Thursday, March 1, 2012

Pinned post for prospective faculty to IITs/IISc

This is a pinned post for prospective faculty to IITs/IISc. Please, please read this site and the old posts, here, here, here, here, and here. There are over 1400 comments and replies to these comments in these posts.

206 comments:

1 – 200 of 206   Newer›   Newest»
Anonymous said...

I had an Interview today with IIT indore. I do not know how long will it take to know the results. But, I just wanted to share my experiences. The first day was 20 min talk which was indeed very less time to squeeze your research acheivements. The second day was interview ans was also 20 min. People in the interview committee were different form the seminar and I'm most displeased with the behavior. Selection committee randomly spking to each other while I was answering, one just left the place and appeared at the end asking If I have any quesions. This was for Physics I had 6 years of working on laser plasma, to my surprise a expert asked about BCS theory in Superconductivity. One was asking about innovative undergrad exps which I think could not be thought in a flip of a sec,,,Most displeased with the attitude. Finally I asked about the available facilitites and was asked to refer to website.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon February 14, 2012 3:53 PM

IIT Indore already fixed the candidates much before the interview and conducted it just as eyewash fooling innocent candidates like us!

Anonymous said...

Is this real news that Indore already selected the candidates much before the interview process???

Anonymous said...

Hi this is about IITG, did anyone got selection results for the year 2012? especially this month?

Normally, they say it takes 2 weeks to get results, any comments?

Anonymous said...

do IITs inform the unsucessful applicants?

Anonymous said...

Hi All,

For Asst. Prof post in IITs, does the industry experience count if a candidate has worked for 3-4 years in corporate sector before pursuing Ph D ? Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Dear Professors/academics,

I have a question. I will be joining a metro IIT as assistant prof (contractual basis) in a few months. During my interview, I had not completed 3 years of post doc experience. But, at the time of getting the job offer, I took up another postdoc and have currently completed more than three years experience. Based on this, can I petition a claim to IIT once I join for one or more of the following possibilities:

1) promoting to assistant professor (without contractual basis)
OR
2) claim increments for my experience, because at this point, the AGP is a little low.

If any of the above is possible after joining, (of course with relevant proof of employments/certificates), Could you please explain how I could go about it.

Looking for your kind advice,

Chris said...

@ Anon February 16, 2012 4:23 AM

IITs or any IIXs mostly do not inform the unsuccessful candidates after the interview. But you may get an answer if you email or call to the director/HOD. They may not divulge the reason or the names of the selected candidates, but can tell a yes or no.

Chris

Anonymous said...

@chirs

I have written to HOD, he told me to ask faculty affairs? what does this mean?

Anonymous said...

write to dean, faculty affairs

Anonymous said...

@anon

Why? HOD wouldn't know about the selection?

Anonymous said...

It is utterly disappointing to know IITs have no couretsy to inform the candidates about the selection results?

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Hi all,

I wanted to get some thoughts of recently joined IIT faculty on their experience, specifically about graduate students. How do you find the students? Are they hard working and sincere? Are they stimulating to work with? Are they competent enough to autonomously pursue their research?

When I check the webpages of graduate students at IITs, I am often unimpressed. They don't look professional or serious and their publications are of barely passable (sometimes embarrassing) quality.

Critically speaking, this is actually expected. It is wishful thinking on the part of IITs to expect even above average students without improving their global ranking. Why would an above average student even apply to a 200 ranked university (or department or group), unless out of some compulsion?

But I want to know the ground reality that recent hires have faced.

Thanks,
Ankur

Anonymous said...

@Ankur: I can see where you are coming from. I had asked similar questions a long time ago and eventually got too scared to take the plunge.

I believe that in order to be highly productive at any of the IITs/IISc (or in fact the vast majority of Universities around the world) you need to be able to work with what you have. In my experience, at such institutions you should have sufficient energy to micro-manage your research group on a daily basis and ensure that all graduate students have clear targets and milestones. I am afraid that you will only very rarely find good grad students (especially in theoretical aspects of engineering science) who are comfortable with open-ended research problems.

The situation is somewhat different in mathematics and the basic sciences where the quality of graduate students attending the IIXs is relatively much better. I know several academics in the maths dept at IITB who have consistently pushed their graduate students to carry out first-class research which is often published in the best journals for that field. For the kind of research problems that you are working on, I would advise you to look at attracting grad students from the maths department for PhD studies.

Most of the productive and world-class academics in engineering departments (for example, NK Naik, T Kant at IITB) could get even undergraduate students to write good quality research papers.(*) I attribute this to the fact that these guys are extremely well organized and structure byte-sized research projects keeping in mind the students they are working with.

There are a number of outstanding researchers in Indian Universities (including our host). While most of them modestly attribute their success to their students I think there is much more to it than that. They have the "true grit" and that's all you need to make it work where ever you are.

Best wishes,

Anon Uncle

(*) I have heard that the UG program at IITB has changed dramatically in recent years and most students don't bother to do final year projects anymore. So my example is probably no longer relevant.

Anonymous said...

"Why would an above average student even apply to a 200 ranked university (or department or group), unless out of some compulsion? "

The same could be asked for faculty. Why would an above average faculty not get a faculty position in US but have to join a 200 ranked university unless out of some compulsion.

The average quality of faculty in IITs is less than what you would find in the 200 ranked universities. So, you can not better find better students than that.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@Anon above, I don't think you got the point I was making. When choosing a place of study a potential graduate student usually bases his decision on ranking of the university. This is universal fact; UGs typically don't have enough knowledge to carefully select a group or a program and in many cases they do not know what they want. Rankings become a safe bet.

They also see webpages of universities and faculty. IIT faculty webpages are so bad to look at, they are like slums of the internet world. They are outdated, with a grim picture of the faculty (often not even facing the camera), sometimes silly animations and sometimes images that are shabby, pixelated and wrongly scaled. On the other hand, the trashest of universities in the US hire a professional photographer to photograph all faculty and students. So their pictures on webpages have them smiling, looking happy, well-dressed etc. All of this attracts other faculty, students, consultancy opportunities and recruiters.

On the contrary a faculty chooses a place to work in a more nuanced way, considering ranking too, but also considering other things. So the logic of ranking doesn't directly apply to faculty.

Chris said...

@ Anon uncle,
I liked reading your comments and hope it would be useful for many future faculties. Thanks for sharing them here.

Chris

anon said...

@Anon Uncle

Thanks for very nice points!

Anonymous said...

anyone had been communicated about IIT Indore faculty selection results?

Anonymous said...

@ Anon February 16, 2012 4:23 AM

You need to call the HOD. They cannot let you know in writing whether you have been selected or not until the decisions of the selection committee have been approved by the higher-ups (might take several weeks). On the other hand, if you call, they might just tell you. So I am not sure if Dean Faculty Affairs will reply to your email at this point. Good luck!and

Anonymous said...

@Ankur,

So your point is "let us hire a good photographer in India to have a James Bond style picture on faculties and students profile"? This is not you, anybody who is in US sees these things..Why do not you offer solutions instead of questioning? Why dumb students perform excellent in US? do you think they have to do it?..Many reasons..I would not limit it to one...Summary: Do not compare India (curse faculty/students)at this point of time..however, do not forget to compare in coming years...Things have started changing..Good luck for your students and profile search.
In Favor of Faculty and Students..!!

Anonymous said...

@ Anon,
You are correct, i have written to HOD and then faculty affairs, no answers from faculty affairs (IITG)

The interviews have finished like 3 weeks ago, any heads up on this.

Anonymous said...

> .....
> IIT faculty webpages are so bad to look at, they
> are like slums of the internet world.

Ouch!

