The CoStAAn of Department of Paper Evaluation and Presentation (PEP), Ishpreet Singh Sood, was approached by the APOGEE English Press for a short interview. Amidst his hectic schedule, he took some time off to share the ongoing fest work undertaken by his department.

This year, PEP will host four events—Think Again Conclave, Entrepreneurship Conclave, Papyrus Trails, and Paper Presentation.

Ishpreet was particularly excited about Papyrus Trails this year. He expects it to be ‘much bigger and better than ever’ with a lineup of promising events that will improve engagement. One of the invited speakers is Dibakar Banerjee, who will be releasing his film before its commercial release for the audience at BITS Pilani. Further, the Entrepreneurship and Think Again Conclave will feature four to five speakers.

Paper Presentation is an event that has been running for over 40 years. Students from all over the country submit research papers and present them to a panel of professors in a competition. The winners get an opportunity to pursue their research further, in collaboration with the judging professors.

Isphreet was confident that the number of papers presented by BITSians would be higher this year. They organised a workshop to help students understand the complexities of writing an abstract for a research paper. They also established an instant feedback loop so that professors could provide direct feedback to students, hence bridging the gap between them. 

Ishpreet highlighted some significant challenges his team faced in preparation for APOGEE. He mentioned that the competition gets significant participation from southern parts of India, and getting them to campus proves difficult. Even though most participants prefer travelling by train they eventually hesitate due to the long journey. He also mentioned that it was challenging to work at full strength as the junior batch had a calendar that was lagging behind.

When asked about his advice for the students who want to participate in the event, he said, ‘Fill out the form! There is no barrier and nothing to be ashamed of.’ Ishpreet further put emphasis on the Paper Presentation event with the opinion that the rigour proves to be a motivating factor eventually. He argued against working on a research paper merely for a good grade, suggesting that events like these are an excellent opportunity for students to leave their comfort zone and explore the research field. Although writing a paper takes a lot of character, time, and patience, it also sets them up for a fruitive learning curve.

On a closing note, Ishpreet was grateful for his journey and experiences as a CoStAAn. He thanked his fellow CoStAAns, describing them as ‘wonderful people’. He gained a lot of insights about himself and the functioning of the fest. For future events of APOGEE, he would like to see a few positive changes in the structure of the events. He also hoped Papyrus Trails would scale to new heights in the times to come.