Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Pinned post for prospective faculty to IITs/IISc

This is a pinned post (i.e., this post will always appear at the top of this blog though newer posts appear below it) for prospective faculty to IITs/IISc. 

Please, please read this site and the old posts, here, here, here and here. There are over 1100 comments and replies to these comments in these posts. Read them carefully before you post here. 

  If you require an answer to your question, post it with a name, initials, pseudonym or anything that is distinguishable.

255 comments:

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SM said...

Two months ago my host institute forwarded my application for Ramanujan Fellowship to DST. So far I have not heard anything from DST (emailed them but no reply). Is there anyone who could say if it is DST's practice to acknowledge the receipt of an application to either the applicant or the host institute or both or none?

Is there a personal interview for Ramanujan Fellowship?

Thanks for your help.

Anonymous said...

@SM Keep checking DST website for the result on your application. Don't expect any email acknowledgement from them, before or after your selection. Remember that DST is a supremely modern organization and such organizations only reply by hard copy letters. The second option is that you can try to call them and they do respond once per 10 calls. One of these 10 conversations will provide you with some concrete information on your application. So, first buy a calling card with sufficient balance for making 100 calls. Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Hi all.. I had an interview with a metro IIX. Does any one know how long it takes before the acceptance/rejection letters are dispatched?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone received an interview call from any department in IIT Bombay in 2012? Any input would be most welcome. Thanks.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@Anon above, I have.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@anon above: what kind of inputs are you looking for? Here are some: I had my interview on 20th Jan. I will mostly likely have another interview with another department at IITB soon.

The interview was research centric. There were some ice-breakers initially, but we quickly moved on to the business at hand. I gave a 15min overview of all my work so far and thereafter the experts discussed with me the specifics of the contributions. We also spoke about the future research work. We did not discuss anything about teaching - load, courses, nothing. We did not discuss financial matters such as salary or start up.

I was very impressed with the questions asked. The experts were really experts in the field. They asked scholarly questions of the kind that one expects in a conference. They also seemed more keen to understand the contributions with clarity than to scrutinize or criticize; this led to some healthy discussions.

I came out with an impression that the institute was getting serious about research, but was not interested in determining anyone's research agenda.

I am still awaiting a formal letter of acceptance or rejection.

Dr. Ratnesh Jain said...

Regarding Inspire Interview:

Coming soon in March

Ramanujan Fellowship:

Mostly in March/April

Ramalingaswami Fellowship:

Results are announced, selected candidates will get email from DBT directly (no open list like ramanujan)

UGC-FRP: Wait 6 more months for first interview

Dr. Ratnesh Jain
Mumbai

Anonymous said...

Dear Ankur,

Thank you so much for sharing your experience. It has really helped to get an idea of what might be in store (I do realize that things vary from dept to dept, but still...).

If you don't mind my asking this, how much time the entire process (from application to interview) took? Thanks again for your time.

I do hope that you get the acceptance call soon. All the best!

- PC (Anon whose question you answered)

Chris said...

@ Dr. Ratnesh Jain,

Thanks for your information about the status of different schemes!


@ Ankur,

Thanks for sharing your interview experience at IITB in this blog. I will keep my fingers crossed for you! All the best!

Chris

Giri@iisc said...

Ankur,

I wish you the very best. I guess you have appeared before a selection committee.

However, the selection committees have not been held for all departments in IIT-B.

Best regards,

Giridhar

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@Chris Thanks!

@PC It took me about 6-7 months from the day I made my first contact (informal email introducing myself) with the department to the day I had my interview. In my case, completing the application file took about 1.5 months - the rate determining step here is how long your references take. The internal departmental processes were very quick - my application review, talk, and forwarding my application to the dean, all of this was done in 2 weeks - remember there are scheduling constraints everywhere and this can take longer.

Thereafter the dean's office took 2-3 weeks after which they were attempting to schedule an interview. The main time consuming part was in getting a suitable interview date, which took about 2.5 months. This was partly because of the Dec vacations, my own travels, a major conference etc.

This timeline and sequence applies specifically to IITB; I don't know about other places. In IITB, I think the departmental processes are most critical, since hiring decisions have been decentralised to a great extent.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Thanks Prof Giri!

Anonymous said...

Dear Ankur,

Thanks again for such a detailed description. It has been most helpful.

-PC

Anonymous said...

how long does it take for IITG to announce results after selcetion interview?

http://www.iitg.ernet.in/saswata.sh/ said...

@Anon Feb 2nd, 10:50 pm

For me, it took just two weeks after the interview.

IIT-G Faculty

Anonymous said...

Prof.Giri what do you mean when all selection committees haven't met?

Does it required for all dept committees have to be finshed before rolling out decsions?

Digbijoy Nath said...