> sometimes silly animations

Ouch!! That one really hurt. After a few years of living in the west you have clearly become incapable of appreciating IIT website design aesthetics.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@Anon February 17, 2012 7:50 PM

I was not questioning. My post was an answer to another question and I was describing how rankings and websites contribute to where students choose to go for graduate study.

But since you are asking for solutions, the solutions for websites are obvious. Good looking websites aren't hard or expensive to make. There are tons of open-source webdesign tools or templates available. If one decides to use google sites (like I do), the process is easy, intuitive and free. One only has to spend some time and apply one's mind in actually making them. It is a bit of labour of love, like decorating one's home or office. And if you don't have ideas, you can always look up webpages from around the world. Hiring a photographer should also be possible; people do it in schools for class photographs and for weddings all the time.

Think about it, what is stopping people from having up-to-date and nice looking webpages? Why aren't people putting in that little bit of labour, not for altruistic reasons, but for their own sake. I am not expecting any high-end infrastructure or university buildings akin to 5-star hotels. But, good looking websites? Surely we can make those!

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@Anon Uncle. I think that was a very sagely advice. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Ankur,

Your point on website is very valid.

There are several faculty in IIX who do not even believe in having websites. They say "we are famous, why do we need websites".

Prof. TA

Anonymous said...

Website, Homepage..Guys..what is happening to you all...Now comparison of IIT vs USA..on home page..Funny...It seems "let come and compare these system from top to bottom"..which is very easy job to do..I believe...

Vimal Mishra said...

@ Anon above
What is funny about it? Having a good web page is not that difficult, and often it is very helpful for students and others. Should we not start anything from our own because systems in US and in India are very different (and we can not compare them "top to bottom")?

Anonymous said...

@ankur,

i am dying to see your website and how will you pick up the top notch students

Anonymous said...

Go green. I agree with website concept. I appreciate inputs

Anonymous said...

To whom it may concern:

Not correct to say IIT students' quality is poor: IIT director

Check link below:

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-interview-with-iit-madras-director-bhaskar-ramamurthi/20111129.htm

Anonymous said...

OK, let's not pick on Ankur for pointing out what is unfortunately true....The websites of many institutes in India do look unprofessional. It is only recently that the IISC website had a facelift. And why blame only the IIXs? The website of DST is one of the worst (If they are dying to put pictures of people on the first page, why put pictures of ministers and not of scientists?) To be fair though, some academics do maintain decent updated personal webpages. I believe we can start by making small changes instead of getting philosophical whenever someone points out something uncomfortable.

Anonymous said...

Please close website issue and give me something on prospective faculty updates..IITian (faculty and students) know what to do or not..better..shut west OFF.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Please, there is nothing "western" about having good looking webpages. See this page for e.g..
http://www.met.iitb.ac.in/~pritap/index.html
It is a faculty page and is pleasant to look at.

Please don't abstract this to something cultural. That would be like Lalit Bhanot's excuse for failing to do basic cleaning and jhadu-pochcha at the commonwealth games "Indians have lower standards of cleanliness." It is neither fair nor accurate.

Anyway, my original question was about students. It would be great if some recent faculty can share their experiences of working with their students.

Anonymous said...

@ Ankur, 11:58 am,

Finally nice to know your definition of a good webpage. You have chosen a perfect example of a webpage which has nothing but the photo of the adviser. No details of research, no details of facilities, publications, projects, students........... I know you will have one or the other argument for it but strictly speaking, I do not think anybody would find any fascination for joining that faculty exclusively from that website just because it uses "cool" graphics with fancy background. If you think having flowers in the background instead of "creepy poor technical graphics or animation" is impressive then I would say "buck up"

Anonymous said...

Whereas I agree with most of those posting in favor of a website, I think we should also analyze the differences between the US and India. Clearly, there is a one sided flux. Students from all over the world go to the US for grad school. It not the case with India. So for a student applying from India, the only way to know about a faculty is the webpage. Further, the faculty-student relations are entirely different in India and the US. Whereas you need to take appointment with your own adviser to see him once a month, you can barge in the office (even homes in some cases) of the adviser in India. It is this personal relation in India which basically eliminates the need of projecting yourself or your projects. Therefore, many of the faculty members do not bother to have webpages.

An for those who think that the faculties at IIX's do not good webpages because they do not know how to make one, just a reminder, these are the same people who have been trained in the US, maintained the webpages for the advisers in the US and communicate in international journals on a regular basis. So they do not have (good) websites because they do not bother to have one.

- Postdoc in the US

Anonymous said...

@ankur kulkarni

since the students at IITs are well below average and incapable of doing research, maybe you can avoid taking students for the first few years(unless forced to do so by higher authorities). maybe you can take a few undergrads as they would be of superior quality.

since IITs are so lowly ranked and since collaboration rarely happens in IITs and also since research output of IITs is well below par, you can also take it easy on the research, since once appointed a prof's job is fixed for life. if asked during the first few years regarding your research output, you can always say funding problems/lack of motivated students/setting up lab, etc

maybe you can bring a collapsible cot into your room and nap when feeling tired, like most of the profs at IITs do anyway during their working hours. you can also buy a good set of speakers, and a 25 inch monitor which seems to adorn most of profs rooms nowadays. maybe some funky artwork pictures also will do

saswata said...

People seem to have resigned themselves to the fact that IITs would always have low-quality PhD students and high-quality B.Tech students. Nobody talks about measures to attract better PhD students. Here are some suggestions, though administration would probably ignore such suggestions:

-Higher salary for PhD students (no upper cap, say, each faculty arranges industry funding for his student, which will top-up the low govt salary)

-An innovative way to motivate MTech students to join the PhD programme, e.g., a roadmap to enable them finishing PhD within 5 years of joining the institute after their under-graduation.

-Innovative summer programme for BTech students. Say, the "high-quality" BTech students get paid for doing some work in a lab along with the PhD students during the summer.

Digbijoy Nath said...

Saswata,

I think Prof. Gautam Barua once wrote in this thread that stipend/salary to PhD students HAVE to fixed by government (DST, MHRD etc.) and so the IIT admin, even though it might want to, can not increase the stipend of PhD students. In this country, we have no limits to earning money by corruption, but of course we have serious limits to paying money for good and useful work...


Grad students in USA too get a fixed stipend (base on location of course since state-based tax is so different there), but with a $ 1600 per month in an area like Charlotte or Columbus or with a $ 2700-$3000 per month stipend in California, a grad student can manage to live decently....what I've heard is (not 100% sure) that PhD students in IITs get paid so low that they can not save any money at all ! Besides, they have to pay fees !!!..if at least that part is removed (i.e. PhD students need not pay fees), then my guess is that we'd see a surge in more motivated students joining PhD in IITs.

Anonymous said...

@Anon February 19, 2012 10:02 PM

> maybe you can bring a collapsible cot into your
> room and nap when feeling tired, like most of
> the profs at IITs do anyway during their working
> hours.

I bet you are a senior prof with a plush office - lucky you. As a contract AP, my office is too small for even a collapsible cot and I have to make do with a ragged sleeping bag that I bought ages ago for a trip to Yellowstone.

> you can also buy a good set of speakers, and
> a 25 inch monitor which seems to adorn most
> of profs rooms nowadays. maybe some funky
> artwork pictures also will do.

26" monitors are totally 2005. I would advise opting for a 30" 2560x1600 monitor with < 10ms response time and 7.1 surround sound. Armed with a top-notch graphics card and a beefy CPU you are all set in your pursuit of excellence in games such as COD: Black Ops. Happy days! Who gives a banana about student quality.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@Digbijoy I read in the Indian Express that IIT B has started/plans to start a way of topping up salaries of PhD students. So there is possibly a way.

