Erudite Talks with Alumni-Article 2

Tarun Gangwar (2015-BTech-Civil), Graduate Student @ the University of Minnesota

Introduction

• Tell us briefly about yourself.

I am Tarun Gangwar and I was in the R-Land from 2011–2015 as an undergraduate student in the Civil Engineering Department. Apart from giving life advice to juniors in my second-third year of B.Tech, I was mostly involved with teaching based student volunteer groups. I am not sure if our efforts impacted the students in a substantial way. However, I found many like-minded friends and mentors who facilitated me as an individual and helped me in realizing professional goals in R-Land. Free-folks, something good could also come from late-night canteen bakar sessions ;). Exam night ones are the most effective ones*.

Please proceed with caution ;)

• Tell us about the University you got enrolled in for further studies

I am right now a Ph.D. candidate in the Civil Engineering program (with a minor in Mathematics) at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities, USA. Minneapolis-Saint Paul are usually famous (infamous) for the harsh bone-chilling winter. But, the cities also account for more than 80–90% of world exports in medical devices. Significant credit goes to the University’s excellent medical school and engineering school. Also, the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota has a strong reputation in the various fields of civil engineering research. The department has the world’s only fluid mechanics lab built on a river-stream (Saint Anthony Fall Lab), contributed to the development of ACI building codes, and operates in a 7-storeyed underground building !!

The decision to go for Further Studies

• When did you realize that this is what you wanted to do?

I think I first got interested in a research-based career after my research internship at the Technical University Munich. However, it was quite late for the graduate application for the following year and I wished to get more research experience. After my graduation, I worked with Prof. Bhargava in the Civil Engineering Department and that helped me from the technical skillset and maturity viewpoint for higher studies. In the same year, I applied to the graduate programs and joined the University of Minnesota in Fall 2016.

• Your motivation for giving higher studies more importance than securing a job through placements?

I didn’t intend to pursue a corporate based career in the long term. I was more inclined towards mentorship based careers either in policymaking, technological development, or industrial research. For these career paths, the first step was to go for a Ph.D. in engineering research disciplines.

• Things you finally ended up doing to land yourself at a university for further studies?

Fortunately, I was having a decent GPA when I decided to go for Ph.D. It is a very important factor, especially for Ph.D. programs. The other equally important factor is a good research experience. I did a research internship, a few course projects, a bachelor project, and one more year of a research assistantship. Apart from this, a well-prepared application is very crucial for admission. I was fortunate to have friends and mentors to guide me through the application process.

• Driving factors for the location and the University you chose?

The most important factors were matching research interests and potential advisors. During interviews, I talked with my now Ph.D. advisor in great detail on possible research opportunities in his Lab. The research themes were aligned with my interests. Also, the University is well reputed so it was not a difficult decision.

Experience

• The contrast between IIT Roorkee and your University?

I think it is probably not fair to have a direct comparison. The University of Minnesota (UofM) is a huge University with 60,000+ students and well equipped medical school, engineering school, natural sciences, social sciences, and agriculture sciences departments. IITR is primarily a tech school with about 8000 students. However, there are a few striking differences that I felt in the past few years.

Administration at the UofM is exceptionally smooth. Admissions, establishing research facilities, procuring logistics, patenting, and routine administrative work, everything is just a few clicks away with minimal interference from the administration. In IITR, almost everything was over bureaucratic. This affects the overall productivity of the institute a lot.

On the undergraduate education side, I would say IITs, in general, do very well. IIT Undergrads are highly reputed in US universities. The overall structure of the program is more or less the same at both places. However, UofM offers a wide range of electives and tailoring of your program. The evolved course structure of IIT Roorkee in the last few years is remarkable. With the flexible undergraduate thesis projects, internships, exchange programs to other IITs, and minor/honor degree options I am extremely excited and hopeful about the undergraduate research culture at IITR.

From the faculty perspective, I would say at IIT Roorkee faculties are overburdened by the teaching loads. From classes, tutorials, exams to gradings everything they need to do by themselves. There is hardly any teaching assistant support. Here, TA support to the faculty is very strong and because of that, they could handle much larger undergraduate classes. It also allows them to design courses that are mostly homework and project-based and not purely dependent on the final exam for grading. In many courses, the weightage of homework towards final grading is about 60–100%. I find this way of grading more effective than purely exam based grading. I think if graduate students could be involved more in the courses, it will lessen the teaching burden on the faculty and they will be in a better position to offer more electives.

On the faculty side, UofM, or in general any top US University is very good at the student to faculty ratio. While IITR or any other IIT lack on this point. If I remember correctly, each year every faculty needs to mentor 4–5 M.Tech. students, 3–4 B.Tech students for their thesis alongside with their Ph.D. Students. Here, at one time even bigger groups have a total of 5–8 students (may vary across discipline).

From the research opportunity perspective, interdisciplinary research is highly encouraged and effortless here. The boundaries between the departments mostly do not exist. I myself was lucky to work with plant geneticists, mathematicians, and medical experts.

The social life at IITR is excellent. I still miss that.

In the initial year, it takes a little time to settle down in a new culture. I think Ph.D. Is more or like a test match at foreign turf and the initial semester is like a first session of the match. It can be bouncy and uneven. One just needs to give a little time to adjust to new conditions.

The quality of a Ph.D. in each aspect is highly dependent on the advisor. For all the aspirants, I advise you to keep this point in mind.

Concluding Paragraphs

• Key Takeaways

For me, going for a Ph.D. has been a very good decision (till now!!). I would suggest to IITR people to seriously consider this option. Talk with your professors, seniors, and discuss the whys and hows.

• Future plans

In the long term, I wish to pursue an academic career in India. After Ph.D., I intend to work on the R&D side either in an industrial or academic setting.

• Advice to the campus junta

Talk with your professors about what you intend to do. They love to mentor and guide you. This is probably the most important thing I did. Also, involve yourself in one of the activities you like at the IITR, not for having few lines in CV but to allow yourself to grow.

LinkedIn ID:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarun-gangwar/