To understand the process of applying for an off-campus thesis, the English Press Club reached out to Abhay Kaushik and Rohan Saxena, two students who completed their final year thesis abroad. The club also interviewed Prof. Suresh Gupta, the Associate Dean of the AUGSD, to get the institute’s perspective on students going off campus to do research.

The Institute’s Standpoint

On being asked how pursuing a thesis off-campus help students rather than simply doing it at BITS, Prof. Gupta said that if a student has a clear plan of going abroad for his MS or PhD, then doing research abroad definitely gives his application an edge. But in terms of the quality of the work being carried out, he sees no difference. He said that at present, the Institute has no formal process by which they provide students with off-campus research opportunities. But if the Institute has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the host university, then IPCD does try to help them connect with the concerned professors and provide them with some funding if possible. Talking about the Institute’s reluctance to allow off-campus theses at other Indian institutes, Prof. Gupta said that BITS does encourage them if the research is being done with collaboration with a BITS faculty.

Going to MIT

Abhay Kaushik was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to work on his thesis, the focus of which was analyzing real-time sleep staging using wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) headbands. In the past, Abhay had worked on research projects at two startups, Cocoon Cam and Kaaya Tech. His work with Cocoon Cam entailed using computer vision for detecting breathing rates and analyzing how the data could be applied in the field of medicine. He was involved in two projects under Kaaya Tech – Project Yoga which involved detecting yoga postures using a Microsoft Kinect, and the Holosuit, a wearable motion sensor. Back on campus, he undertook a project studying the electrophysiology of the brain with Dr. Sundaresan Raman.

Talking about the support offered by the Institute, Abhay said that it is natural for the administration to prefer that students pursue a thesis on campus. This encourages growth in terms of the research being carried out within the Institute. But if a student has a good GPA and a funded research acceptance, the Institute does give merit to their application for an off-campus thesis.

Abhay said that many students hold back on research opportunities that they come across, due to lack of necessary knowledge. He maintains that while developing skills is important, it should never be an excuse for passing over opportunities since research involves working and learning side by side. Giving advice to BITSians who wish to pursue research, he says, ‘Students first need to do their homework, figure out what they want to pursue and why they are fit for it. They should not shy away from approaching institutions where research is being carried out in the fields that appeal to them.’

Working in Germany

Rohan Saxena did his thesis on calculating motion for autonomous vehicles, at Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI) – a private research center in Germany. Although DFKI is not a university, the professor under whom he was doing research worked over there. As a consequence, he spent most of his time in Germany at DFKI rather than a university.

Rohan said that most students get internships by sending emails to different companies, highlighting their past work and experience, and what they want to work on. Although most students start this process in their third year, he started sending emails from his second year itself. He was able to get an internship at Wolfram Research, an AI-based engine, during the summer break after his second year. In his third year, a senior he was in touch with told him about an opening under a professor at IIT Delhi, which he then pursued. Rohan used this example to emphasize the importance of networking in getting positions that are not advertised.

Rohan said that since he was interested in computer research and deep learning, he started looking online for institutions research in these fields was being carried out. He also started reading papers that were being presented at renowned technical conferences like ICML, and contacted the professors who were publishing papers in fields that interested him. Such targeted outreach got him a lot of positive responses since it added credibility to his applications.

He states that it is not fair to expect a professor to be a guide throughout the process. Even though the professor he was working under in Germany was incredibly well versed in his field, it was Rohan who was calling the shots at the end of the day. This, he believes, is important as it gives students the exposure that they deserve.

Rohan said that it was a common misconception among third and fourth years on campus that funding would not be provided in Germany unless they apply through DAAD.  He approached DFKI and was successful in getting funded by them, though his GPA was not high enough to apply for DAAD. He mentioned that owing to its strong economy, Germany has a lot of funded positions. He added that it is relatively easier to get a funded position in Europe than in the USA.