I am actually somewhat confused by these bounds that people mention. Isn't this only a matter of accounting? Eventually, if the institute accounts show that only as much as is sanctioned by MHRD is paid from the MHRD account, the rest (top-up) can come from anywhere, and the MHRD should not be bothered. Similarly paying a portion of the overhead back to the faculty should not bother DST, as long as the accounts show that DST is not directly charged. Are there no legal means whatsoever of doing this or has no one tried to get creative with the accounts?

Anonymous said...

Saswata and Digbijoy,
PhD students in IITs can also get additional remuneration by assisting their supervisor for the consultancy projects. My and other colleagues several PhD students earn (per month) close or more than an Asst. Prof. in IITs. So the system is already existing. But ofcourse, for that the supervisor must have both large consultancy and research projects so that more PhD students join him/her and can earn much more than their scholarship. In metro IITs and big Engg. departments this scenario is very common. So these students not only save money during PhD but even run happy married family life.

Digbijoy Nath said...

Oh.. that's really a very nice news ! Thanks for letting me know about the possibility of increasing the pay of PhD students in IITs.

Digbijoy Nath said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Digbijoy Nath said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
saswata said...

Currently, the method of topping-up the PhD salary in IITs is ad-hoc. For example, it depends on the upper bound set by the particular IIT, availability of consultancy projects by a faculty, etc. In most cases, this gets decided by the time a student finishes 2/3 years in the PhD programme.

What we need is the possibility of advertising a higher PhD salary well before the admission process itself. Say, a faculty should be able to advertise on his webpage that

"The salary would INR X for the first 1/2/3 years. The same salary would be paid for the remaining 4/3/2 years of the programme provided the funding is renewed (which means the student would need to work hard). However, if this funding doesn't get renewed for some reasons, one is always guaranteed to receive the current 16K-18K govt salary."

Finally, I have found it ridiculous that IITs agree to 20-23K as PhD salaries from industrial fellowships (moreover, the current rules stops the govt salary as soon as a student receives such a fellowship). The IITs should negotiate higher fellowship amount from these companies who pay five times as much to undergraduate students, and then increase their brand values by paying such peanuts to PhD students.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Why do IITs set an upper bound on the top-up? Isn't a lower bound more meaningful? What is the justification for an upper bound?

Digbijoy Nath said...

What ? Plagiarism and Prof CNR Rao ? Do you know what you're talking about, Mr. Anonymous ?

Chris said...

I got an email from DST reg. INSPIRE faculty award. The fellowship would be Rs. 80,000 a month with 3.3% increment each year for a period of 5 years.

I have an offer from an IIT for a regular position (non-contract) and they have already agreed to host my INSPIRE award.

Should I opt for the salary from IIT (~ 66,000) or the fellowship from INSPIRE? I am not clear if INSPIRE would be considered similar to Ramanujan?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Chris, congratulations!

80k is actually a superb amount. The DST advertisement states that INSPIRE provides an amount equivalent to assistant prof in IIT - isn't what you have actually higher? Or does 80k include HRA? How many years of experience do you have and which IIT has made you the offer of 66k?

Digbijoy Nath said...

Congrats Chris !

May I know what your area of specialization is ?

thanks

Ratnesh said...

Hi Chris

Congrats.

Any indication about income tax?

Ratnesh

Chris said...

@ Ankur,
Thanks! I was surprised when I saw the letter. I didn't expect the fellowship to be 80k per month.

There is no mention about HRA and I presume 80k is consolidated.

I have about 5 years of postdoc experience and got the offer from a non-metro IIT. The pay scale mentioned is PB3: 30000+8000(AGP)+1140(one advanced increment)=39140 (basic) and gross pay is ~66k.


@ Digbijoy,
My area of specialization is experimental physical chemistry.


@ Ratnesh,
No idea about income tax.


Regards,
Chris

Anonymous said...

Hi Chris,

Many Congratulations.
Did you get this by Direct mode of application ?

saswata said...

Congrats Chris!

I heard that Ramanujan, Ramalingaswami, Inspire, Swarnajayanti, Bhatnagar awards/fellowships are taxable because they don't lead to any degree. In contrast, PhD/undergraduate/school level scholarships/fellowships are non-taxable because they lead to degrees. Is it true?

Chris said...

@ Anon February 21, 2012 7:45 PM
Yes, I applied through the direct mode without a host institute. After getting selected, I requested the IIT that offered me a position (in the meantime) to host the Inspire award.

@ Saswata,
Thanks! Your point sounds logical, although I do not know if it is true.

How about the postdoctoral schemes, such as D.S.Kothari of UGC and Scientist's pool scheme of CSIR? Are they taxable since they do not lead to a degree?

Chris

Anonymous said...

Hi Chris,

Many thanks for your response. Just Uploaded the Inspire form online. When they will ask for references?

Bhu

iitmsriram said...

Here is the current minimum (ignoring the contractual and taking the regular appointment) pay at a Metro IIT for an Assistant Professor

Basic = 30000 + 8000 = 38000
DA @65% from 1.1.2012 = 24700
HRA @ 30% = 11400
TA @ 3200+DA = 3200*1.65 = 5280
Gross = 79380

As INSPIRE is supposed to give this, they are rounding off and giving 80000. If you are at a non-metro IIT, the 80K fellowship will be more than the AP salary as the HRA will be less. If you opt for quarters (and the host gives you), the HRA will go, so the AP salary will definitely be less attractive. The annual increment on INSPIRE is 3.3% while the AP salary will have 3% increment on the basic plus the increase in DA; given current DA increase rates, the AP salary will grow faster. Also, you may have to think about medical and retirement benefits which will come with the AP package, but may not be the same with the fellowship.

Anonymous said...

I applied INSPIRE through Institutional Nomination mode. I guess results are not yet declared. Anybody have any information about INSPIRE Institutional Nomination mode. When results will be declared?

-PP

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Thanks iitmsriram. When I first read about the INSPIRE scheme, I thought it was dumbly conceived; if the intention was to "attract" any one to these positions how could it be possible if the pay promised was the same as that of an asst prof?

I think they should clearly advertise that the pay is in fact equal to that of an asst prof, inclusive of HRA, and HRA will be given even if the person avails of quarters. Then one can do the calculations and see if it makes sense to apply. Also, when permanent positions become more attractive, one can always shift to them.

Chris said...

@ Prof. Sriram,
Many thanks for your inputs. I too feel that it is better to have a regular position than just being a fellow.

At the same time I was also wondering if there may exist a possibility for the institution to create a zero salary post (with regular benefits) for those that want to avail fellowships such as Ramanujan/Ramalingaswamy/INSPIRE etc. You had once mentioned about this in your comment (Feb. 10, 2012 11:19 PM). It would be good if you can share how IITM dealt with this administrative issue.

Of course, I need to check if such a thing is possible at my IIT or not.

I am aware that many IIX provide free quarters and medical benefits to Ramanujan/Ramalingaswwmy fellows. I am not sure if the same conditions are applicable for INSPIRE.

Thanks once again for your information.

Chris

Anonymous said...

This is called experience..Hats off to you Prof. Madras. You have compared things exactly right. I hope it would allow many of us to think clearily. I appreciate it.

Anonymous said...

The most attractive part of inspire fellowship is the research money of 35 L in 5 years.

Inspire salary is particularly attractive for talented fresh PhDs who would be normally offered AP contract positions at IIX (~45 K). For regular AP positions, as Prof Sriram pointed out, the salary itself does not appear great. More so when you add 10% contribution from the employer to your NPS account for regular APs and consider the temporary nature of appointment with inspire.