Hi Ankur

I wish you all the very best for coming days, and wish that you get a position there !

If you don't mind, may I know which department you are applying to, and what your exact area of expertise is ?

thanks
digbijoy

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Thanks. The interview was for Systems and Control. I have applied (in fact earlier) to Industrial Engineering and Operations Research; the interview for this is yet to be scheduled.

My area is game theory, optimization and a bit in control.

Giri@iisc said...

"Prof.Giri what do you mean when all selection committees haven't met?"

All I mean that selection committees for all departments have not met. Therefore, if you have not heard from a particular department, it does not necessarily mean that you have not been shortlisted.

Giridhar

Anonymous said...

@iitmsriram

Prof Sriram, could you say when will be the next notification for recruitment of Asst. Profs. at iitm.

-aspiring_iit_faculty

Anonymous said...

Dear Prof Sriram,

When will be the next notification for the recruitment of Asst Profs at IITM.

aspiring_iit_faculty

Anonymous said...

is there any conisderation for US patents in iit selection?

iitmsriram said...

@aspiring_iit_faculty wants to know "When will be the next notification for the recruitment of Asst Profs at IITM". The next dated advertisement is likely to come out sometime in March, details are currently under discussion at department level.

And, US and any other patents do count in faculty selections and are generally treated like Journal papers.

Anonymous said...

how us patent will be equal to journal paper?

don't you think there should be different treatment towards patents?

Anonymous said...

Any updates on Ramanujam fellowship for 2012??

Anonymous said...

Any idea for faculty recruitment advertisement for IIT-D, IIT-M, and IIT-KGP?

Anonymous said...

Only first 200 comments of this post are visible. How to view the remaining?

Anonymous said...

Go to the main page of Prof. Giri's blog and click on one of the last comments to this pinned post from the sidebar. It will take you to the next (200+) comments. If you happen to visit this page regularly, then bookmark this page until the issue is sorted by Prof. Giri :)

Vijay Sethuraman said...

Alternatively, one can click on the title of the blog-post to land on its permalink. It should have a link at the bottom to comments numbered 201 and higher. Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...

HI Ankur,
did you get your selection result?

Can anyone say how much time IITG takes for final result after selection committee interview?

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Dear all and anon above,

Yes, I have received the result and have been offered an Asst Prof position at IIT-B. However there seems to be some error in the salary number quoted in the offer letter. I have one year of experience already. The letter states that it is a contract position for 2 years, but I have been offered a basic of 27,600 and an AGP of 6,000. I think the AGP figure corresponds to a candidate with no experience and I suspect. I have written to the HoD and he promptly wrote back saying he will get back to me.

I would appreciate if any one on this forum can provide me with some inputs on my situation. Particularly, would any one know if the basic of 27600 is correct?

Digbijoy Nath said...

Congratulations Ankur ! It's a nice news.

May I know if you had joined after one year of your post-doc or industry experience which you referred to ?

Ankur Kulkarni said...

zI have never worked in industry; I have one year of postdoctoral experience. I also have an additional semester of "postdoctoral level" instructor experience, although that was technically before I received my PhD.

Saswata said...

Congratulations Ankur!

I joined IITG after almost one year of post-"PhD thesis submission" and have been offered Rs. 20,900 basic plus Rs. 7,000 AGP. I am not sure of the rule, but didn't bother about it since I got selected for Ramanujan fellowship. Ankur, why don't you try that out so that your salary (once you start receiving it, say after 6-8 months of selection) would be more than the current offer anyway? Sorry for the unwanted piece of advice!

Saswata

Chris said...

Congrats Ankur!

Wish you a great career in India!

Chris

Anonymous said...

Hi All,

I requested an IIT to forward my nomination for Ramanujan fellowship. I have also accepted the offer from this IIT and am planning to join soon. Now, the IIT administration feels that either I should accept this fellowship (on being selected) or the AP position at time of joining. In other words, I can only have a visiting appointment for the duration of fellowship and loose my current offer. As I understand, the main intention of the fellowship is to attract overseas talent. I guess, the decision of administration could have come from the wording that is not clear in the call for fellowship. The exact wordings are “The candidate has to opt for either this fellowship or his present position/fellowship, if any “

With due to respect to administration, I feel that rather than looking at the win-win situation for both the institute and the candidate, this approach seems to be very discouraging. From the previous posts, I understand that IISc forwards the nomination for the Ramanujan fellowship only after the candidate is offered AP position. I guess there are several faculty members who have availed this fellowship who are also permanent faculty at some IITs and I personally know couple of them. I understand that each IIT can have its own policy for nomination. However, I am not clear what is the rational behind imposing these conditions.

