Hi! I am Archit Mundada, a third-year student pursuing a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering, a subsystem lead at Mars Rover Team IITB, and an ex-convener at Aeromodelling Club. I am passionate about research in general- no matter what department it is concerned with; after all, we are in a time when every project is interdisciplinary. College aside, I like to run and cycle- this allows me to rest my brain and make better decisions.
About the Internships:
So, around winter 2023, I was convinced I’d like to explore core research. A motivation that I heard from my ISMP and that I often like to tell others about is that you can explore research during your early years and not like it and then go to other fields in your final one or two years. The reverse is not valid. With this, I was fuelled by a want to explore more fields, for mechanical it has diversified so much.
Foreign internships, the way I saw and still see many people try for, are very difficult to get with funding unless the university runs a programme that provides a stipend for the selected students. I was late applying for these programs- it was around December. I looked up several universities, according to their QS ranking, and just Google searched ‘University Name’ + ‘Summer research internship program.’ I found a program hosted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (I know, that’s a handful) and another by the University of Tokyo.
I applied to both, got rejected in Tokyo, and was accepted in Shanghai. I was skeptical about this opportunity- it was only 40 days long, unpaid, and… in China.
I kept mailing professors- I checked their H-index, a grading scheme that tells how good the professor’s research is. I got a positive reply from a Professor from IISc, who agreed to take me on a 2-month long project with a small stipend.
And well, it clicked for me- I can do both these interns… with a bit of corner cutting. And this is the plan I chose to pursue- hoping to gain much knowledge about various disciplines.
To get the interns:
The process for research interns is not very complicated. You preferably need a CV with links to the proof of your points. 1-2 recommendation letters, your academic transcript, and some other government documents. Often, there are no interviews. Even if there is a meeting- it is a discussion where the professor tries to gauge and give you what is best for you.
Cold-mailing Indian professors is much more fruitful than foreign professors because they do not need to deal with visa and funding issues. My PhD guide at IISc mentioned a lack of interns for them. Thus, mailing Indian professors is often an easy way to get a research internship. Working under an IIT Bombay professor is also an option. However, other professors may be able to provide you with a good experience, as was the case with me at IISc.
The Work:
Given two very short interns, my goals were limited. At IISc, I was assigned to optimize a novel additive manufacturing process by conducting experiments.
At Shanghai, I was assigned to replicate numerical simulations of the manufacturing process of a single crystal turbine blade in Ansys Fluent.
The professor at IISc was keen to push me to compile work significant enough for a research paper. That was a big driving force for me. I got significant work done in that short span to be able to write a report and approach a journal for publication.
The work in China had a different boundary to progress- nationality. A senior official noticed my presence at the lab, where they would manufacture single crystal blade prototypes. I was not allowed to enter the lab after that day. XD.
The rest of the work was on my laptop- with the PhD students’ aid and some former knowledge of Ansys, thanks to MRT, I could complete my project one week ahead of the deadline and head back to IITB just in time.
The Experience:
At IISc, I had become a lab rat- often working 10 hours a day, at least 6 days a week. My work involved a UV laser and a lot of gooey stuff, ensuring my work would leave lifelong stains on my clothing. The experience at IISc was of real research- it isn’t as glory-filled as it is thought to be. It involves interdisciplinary knowledge, regular meetings with people in your lab, and many hours spent on your project. It is not a nine-to-five job. You must be keen to progress on your project- not many people are there to push you ahead. There are many failures every month and many moments of self-doubt.
The need for mathematical modeling, the ability to understand basic concepts, and the ability to effectively extract information from papers span across all departments. This is the essence of research- we try to understand something by experiments, model it, and then bring it to reality.
As one would expect, I had many new experiences in China that I cannot describe concisely. Going to a country that is so removed from the Western culture and a country that many don’t know the ground reality of was just an unimaginable experience. This is another aspect of foreign interns- they give you a different exposure, a shift of perspectives. You make global contacts. You learn new cultures. Specifically, the program that I went for had organized sessions for us to understand Chinese culture. From the anxiety when I first took off to the feeling of pure sadness on departing Shanghai 35 days later, I couldn’t have expected a short research internship to go better than this.
Was it worth the money spent? Yes. Foreign interns truly give college students experiences they cannot get anywhere else.
The reason I was so pulled by the thought of making my life difficult by doing two internships was getting more experience- being a jack of all trades but a master of none. I could make more informed decisions after this, and having two experiences would look great on my resume. Although this thought is somewhat true, a lengthy research experience outweighs two short research experiences. It shows that you have found the problem and gone to its depths rather than just scratched the surface of two problems. The research methodology is similar across various disciplines. Thus, in research, there aren’t many trades to master. If you are a master of one, you are pretty much the jack of all trades as well 🙂
So, if you are wondering how you should kickstart your research career, the answer is not a research intern. It is some work under an IITB professor that interests you. Give it a good shot, do some significant work. After a few months of exposure, you will be very well prepared to solve problems in any discipline. This experience can also be at a tech team. However, caution needs to be taken since most tech teams work isn’t research; it is a group of undergrads trying to figure out the best practical solution for their competition.
At last, continuing with the last section’s theme, after returning from China, I started working with an IITB professor on a project involving CFD analysis to increase room ventilation.
Some food for thought- internships need not be just 3 months long 🙂 You can weigh the pros and cons if you get a good chance to work at a reputed institute or under a reputed professor for longer than the summer vacation. It is possible to complete your degree one semester early, and it is also possible to do it one semester after your batchmates have passed.
This was a concise note about my experience, there is definitely more that I can share or help you to reach with my experience. Feel free to contact me if you have any queries!