Anonymous said...

what about the Institutional mode selection of INSPIRE faculty scheme? Did they announce the interview dates?

yf said...

@chris,

Thanks for sharing info on Inspire fellowship.

IIX should provide equivalent benefits (as given to Ranmanujan fellows) to Inspire fellows as well. One argument for this would be that Inspire fellowship is
for research only. In addition to research, you would also be teaching, and will undertake additional departmental responsibilities as well.

The fact that you won a competitive fellowship (my congratulations, in particular for the direct mode!), should allow you to avail additional benefits (like additional salary). Transparency regarding this will only encourage more candidates to apply for the fellowships and which in turn will make the fellowships more competitive and prestigious.

anon said...

@Chris

Congratulations on being selected for INSPIRE fellowship. If I am right, it is possible to have a zero salary position where salary comes from a fellowship like inspire or Ramanujan but everything else (i.e., start up, medical facilities, PF, etc) is same as being a regular faculty. In addition, you can get free quarters from your host institute. If you add all that up, INSPIRE does pretty well even for a metro (80k + free housing!), in fact better than both Ramanujan and Ramalingaswami fellowships in terms of salary as well as contingency.

I was told before joining IISc that something like that is possible. I will now have to wait and find out how it will actually work out!

Chris said...

@ yf,
Thanks for your message.

@ Vishu,
Thanks for your inputs. I will check about the possibility of a zero salary position at my future institute.

I am also puzzled to know, how come a less selective INSPIRE provides a larger package than a highly selective Ramanujan or Ramalingaswami. Perhaps, these R-fellowships may be updated soon.

In addition to higher salary and contingency, INSPIRE awardees are permitted to undertake visits to any national/international institutions for research and training up to max 18 months during the 5 year period.

Regards,
Chris

Anonymous said...

Inspire was conceived when the salary was 60 K for IIT asst prof. Therefore, it was lesser than Ramanujam etc.

Inspire is not a permanent position. People holding Ramanujam etc. are normally holding a permanent position.

IISc does create zero salary position for ramanujam etc but not for inspire (so far).

Anonymous said...

Webpages are created to attract students (mostly). In India (IIT/IISc etc.), students are taken by the department and alloted to faculty by HoD etc. In many departments, it is neither the choice of the faculty or students but they come together by the HoD..like an arranged marriage.

Anonymous said...

" How do you find the students? Are they hard working and sincere? Are they stimulating to work with? Are they competent enough to autonomously pursue their research?"

As a newly joined faculty in a metro IIT, if you change the word above from students to faculty..I can surely say that NO to most cases.

iitmsriram said...

About the zero salary appointment, IITM has just enabled this. Some things will not be the same as regular faculty members. Other institutions may work out different details; here are some highlights of the IITM solution. Since the fellowship holder is not a regular employee and is actually drawing zero salary, participation in any retirement scheme is not possible. The fellowship holder is treated like a visiting faculty otherwise - so housing and medical facilities will be like a visiting faculty, meaning, a bit restricted compared to regular appointees.

anon said...

@Chris,

If you accept a regular position, the leave rules of your host institute may override those of the fellowship. Just check with your host. But you do get sufficient leave to travel even with a regular asst. professor position. In fact, I won't be able to use much of it because I am sufficiently busy in building an exciting new lab!

saswata said...

@Chris

My understanding is that Ramanujan or Ramalingaswami fellowships are worth Rs. 75K per month excluding HRA/housing (which the institute is supposed to provide). Inspire gives you 80K per month including HRA, and therefore it's only marginally less attractive than Ramanujan. (You possibly pay income tax only on your salary minus HRA, whereas you pay tax on the entire 75K amount for Ramanujan fellowship.)

Chris said...

@ Prof. Sriram,
Thanks very much for detailing the zero salary appointment of IITM. I have written to my host IIT if there exists a possibility. However, after reading the terms of the INSPIRE fellowship in closer detail, I am a bit skeptical, as it is mentioned that the fellowship will be discontinued the day the awardee joins a permanent position.

Personally, I am not convinced with the IITM version of zero salary appointment, which will be more like a visiting faculty and not at par with a regular faculty. Nevertheless, it is good to know and thanks for sharing the highlights.


@ Vishu,
Thanks for your inputs regarding leave rules! All the best for building your exciting new lab!


@ Saswata,
Thanks for your info on R-fellowships. If I may know, how much do you pay as tax on your Ramanujan fellowship?

Regards,
Chris

Ratnesh said...

@Chris
According to my information, It may not be possible to join on a permanent post alongwith INSPIRE. The best deal for you to accept the permanent position and avail the 7 lakh contingency from INSPIRE. In addition your IIT may offer you start-up grant.

All the Best

Ratnesh

Ratnesh said...

INSPIRE INTERVIEW
Month: March
Mode: VC/Personal (who are in India)
Contact: Ms. Shabnam Shukla, INSA
@Applicants: Please check your mailbox.

saswata said...

@Chris

The income tax will be on INR 9 lakh annual salary, as per the Indian government tax calculator for a particular financial year. I have not paid any tax so far, simply because I have not yet received any salary from Ramanujan Fellowship.

This is something you might keep in mind: If you join an IIT with a permanent position, you are on the payroll as soon as you join, but please don't assume any such commitment from DST. You might start getting paid 6 months/1 year later.

Anonymous said...

Ramanujan Fellowship results for December 2011 can be found here:
www.serc-dst.org/RamanujanFellowshipDec2011.pdf

Anonymous said...

Thank you Ratnesh,
Which INSPIRE interview you are talking about: Session 2012? Or you are talking about institutional nomination mode?
-PP

Ratnesh said...

@INSPIRE interview for Institutional mode

@Ramanujan: This results shows almost 50% selection rate in Ramanujan...Kudos to the selected candidates [My wife is one of them, I am happy :)]

Anonymous said...

I have been noticing for the last two years that Ramanujan Fellowship is not given to people who have already moved back to India before they have applied. Does anyone know of this ?

Chris said...

@ Ratnesh,
Thanks for your suggestion. I am planning to do the same. All the best for your VC interview! Congrats to your wife on her Ramanujan selection.

@ Saswata,
Thanks for your information on income tax and clarifying the distinction between a permanent position and a fellowship position.

@ Anon February 23, 2012 5:49 PM
Yes, I have also been noticing the same trend in the past 3 Ramanujan selections. Are these R-fellowships only to attract talents that are still abroad and not to encourage the talents that have already returned to serve our country?

Chris

Anonymous said...

@ratnesh. How are you sure that it's for institutional mode. The website has only details for video conferencing interviews.

iitmsriram said...

@chris, yes, the IITM appointment is essentially a visiting faculty appointment. You cant be appointed to a regular position without being interviewed by a selection committee (actually, this would apply to all IIX) and the IITM hosting is based on a departmental recommendation not involving any selection committee. Of course, one can apply against the annual advertisement for regular faculty recruitment ...

Chris said...

@ Prof. Sriram,
Thanks very much for your clarification.

Chris

Anonymous said...

I was wondering about if the Ramanujan Fellowship recipients can avail it at a different institute Y, while he/she was nominated by X institute?

Obviously if the Y institute wants to host the fellowship.

Anonymous said...

@ Anon February 25, 2012 3:49 PM

Yes, it is possible. Ask your Y institute about the procedures of availing your fellowship there.

techman said...