Now my questions are:

• What are the difficulties in handling such type of cases? After all, IITs are autonomous institutions, correct?
• What if the candidate joins as a visiting position as a Ramanujan/ inspire fellow and performs well. If the institute wants to hire him as a permanent faculty, does he need to stop all his research and decline the fellowship in the middle to accept the AP position?
• There are professors who avail other fellowships. How does this differ from Ramanujan fellowship?

I just wanted to get clarification and opinions from the experienced people like Prof. Madras and Prof. Sriram and other previous applicants. I would appreciate if you can contribute for the benefit of prospective candidates.

Best
Frustrated soul

iitmsriram said...

@frustrated soul,

The basic administrative problem is that the Institution has to create a zero salary post for a faculty member who wants to join and avail these fellowships. The Bhatnagar, JC Bose and similar existing fellowships offer supplementary pay over the regular salary. The new breed DST / DBT fellowships (Ramanujan, Ramalingaswami and INSPIRE faculty scheme) are not supplementary but substitutes - it is either the fellowship or the salary from the Institution. Often, the fellowship is going to be more, so the fellow candidate will want to use that - and hence the zero salary post I indicate above. Many institutions have not set up the appropriate mechanisms to handle these. IITM is just doing this (after we got the first request for an INSPIRE hosting). There will be some issues which may take some time to sort out. Health insurance, for example. But it is mostly workable. DST did write to the IITs (and others) in December, giving details of the INSPIRE fellowship and the list of selected fellows with an invitation to work with DST to make these fellowships work, but many Institutions may not be ready yet.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Dear Prof Sriram and Prof Giri,

Does the AGP of 6k appear correct to you for someone with 1 yr of experience? And the basic of 27600? I would appreciate any pointers from you in this regard.

Thanks,
Ankur

iitmsriram said...

@ankur,

6000 AGP means zero experience credit; with 1 year of post-doctoral experience, you get 7000 AGP. With 3 years of (total) experience, you get 8000 AGP. As for basic, the numbers vary across IITs. Is it 27600 including the AGP or 27600 + AGP? The terminology per pay commission is pay in the pay band + grade pay = basic, but common usage is to call pay in the pay band as basic.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

In my case, pay in the band is 27600. AGP is 6k. Total with DA and TA is coming to 58144. I am quite certain the AGP is wrong.

iitmsriram said...

@ankur, it would appear you are correct. For that pay in pay band, your agp should be 7000, which would also match up with your 1 year post phd experience. If the selection committee recorded the numbers in your interview papers, it may be hard to correct (but is possible).

Anonymous said...

@Frustrated soul:
I have an offer from IIT KGP and have my Ramanujan application forwarded to the DST by my host without such either fellowship or IIT position question posed.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Prof. Sriram for detailed explanation on the difficulties of handling cases like this.

Thank you anon @6:22 PM for sharing your thoughts!

Best
FS

iitmsriram said...

anon@6:22PM please read condition (iv) of eligibility - it states "The candidate has to opt for either this fellowship or his present position/fellowship, if any".

Anonymous said...

For Ramanujan Fellowships should we contact director or HOD or any professor in IIT/IISC or any central institues

Chris said...

INSA has called for INSPIRE faculty scheme applications for the year 2012.

Here is the link, http://insaindia.org/inspire/session2012.htm

The last date under direct and nomination modes are Feb. 29, 2012. Please remember, in addition to online applications, sending hard copies to INSA is mandatory!

Best wishes,
Chris

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Thanks Saswata! Yes I will be applying to the Ramanujan fellowship. What was the time-line from the time you applied to the time you actually got the money in the bank?

Himanshu Shekhar said...

Here is an interesting article about new IITS which might be of interest to some of the readers.
http://www.iitbbs.ac.in/notice/news_1328490371.pdf

Anonymous said...

Anyone else having trouble viewing all comments?

Saswata said...

@Ankur

I applied in Aug 2011, and got selected in Oct 2011. The fellowship is supposed to start from Feb 2012. However, I am yet to get the money in my bank account. My institute says that I would start receiving it soon as they have got the cheque from DST.

In short, please expect 6-12 months of delay from the date of application to the date of receiving your first Ramanujan fellowship paycheck.

Anonymous said...

@ Ankur

Hello,

Did you appear for IITB interview in video conference or was it a direct interview?

many thanks
Bhu

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@bhu by video conference.

[KINDLY CONTINUE ON THE NEW POST MADE BY PROF MADRAS]

arunima said...

Hello Dr. Giri,
I wanted to know the referee comments for Ramalingaswami fellowship (I applied last year and did not get selected).

Is it possible?

Anonymous said...

what is the selection criteria for ramanujan fellowships....

Vimal Mishra said...

I want to apply for the Ramanujan Fellowship. I wonder if after receiving the fellowship, someone is eligible to apply for other fellowships (e.g. Von Humboldt). I would appreciate any information about this.

Thanks,
Vimal

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