Nikhil (SIEL)

Details

Name : Pattisapu Nikhil Priyatam
Research Experience(years) : 2 years
Lab: Search and Information Extraction Lab(SIEL)
Occupation: Student
Professor: Prof.Vasudeva Varma
Area of Interests:Mathematics, Machine learning
Email Id:nikhil.priyatam@research.iiit.ac.in

Motivation to pursue research

What was your intention or motivation to join a research program before you joined IIIT H? Interest,Aim and Purpose that made you pursue research program.

Ooh.... I was asked this question by the interview panel of IIIT-H.

And this was my answer.....

Because research is the only thing where you do something new everyday which the world has not seen before.To a large extent my answer is the same even today

How did you feel in your first semester when you have to select a lab and decide under which Prof. you have to work?

May be I am the first student who decided his lab (LTRC) even before joining IIIT and eventually not ending up in that lab.

When I took the courses related to LTRC I found that my interests are not in line with linguistics or even natural language processing. I liked work @ SIEL more than that of LTRC, so I joined SIEL.I choose Vasudeva Varma as my guide for MS by research

Do you want to pursue Ph.d?
Yes,I LOVE CAMPUS AND EVERYTHING ABOUT IT.
After student life, the only way I can stay in campus is by becoming a prof for which Ph D is a must.
I advice all youngsters to think about this option actively.
Imagine you kids will be playing in the best grounds of the country......

Thesis

How did you choose your thesis area?And why did you choose that particular area?
Your lab area = Thesis area,

Keep working on something, you will find something. The more you work the more and sooner you find it. There is NO secret formula for this one !!

How did you narrow down to your search(for your thesis problem)to one particular problem?
One cannot pre-plan everything.
Step 1: Trust yourself that, while working on something you will find something (an idea that will change your life). Discuss with your prof about that something and if he/she agrees it becomes your everything (at IIIT).
Step 2: Repeat step 1 until you find success.

How was your experience w.r.t paper (or thesis) writing and do have any tips that will make paper (or thesis) writing process an easy one?
1. Learn to use LATEX, its like learning a vehicle initially you will find it a bit irritating, but once you are comfortable with it, you will have an smooth journey throughout.
2. Keep writing about each and every idea that you get, a summary of each and every paper or article that you read. That is to say start writing your thesis from day one.
3. W.R.T a research paper, Accept rejection and LOVE acceptance.
4. Start paper writing process ASAP. Because the soon you write the sooner your work gets rejected and the sooner you correct it ... and the cycle goes on.

Suggestions to existing research students at IIIT H

What do you suggest for newly joined research students with regard to choosing lab and enrolling under a Prof. ?
What should students consider while choosing a lab and enrolling under a Prof. ?
Do's:
1. Take courses which can take you to multiple labs.
2. Look at the work done by each lab.
3. Interact with students of that lab and see whether you have a friendly atmosphere, I cannot breathe in a place where this condition is not met.
4. Have faith in god, that you will land up in a good place destined for YOU.

Dont's
1. Don't consider factors like how popular is my lab or guide or where can his signature on my thesis/recommendation can take me or how much industry contacts does he/she have or how experienced is my guide etc (A good teacher need not always be best guide to work with).
2. If possible, Don't think about lab funding policies i.e whether or not will I get my stipend/ how much stipend will I get etc (I do not have a moral right to say this because I was unable to follow this guideline for various reasons.)

Does regular writing of your ideas and your understanding of a concept (or a research paper) in own words help? If yes how?

If you write down your ideas periodically, by the time you start writing the paper you have 75 percent of you paper ready in an unstructured format, all you have to do is structure it.

This way you don't loose your ideas.
You can start by creating a folder called Thesis on your desktop.

How to resolve dilemma of either going for Ph.d or job?
Toss a coin, with the following convention:
Heads: Ph.d
Tails: Job
when the coin is in air think which side do you want it to flip and you will know the answer.
Note: This concept is not my innovation, I read it somewhere.

View about research at IIITH

What should be improved with regard to research culture at IIIT H ?Do suggest any change in structure of MS or Ph.d program?Why?
Anything which you felt lacking in research culture at IIITH while you were pursuing your research !!!!

Remove the pressure of getting publications from MS by research students, I feel that only helps in doing incremental research.

Put pressure on doing fundamental research and even accept set of failed approaches as an MS thesis.

In your opinion, how does environment at IIIT H helps an individual in pursuing research? Anything like freedom do it your own way, weather, green campus, ...

Yes environment @ IIIT helps a lot, dont ask me how but these are the list of things that help you to pursue your research @ IIIT.

1. Freedom
2. Greenery
3. NBH food
4. Extra curricular activities like: Sports and music
5. Canteens: You get a feel that your are doing something when you have a cup of tea with your lab-mates.
6. Library
7. Internet connection
8. Zimbra: You keep getting some stupid mail which gets you going.
9. All the seminars that DO NOT count towards attendence.
The list is endless......

How does research program at IIIT H helped in your overall growth as a responsible person(or citizen) of society(or India)?

It changed me a lot.I think we can have an essay competition on this topic.

Centre

How was your overall experience w.r.t work culture of your centre?

Good

Does discussions with fellow researchers in same centre helps? How does it help?
Importance of discussions with fellow researchers !!

DISCUSSION helps: It formalizes your own ideas and thereby helping you to frame new ideas.

Final Comments

Please quote us your favourite tagline which let you 'get going'?

'get going'

Please add anything like comments,suggestions or anything you like to share,which did not get included in the questionnaire !!!

There is nothing that this questionnaire does not include.