Me and my wife are also thinking of applying to new IIXs for faculty positions. We are already faculties in Metro IIX, but want to move to a smaller city. Also there is a strong desire to join a growing institute as we believe that we can find more opportunities to participate in the growth of the institute.
So for this, we started contacting new IIX to ask about the possibilities. We did not get a single IIX, which showed any proactive attitude towards faculty recruitment. We gave our introductions and also sent our CVs (which are better than their existing faculties), yet no enthusiasm was to be seen from the IIX side. This has given us a very clear idea why these new IIX have not been able to attract faculties despite carrying the IIX brand. They must be getting a lot of quality applications but there is no sense of urgency from their side. Every single IIX we contacted, gave us the same boring answer of applying to their "rolling advertisement" and we will be contacted only if shortlisted and then again no time-frame was given.

Anonymous said...

Has anybody got interview call for Inspire Fellowship Institutional mode recently ?

Anonymous said...

In a reply to an earlier comment, Prof Madras once wrote that the contingency grant of Ramanujan fellowship can be retained without opting for its 75K salary. This fact, however, is not mentioned in the Ramanujan fellowship advertisements and guidelines, at least not as clearly as it is stated in INSPIRE fellowship advertisement. I want to know for sure if it is indeed possible. It would be useful if someone shares a real life situation where this was done.

@IITMSriram - In IIT-M do you provide the IIT seed money and HRA to Ramanujan fellows from the IIT funds?

Did DST ever publish the list of past Ramanujan fellows with their host insititue/university?

Thanks...

iitmsriram said...

@anon Feb27@2:13pm,

IITM treats hosted fellows as visiting faculty, so they don't get seed grant; also, as a zero salary appointment, they are not eligible for HRA either. However, fellows have a choice of getting appointed as visiting faculty with pay (with the recommendation of the hosting department), in which case they can draw HRA as eligible. I will give the short answer to what actually your question is - no, IITM does not have any provision for supplementary funding / payments for fellows (Ramanujan, Ramalingaswamy or INSPIRE). If you want IITM pay / funding, you have to get a regular or visiting IITM appointment (and forego the fellowship, but retain the annual research grant as per the terms of the fellowship).

Anonymous said...

@Ratnesh: How are you planning to connect for the VC interview for Inspire? Its not clear to me what they mean by the VC facility nearest to your location?

Rahul

Ratnesh said...

@Rahul

I am relocated to Mumbai and will be attending the interview personally.

Ratnesh

Anonymous said...

@Anon,February 19, 2012 9:27 PM and Ankur, Feb 18,11:58

I visited the website(http://www.met.iitb.ac.in/~pritap/index.html)
suggested by Ankur and was impressed with the efforts. The owner claims that she is in the process of developing it so its not a good idea to criticise her. Luckily, I came across another website (https://sites.google.com/site/plasticoptoelectronicslab/home) maintained by another lady Prof. at the same MEMS department of IITB and that looks good..Looks like ladies are showing us the way…:)

Anonymous said...

What about the website of the host?

https://sites.google.com/site/giridharmadras/

Anonymous said...

Here is my case; worked for 1.5 years at a new Central University before getting onto regular track; then now i got through INSPIRE award direct mode. My regular salary comes like 42k vs inspire 80k.

1. Would it be possible fr me to take lien from regular post to accept IMSPIRE (same host institution)

2. What wuld you recommend, should i quit my present permanent position in a university with lots of beureocratic hullabaloo and move into IIX?

yf said...

I have to appear for a telephonic interview for the job of AP at a IIX in the next few weeks. Though I understand that I have already been shortlisted and my application been forwarded to the committee by the department, I am still a bit nervous about it.

Any suggestions, or sharing of experience of how these (telephonic) interviews go will be highly appreciated.

yf
(young fellow :) )

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@yf see my post on the previous thread (although mine wasn't telephonic, it was on skype)

Anonymous said...

Hi Professor and all subscribers,

I have been searching through this blog for the followings but did not find any,

1. There are discussions available here on the Assistant Prof. salary at IIT/IISc/IISER - But I don't find the salary structure of DST research institutes like JNCASR, RRI, IIA, SN Bose Centre, Bose Institute, IACS etc. Are they same? If not - why?

2. Do the Assistant professors in these institutes are promoted to PB-4 after 3 years of service?

Anonymous said...

Regarding Dr. Giridhar's site, it may have room for improvement (aesthetically speaking), but it is rich with all the information that one expects from an academic website.
HS

Anonymous said...

An anon February 19, 2012 9:27 PM
pointed out,


"You have chosen a perfect example of a webpage which has nothing but the photo of the adviser. No details of research, no details of facilities, publications, projects, students........... I do not think anybody would find any fascination for joining that faculty exclusively from that website just because it uses "cool" graphics with fancy background."

The key for the website is not good looking aesthetics only but information like projects, students, what the students are currently doing (are any former students currently faculty in NIT or IIT?), what is the publication record (not recently updated in 2001) etc. Nice cool graphics should not be the criteria for good web pages of academics.

Anonymous said...

given the credentials of two faculty member are almost the same (i.e. number of papers published in similar impact factor journal, student quality, area of research, h-index, university ranking etc etc.), then a student will be more drawn to the one with a more impressive web page. As simple as that !!

Anonymous said...

I attended interview at IIT indore on 23rd feb 12, when i can expect the result

S1 said...

@saswat,
Did you finally receive your Ramanujan grant? Are you going to get HRA and seed money from IIT despite the Ramanujan fellowship?
Thanks

saswata said...

@S1

I receive lots of letters saying that I would get the money in my bank account soon with arrears, but no I have not yet received a single paisa from Ramanujan fellowship. However, the money is somewhere in my institute now.

I would be getting campus housing on top of the fellowship. I am frustrated with this institute seed money or Ramanujan research grant, because I can't do many things that I want to do with these. For example, I can't pay salary to undergradute summer interns from this fellowship because IITs don't have "undergraduate research assistant" positions.

Anonymous said...

@ March 2, 2012 12:35 PM

".....the salary structure of DST research institutes like JNCASR, RRI, IIA, SN Bose Centre ....Are they same?"

DST institutes offer quite a bit less than IIX's.

"If not - why?"

Because these institutes are not of national importance ! Jokes apart, it is probably because there is no teaching.

"... promoted to PB-4 after 3 years of service?"

No.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

I wanted to stop the website related thread, so I stopped answering. Since some guys are still discussing it, I ask everyone who doubts me to look up any department webpage from any IIX and count for themselves how many profs have a photo in which the prof has even a slight smiling expression. Also look at "group photos" and look for smiling students (these are grim as rule). It seems like all positive pictures are reserved only for facebook; grim, expressionless, dull, tasteless pics are put on webpages.

Anonymous said...

@ankur

true. grimness in their faces shows the quality of research done in these IIXs. total waste of indian taxpayers money

Vimal Mishra said...

I wonder if there is significant correlation between research output and face expressions :).

Anonymous said...

Prof. Giridhar had written before that one has pay undegraduates from schemes like the Ramanujam. Isn't that correct?

saswata said...

@Anon 9:41 PM

Can you please repost what Prof. Giri had written regarding paying undergraduates from Ramanujan fellowship?

Anonymous said...

Can the unspent part of contingency that is given with Ramalingaswami or Ramanujan fellowships be carried over to the next financial year ?

Thanks,
TA

Anonymous said...

I have exactly the opposite question as above. Since I want to use the Ramanujan grant money to buy an equipment which costs ~10-12 lakhs, can DST be requested to grant 2nd and 3rd year money in advance?

Giri@iisc said...

Quick answers:

1. IISc allows to pay undergraduate students with DST/DBT grants with contingency money subject to a limit of X salary/month.

2. DST mostly allows money to be carried over to the next financial year. DBT does not.

3. DST will not give advance of 2nd and 3rd year money. However, in the review meeting after the first year, you can request additional money and ask for a revised budget.

