

3)   I have a special relation with Chandigarh.  It was my favourite childhood destination.  We lived in a small town called Dagshai in Himachal Pradesh and were lucky enough to get a house on the top of a hill, from where one could see vast expanses of Chandigarh.  Dagshai was where my father bought his first car (a Maruti 800) and we often drove to Chandigarh.  At that time, Sector 18 was the “happening” part of the city.   I had ice cream for the first time here.  This is a very short visit: but if I come back later for a longer visit, I would love to go there.  I wish I could also revisit the rock garden and the Pinjore gardens.

So much for now.

A bird's eye view or a frog's

Long ago, I was discussing some results from a paper with its author, a prolific and dynamic number theorist who has made outstanding contributions to the field at a relatively young age.  The conversation soon veered towards the nature of research and proving new theorems.  He had something very interesting to say:

"There are two kinds of mathematicians: some fly high like birds and can see an entire landscape.  They clearly see the big picture and know where to fly to.  On the other hand, some are like frogs: they cannot see the landscape and have to patiently make their way through the ground with limited vision.  I am the second kind."

I am sure this classification would hold for the sciences in general.

I have been struggling with a calculation for the last few days.  I haven't made much headway so far, but this conversation often comes to mind and prevents me from giving up.  There is hope for frogs!

Would you consider yourself a bird or a frog, or one who switches from one to the other?

Thoughts on parenting

Last Sunday, the world celebrated Mother's Day.  People shared pictures of their moms or their children on FB profiles.  My phone got overwhelmed by messages from online retail websites, enticing me to surprise my mother with gifts, air trips, spa appointments and what not.

I have a slightly uncomfortable relationship with this event.  I had not heard about it until the summer of 2000.  My mother was undergoing her chemotherapy treatment.  I had just finished exams and we were watching a movie together on a Sunday afternoon.  Suddenly, there was an advertisement on TV which announced that it was Mother's Day and the right opportunity to express your love for your mother.  We both continued to stare at the screen and wondered where this came from.  I could not bring myself to wish her because I had never heard of it before.  Sadly, that was my last opportunity to wish her.

For the last couple of days, I have been thinking about her and more generally, the parent child relationship. 

Parenting is a difficult job.  Every stage is a test of character.  It requires extreme amounts of self discipline to balance child care with one's professional and other commitments.  A lot of maturity goes into creating a nourishing atmosphere in which the child grows and the parents absorb all the difficulties.  When my mother's cancer was diagnosed earlier that year, her first concern was that the routines of her children should not be disrupted.  She even asked the doctor if the surgery can be postponed until after our exams.  The good doctor refused, but I still can't imagine how she was willing to put up with all the pain for 3 more months just so that the schedules of her children wouldn't be disturbed.  

Professor Sanghi's recent blog post describes yet another parenting challenge: that of placing the well being of the child above one's own ambitions/expectations.  His post mentions students in the IIT system who would dare not share their fears, anxieties, troubles with their parents for fear of adverse reaction.  It also mentions difficult situations for the institute when a counselor recommends that a student suffering from an illness, particularly depression needs family care and affection, but the parents would rather not have their ward back for fear of delayed graduation and what "people" would think.

These parents have done the best for their children, provided them the necessary education, resources and opportunities to enable them to get into IITs or other higher educational institutes. They care enough to frequently call faculty and keep track of their ward's academic progress: yet, at some point, the same parents are unable to give the ward the emotional support that s/he needs.  A parent of a student known to me once said, "my son must give me adequate returns on my investment in him." At what stage exactly did love turn into a financial investment?

Indeed, parenting is not for the fickle and feeble!

Nice folks

1) Those who put up links to all their papers on their webpages
2) Those who not only link to their papers but also write papers which can be read
3) Those who organize interesting workshops for beginning researchers and invite my students to them
4) Those who can keep boredom off meetings

and

5) Those who know everything about everything

Please add to the list.

Further addition to the list by Archana

6) Those who can discuss scientific ideas freely without the constant need of one-upmanship over others

7) Those who treat both seniors and junior with respect (6 is a specific corollary to this)

8) Those who cite other works, especially those by competitors, conscientiously.

9) Those who are ready to admit mistakes and/ or ignorance instead of using jargon and hand waving arguments to throw people off.

10) Those who are make genuine effort to be good teachers, and do not consider it as a distraction to research.