Regarding websites, there is no point of maintaining one. Most staff/students/faculty do not read websites and allotment of students is usually done by the head of the department.

In my interviews of students and even after students join the department, I find very very few students have read the webpages of faculty even cursorily.

Best regards,

Giridhar

saswata said...

@Prof. Giri

Thanks. I confirmed with DST that they would allow me to pay undergraduates from a DST grant if the host institute has a designated position for undergraduates. IISc/TIFR has such a position called "visiting student researcher" or something similar, but IITs don't have such a position :(

If anyone else can suggest any other way of paying undergraduates through a DST grant, please let me know.

Anonymous said...

IITs allow payment to be made to people who clean your labs. Tell the IIT that the undergraduate cleaned your lab and pay him

iitmsriram said...

@saswata, perhaps your IIT does not have a position. At IITM, such a position exists; to quote from the website, "Student Assistantship for faciliating the internship of B.Tech students of IITs and other Engineering Colleges for short duration can be extended utilising the contingency fund of projects."

Anonymous said...

This is a nice blog of which I have been a passive reader, with good discussions (few inane jousts, but what is life without that :) ). Just wanted to start a point of discussion, especially with controversy in media going on academic plagiarism. Here is a nice article from the Hindu, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2974543.ece?homepage=true

Verbatim plagiarism aside, One thing that plagues academia (universally and not specific to India), is the addition of superfluous authors, especially "senior" authors, to papers who have little to no contribution to the work done. Any ideas on how this situation is in IIX's and IISc's?

Regards
PS

Anonymous said...

@PS, nice point raised, regarding 'non-contributing senior authors'. Being worked at 2 IITs (still working) and coming from IISc, my personal experience shows that this situation is rather 'rare' at IITs and IISc. But heard and saw such several cases in other research organizations like CSIR labs and DAE organizations, where group-head must be an author even if not involved in the direct output of research work.

saswata said...

Thanks Prof. Sriram. I have requested IIT Guwahati to start such a position for undergraduate students, but the decision is not yet taken.

saswata said...

@Prof. Sriram

Also, can you please post the link where the phrase "Student Assistantship for facilitating...contingency fund of projects" is mentioned. I would forward the link to appropriate authorities here at IITG.

Anonymous said...

@PS. Thanks for the topic. I was an M Tech student in IIT Kharagpur few years back, and had published two research papers related to my thesis work. I was the first author, and my guide was second. Unfortunately, there was a third author, a professor-in-charge, not even a faculty - whose only contribution was to grab the project and bring it to my guide!!

Anonymous said...

Normally, you have to be careful while commenting like this. The Professor though directly might not have done significant work but must have spent a lot of time in establishing the research lab etc., Your just using the lab to prove your point of research.

Anonymous said...

@Anon: at March 12, 2012: I believe the previous commenter (@Anon at March 11, 2012) was referring to an author who was not connected to the research lab in anyway (please correct me if I am wrong). He does, correctly, give credit to his guide who is the second author.

As the other commenter mentioned, is it fair to add the names of group heads or organizational head to the paper just because of protocol or seniority, for no contribution other than maybe approving a budget or writing a check for the research grant?

Lastly, when you say "Normally, you have to be careful while commenting like this." it saddens me. We are academics in a free, democratic country. If we cannot air our opinions and views without fear of retribution of any kind, then there is lot we need to change about ourselves and our system.

regards
PS

Ankur Kulkarni said...

As a student, it is common to find oneself as a small part of a larger agenda. An example of this is authorship of senior profs; this is often determined through equations that predate the involvement of the student in the project. These are all by-products of research getting more and more collaborative and "industrialised".

I think as a student one should not get bothered by these issues and instead focus on doing good research, telling research stories that you feel proud of and passionate about and try to earn the respect of your peers and of other faculty. Nothing counts more in this field than the feeling you get when others think that you are someone whose ideas they should listen to seriously.

Pratap Kollu said...

Dear Prof and all

I am Pratap Kollu, from Ireland. I am shortlisted for interview via Skype for INSPIRE faculty fellowship(March 26th, 2012). Can some one who did it earlier let me know how it goes on and what exactly we should focus on. This is my first interview.
I opted for IISc Bangalore to host my fellowship. If selected, can I get normal benefits from the Univ, similar to an Asst. Prof.?

Thanks and regards
Pratap

yf said...

@Pratap

Are these interviews for the applications in the 'general mode' with the Feb 29, 2012, deadline (for the applications) ?

yf
(young faculty! )

Pratap Kollu said...

@yf

Hi, these interviews are for 2011 applications.

Anonymous said...

@Ankur: I agree with your second paragraph completely. But credit should go only where it is due. I think you are short changing the student (and his adviser) if superfluous authors are added.

As you mention, the joy of getting one's ideas recognized is the main reason why we pursue research. When one's ideas are incorrectly attributed and sometimes even usurped by other, it can be quite damaging to the soul. Publications are the only way an academic is taken seriously.

regards
PS

Anonymous said...

How should a new faculty member in the IIXs go about hiring a technician (or research assistant)? Ideally it should be a long term (>5 years) hire and the technician should be able to do certain routine lab work (say, look after cell lines). Such a person can be a valuable asset to a starting lab and very helpful for PhD students/postdocs.

I realise that the salary has to be decent to attract and retain someone who is good. Do grants in India allow such positions? Thanks in advance for any advice and sharing of experience.

-Deep

Anonymous said...

Could anyone share some info regarding the housing facilities for new asst. prof. at IIT-K? size, area, floor etc.

Anonymous said...

Could anyone be so kind as to share some info regarding the flat given to an asst. prof. at IIT Kanpur? size, area, floor etc.

Anonymous said...

could anyone please let me know whether faculty interviews are over at IITK..

Anonymous said...

in continuation to the above post.. I would like to know whether anyone received the call letter from IIT Kanpur for appearing before the selection committee..

I gave the seminar in an engineering dept there and waiting for the call hoping I get shortlisted for the final interview..

Anonymous said...

Reply to above two posts,

IITK's this year 2011-2012 round of interviews (for both internal and external candidates) are getting over very soon. In fact for most of the departments interviews are over. Only a very few remaining. Once for all departments it is over, BOG Chairman will sign and offer letters will be issued soon (expected by end of March 2012).

RGV said...

@Anon above

Thank you for the info. Could you tell us when the intrvs in Mech and Aero are scheduled on?

yf said...

Regarding IITK interviews, I can tell that the interviews for physics were done on 10th March.

Regarding the housing at IITK, I do not have any info. However I would not be bothered too much about it.
If I had an offer, I would be looking forward to joining the institute and will be more focussed on making " it " work!

Anonymous said...

Thanks yf! Well, of course, you are right about your point of view on quarters. Sometimes you just have to answer to your spouse's queries! If you know anything specific please do let me know. :p

Giri@iisc said...

Housing is an important issue. That is the reason that IISc has decided to build 72 E-type (3 bedrooom) quarters. That would largely ease housing on campus in three years.

I believe that IIT-Kanpur does provide good housing immediately on arrival. If you have an offer, write to the department chairman as well as some young faculty in that department. Some would reply!

Thanks

Giridhar

Anonymous said...

Reply to RGV,

Mech. dept. interview was held in early Feb 2012 and Aero dept. was held just last week at IITK.

Regarding housing at IITK, those are among best housing for faculty when compared with any other IITs and IISc.

Anonymous said...

Any Idea about IIsc Physics interviews ?

RB

Anonymous said...

I am selected for Ramanujan fellowship. But I do not want to begin this fellowship for some months. Is there a restriction as to within what period I must accept it, else it expires?

Anonymous said...

anyone knows the procedure of IISC physics faculty position?? I had applied long back and no response.

Anonymous said...

Any one knows the interview dates for IISER Pune physics faculty selection.
Any likely data of interview??

Anonymous said...

I was told that the IISc Physics faculty will meet soon for selecting the applicants

Anonymous said...

IISc do have acute housing shortage issues. A few Asst. Profs have not been allocated D-type quarters. C-type quarters in main campus are pretty awful to say the least. D-type quarters in Vijnanapura also has issues like leakage which are seldom fixed. One of my friend has aroof leakage that has not been repaired for the last 4 months and he has significant damps all over the place.

Anonymous said...

@anon

I have heard that IISER pune physics has postponed hiring indefinitely because MHRD is not sanctioning posts. Well, seniors here will know better.

Anonymous said...

Regarding the ramanujam fellowship ; this starts only after six months after approval; so You have sometime before you start

Anonymous said...

Anonymous of March 19, 2012 3:44 PM

To be selected for a faculty position in Physics@IISc, there is an over-riding qualification. No, it doesn't have to do with your academic qualifications and/or how good publication record is. Check out the last 10 recruitment or so, and see the pattern!!

Anonymous said...

Dear anon@March 20, 2012 12:42 AM

I am not sure I understand you. I looked at the assistant professors profiles -- they all seem to be quite good and well qualified. Are you referring to the fact that they got their PhD's in India (large fraction of them from IISc)?

Ankur Kulkarni said...

I had a question that I would like to have inputs of experienced and recent faculty on.

In choosing a particular institute or department, how would you weigh the importance of the various factors that apply? Following are some factors that come to my mind. If you need to, you could rate them on a scale of 1-10 each based on the level of importance.

1. Match with your area and your academic upbringing
2. Match of wavelength and outlook with colleagues
3. Presence of role models/mentors amongst senior colleagues
4. Quality and background of students
5. Teaching and administrative load
6. Efficiency of current administration
7. Research and consultancy reputation /record of the department or group

Anonymous said...

Hello blog readers,
I seek some personal advice.
I have completed my PhD in a Tier 1 University in Electrical Engineering (Research area: Biomedical Research) and am seeking an academic career in India.
My wife also has a similar profile (with a PhD in Biomedical engineering) and is interested in an academic career in India. However, she is an American citizen. We work in closely related areas and could even start a joint research group.
What options do I have at this stage? Can IIX hire US citizens on long term basis?
- S

Anonymous said...

1. Match with your area and your academic upbringing: 8
2. Match of wavelength and outlook with colleagues:8
3. Presence of role models/mentors amongst senior colleagues:6
4. Quality and background of students:8
5. Teaching and administrative load:8
6. Efficiency of current administration:8
7. Research and consultancy reputation /record of the department or group:8

Anonymous said...

Referring to discussion by Ankur and Anon @March 20, 2012 6:25 PM:

Points 2,3 and maybe 4 are fairly subjective. Its hard to evaluate that and one needs to spend a longer time within the department to get a fair evaluation. I think this becomes especially tricky for faculty candidates who are abroad and interview via medium such as skype. Any tips on how to evaluate these matters or is it just a matter of luck.

regards
PS

Annian.1 said...

Please check http://www.nithyananda.org/
to see how t develop a webpage.

yf said...

@Ankur - following the discussion above

As I understand, the purpose of the exercise is to arrive at a personalized ranking for the institutes. My method is the following:

a) Grade the institutes on the basis of points 4), 6) and 7) to arrive at a score (say on a scale of 10) for what I would say is an academic ranking. This score is even better judged in consultation with a senior mentor (preferably with someone who is already established in the subject in India.) I refer to this as "mind" rating.

b) Grade the institutes on the basis of points 1), 2) and 3) [again on a scale of 10]. For me this rating also includes my interaction with the department (previously as well as during the application/hiring process). I update this rating after my visits (for say job talk and interaction with the faculty). I award positive marks for places where my visit was more enjoyable and the faculty members were fair, transparent and democratic, and negative marks for any "god-fatherly" / bossy attitudes (this excludes
academic interactions). I call this the "heart" rating.

c) Third important criteria is family considerations [again on a scale of 10]. This includes housing, big/small institute, local language/culture, education and medical facilities, job suitability for spouse, etc. Luckily for me this was not a very important criteria and most of the places I applied to
had decent scores (and less variation of score).

This has worked for me. Hope it helps!

regards,
yf

Anonymous said...

Hello PS,

Thanks. Please explain when you say "I think this becomes especially tricky for faculty candidates who are abroad and interview via medium such as skype."

Anonymous said...

Hello Anon@March 21, 2012 7:06 AM

Many candidates who are abroad, are offered the option to interview via skype and other video-conferencing utilities for positions in IIT's and IISc.

What I mean is that it is hard to judge the wavelength and outlook with colleagues, Presence of role models/mentors amongst senior colleagues and Quality and background of students. These are qualities that are learnt after significant interactions. One cannot pass such a judgment, however good or bad, via mere interactions through email or a conference call. Even for local candidates just a day spent is short time to analyze this in depth, though they are slightly better off than foreign candidates.

To make an analogy in jest, it is something like an arranged marriage, one only knows how successful it is after one has entered the relationship :)

Well, at least this is my opinion. Any takers?

regards
PS

Anonymous said...

Thanks, PS. You expained it nicely, I agree with you.

Anonymous said...

How do IIXs send appointment letter? Email or hard copy to candidates outside India?

Ankur Kulkarni said...

IITB sent a scanned copy and thereafter sent a hard copy by air mail.

vishu said...

@Ankur

To answer your query on how to prioritize various things, this is what I considered before joining iisc.

For me important factors were (i) a multidisciplinary environment which very few institutions other than IISc provide in India (note not all IITs have strong science departments and IISER's have no engineering) (ii) the interest shown by people in talking me, in my work, and in hiring me (although I cant judge for sure how great colleagues they will be in a day or two's visit, as some people above pointed, it was clear that some institutes showed less interest than others when I was there for a job talk) (iii) Quality of students accessible (iv) accomplishments/prestige/presence of role models of/in the institute and department.

Also I wanted to teach, neither at the level of IITs nor at the level of some dae funded places where there is basically not much teaching! I knew IISc has an elephant like bureaucracy (I can rarely spell that right!) and a rather archaic system of doing things at all levels. Other places I had offers from would give me much better money as start up as well as later. But positive factors outweighed these. To a great accuracy, things turned out as I expected. The key is to have right expectations, and always err on the lower side! cheers and good luck.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone share his/her experience of faculty interview (in person or online)? What typical questions can be asked (in general)? How to respond? Greatly appreciate inputs and suggestions.

Anonymous said...

Online interviews vary from IIX to IIX. IISc possibly asks you more about research plans. You also need to make a small presentation about your Phd/Post Doc work as well. In person allows you possibly to study the reaction of the slection committee memebers and answer accordingly. Skype is a little more blind as you will answer based on voice inputs. In the end if your research plan is well sorted out and your work is good then likely they will select you.
In IITs the things are mostly same but they can have some questions on teaching too. In some cases the members can ask you simple fundamental (PHD qualifier or advanced UG ) type questions which may irritate you. Question set is largely same for online or personal but grilling tends to be more when you attend in person. However if the interview is in person you can answer questions or clarify doubts better which can help you getting selected.
I attended all my interviews online and got all of them. I did not even knew any memmeber of any IIX personally when I applied. So in summary, all talks about biased hiring in IIXs are mostly baseless. Hiring can be a little subjective but that is true everywhere in the world. Knowing anybody a priori is not mandatory. Interviews in skype or in person are mostly similar with some variations as i described earlier.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Thanks Vishu and other anons who responded. I had another question:

For me the goal is to find a place where I would be most successful professionally. What do you think is the biggest contributer to *long run* and *short run* success and productivity -- students, colleagues or administration? What does your experience suggest?

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Anon @March 22, 2012 7:46 AM

This question has been answered. See this page. There are many who have recounted their interview experience there.

http://giridharmadras.blogspot.com/2011/10/pinned-post-for-prospective-faculty-to.html

Anonymous said...

Can anyone plz share the experience of physics faculty seminar or interview in IISC. What they expect in a faculty seminar and how the interaction goes.

Thank you for the help

Anonymous said...

I see in the 2010 list of Ramanujan Fellowship results, the accompanying acceptance letter has an option of house-rent allowance in addition to the fellowship money. see www.serc-dst.org/Ramanujan%20DetailsResult%20display.pdf.

However, then onwards this disappeared and now Ramanujan fellowship does not have a HR component. Any idea why it happened?

Anonymous said...

Did anyone get an invitation for interview at IISc physics?

Anonymous said...

You give a seminar at the IISc physics department. How you give the talk and handle questions (+ how interesting your work is) is evaluated by the senior faculty. Then the person hosting you might draw up a schedule for you to meet various faculty members individually. They might also informally talk to you during lunch/tea etc when you visit.

Depending on your visit, how you fit in the department (e.g. if they have already hired several low-temp physicists, then they might not want to hire another one immediately, etc. etc.- just a random example), how good your references are (also to some extent how well-respected your referees are) etc., department faculty committee decides (whenever they meet next) whether to forward your application to the director or not. This is how far I got as a candidate- so not sure what happens afterwards :)

Anonymous said...

Did anyone got interview call for IISER Pune Physics??

Anonymous said...

According to a recent report entitled "Paying the Professoriate" India ranks 4th in the league table of academic salaries above US (all salaries are adjusted for PPP). I am quite surprised.

Sources:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/

Story link:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=419399&c=1

RGV said...

@anon above:

There is no surprise in that article. b'cuz, a faculty in IIT has almost the same lifestyle as the one in the US. However, every one agrees that there is huge difference in the public infrastructure. But, when you live in a IIT you do not feel it or get affected by it to the irritating level.

@iitmsriram:
We are awaiting for the advertisement from iitm to come out.. could you provide us any hint as to when will it be..

Anonymous said...

Whether post-PhD experience starts after the thesis submission or after the thesis defense?

Anonymous said...

Though after-submission experience is counted usually, but it depends very much on the institute in question.

Anonymous said...

I had posted this question before, but it did not get a response yet.
I seek some personal advice, it will be very helpful for me if experienced people like prof. Girihar of prof sriram
could respond.
I have completed my PhD in a Tier 1 University in Electrical Engineering (Research area: Biomedical Research) and am seeking an academic career in India.
My wife also has a similar profile (with a PhD in Biomedical engineering) and is interested in an academic career in India. However, she is an American citizen. We work in closely related areas and could even start a joint research group.
What options do I have at this stage? Can IIX hire US citizens on long term basis?
- S

Anonymous said...

Anon@March 25, 2012 7:44 PM

As far as I know (by just asking around) IIXs can give a foreign citizen an appointment for 5 years. In principle they should be able to renew it too. I think to get a permanent appointment someone needs to be a citizen of India. Not sure what the rule is for OCIs etc. May be the others could comment?

@Prof.Giri: the capcha is getting more and more complicated even for humans :)

Giri@iisc said...

The question has already been answered. Please see

http://giridharmadras.blogspot.in/2011/03/pinned-post-for-prospective-faculty-to.html

Only five year contracts are possible.

Captcha is getting harder to make people get google accounts :-)

Giridhar

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your response!
-S

Anonymous said...

Will IISc Pay for the domestic flights when called for an Interview?

Giri@iisc said...

normally, yes, we pay for domestic flight charges if IISc calls you. If a department has invited you, then you have to check with the department. Normally, they will also pay domestic flight charges.

iitmsriram said...

IITM ad is likely to come out at the end of March or early in April; interviews are likely to be held end of June and early July and appointment offers are likely to go out by the end of July.

Counting post-PhD experience from date of submission of thesis for evaluation is a fudge. Strictly speaking, it can only be from the date of grant of degree (the date on the degree certificate) or more liberally, from the date on a provisional certificate. The date on the provisional itself could be the viva date or some post-viva final thesis submission date or something else depending on the University. Many IIX have been fudging this.

Anonymous said...

@iitmsriram: I wouldn't call it a fudge! I would rather call it "sense has prevailed" at last. One's post-doc experience starts right after PhD submission. And in India many places have insane processing time for PhD-degree: it can go even more than 2 year in several case for no mistake of the student.

Anonymous said...

@iitmsriram: suppose at the time of joining an IIT, a candidate has (3 - X) years of post-phd experience and hence starts as AP on contract. Is S/he made a regular AP after X yrs of service (it could be just a few months)?

Is this standard procedure in most IIT's.

Anonymous said...

Anyone hear back from physics departments at IISc, IISERs about interviews?

Anonymous said...

I have been called for a presentation in IISC physics. Regarding IISER Pune physics no response yet!!!! I have given talk almost a year back.

Anonymous said...

@anon

I have heard that IISER pune physics has postponed hiring indefinitely because MHRD is not sanctioning posts. Well, seniors here will know better.

Raj said...

Regarding faculty housing at IIT Bombay, can someone from IITB comment on the status of construction of the new apartments mentioned here:
http://www.iitb.ac.in/deanpl/bldgs/resi/facHou1.html
I hope that this should have eased the housing shortage at IITB.

Also, it would be very helpful if Prof. Sriram from IIT Madras can comment on the water shortage problem (if it exists today) at IIT Madras as described here:
http://www.physics.iitm.ac.in/info_files/info/newfac.html
This seems to be an old website and I hope things would have changed now, especially after the setup of desalination plant.

Anonymous said...

I have also been called for a presentation in IISc Physics

in the last week of April.

Anonymous said...

Did you get an official email that you have been shortlisted for faculty or this is just an email asking you to visit the Department at IISc ?

Anonymous said...

what about interviews at engineering departments in IISc. has anyone got the invite for a seminar from any of the engineering departments there..??

Anonymous said...

for people got seminar call from IISC Physics: Did IISC ask you for the recommendation letters. IS this this invitation for seminar after short-listing???

Anonymous said...

Yes the recommendation letters were asked while submitting the application

Anonymous said...

Did IISC take additional referee report on faculty application other than the names given in the application form.

Anonymous said...

Any idea when INSPIRE faculty fellowship (2011) results for the institute mode and for the candidates living in abroad will be released?

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know of something called "new faculty fellowship" at IITs? The fellowship I have heard gives some monthly grant on top of your salary.

Anonymous said...

Hi: for those who returned, how much were your savings? I hear 100-200K USD for those in information technology areas, and as a post-doc I would never dare having anything close to the lower end when I get to return home (India).

Digbijoy Nath said...

last anon: depends on what area you had worked on ..industry would obviously pay higher... Post docs in National Labs in USA tend to pay relatively higher than in universities...

SKR said...

Most of the national labs in US pays more compared to universities but there is lot of variation of pay for the people with US citizenship and with foreign nationals. I think with present situation, saving good amount with postdoc or Ph.D. in US is a myth. But the experience you gain in top universities or national labs are enormous.
I used to save a lot with Humboldt fellowship in Germany but I am unable to save anything in US though working in national lab.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Did anyone get an interview call from IIT Guwahati Dept. of Biotechnology for the recent ad.

Thanks
Rp

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