Wednesday, November 30, 2016

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, herehere, herehere,  here and here, here also. There are over 5000 comments and replies to these comments in these posts. 

3,339 comments:

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PhD Student said...

I just saw somebody wants to know who is the PhD Student.
May I ask why?
and if the reason seems logical I can always state my full credentials.
Sorry for this silly post anyway!
PhD Student

Anonymous said...

Has anyone received interview call from IIT KGP?

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know when the interview for DBT's IYBA fellowship will take place? Has any shortlisted candidate been notified?

Thanks.
-N

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Does anyone have any updates on the Ramanujan fellowship?

confused postdoc said...

I have been going through this blog and the blog posts and the comments have cleared many of my queries about faculty applications. I had a couple of questions which so far I could not find answers to:

1. I have a PhD in Chemical Engineering and into my first year of postdoc. I was mainly doing theoretical and computational work in inter-disciplinary areas but closer to physics/materials science than chemical engineering. I have the feeling that faculty hiring in India usually demands a background in the same discipline, e.g. I do not have much chance getting in science departments in TIFR, IISER, etc. Is this correct?

2. How much interdisciplinary is the research in India now? In my days when I was doing MTech in an IIT, I remember most people in my IIT working in rather traditional areas (fluidization engineering, reactor design, etc.). I do not expect things would have changed a lot since, but do they encourage interdisciplinary research in general, for example by hiring faculty with diverse backgrounds, or in terms of the inter-department collaborations. The impression circulating in US postdoc circle is if you are not working in fields of interest to IIX departments, you will not be hired unless you have say 5 Nature papers :-)

3. I hope to do another ~1.5 years of postdoc. Is this too early to start considering faculty applications? Also, are interviews-in-person gives higher chances of getting through skype interviews. (This has been answered here but more inputs will be great.)

Many thanks!

Anonymous said...

Does the blog host work in tradiational areas of chemical engineering?

confused postdoc said...

@Anonymous (above)
well quoting from his website :
"We are interested in several areas of research, but they may be broadly classified as

Polymer reactions, primarily polymer degradation
Supercritical fluids
Catalytic Reactions
Continuous distribution kinetics for transport processes and separation processes"

This is Chemical Engineering, at least to my little knowledge. In any case, I do not want to get in the debate of "traditional" vs. "modern"; I do not believe there is such a thing in research. By "traditional" I mean things I could relate to from my Chemical Engineering education, which may be highly advanced and great research. And I said "most" faculty at my IIT not all faculty in all IIX!

Anonymous said...

@ Ankur,

I am tired waiting for the result of Ramanujan Fellowship. I have no updates. What is the last update btw ?

--
IIT Prof.

Prashant said...

@confused postoc:

I'm exactly in the same position as you. Into the first year of my postdoc, originally a Mechanical Engineer but been doing interdisciplinary research in a Mathematics department.

I have been following this blog for some time too. From what I understand (I can be wrong), it should not be a problem for you to get into either departments as long as you are good.

Your point number 2 is also quite valid but in a different sense. It's not that IIXs do not encourage interdisciplinary research, but it is definitely true that many times they are looking for people to work in some specific areas. For eg., there may be a lot of experimental researchers in a department and the department might be actively recruiting in theoretical fields at that moment. If an experimentalist and a theoretician of same caliber apply, most likely a theoretician would be selected. Experimentalist may also be selected if he has 5 Nature papers as you mention :)

Situation may be different in new IITs since they would probably be recruiting in all fields.

But I do share the same confusion as you about when should one start thinking about making the applications? I plan to do about 3 years of postdoc and start applying at the beginning of my 3rd year. This may change if I can receive some wisdom about this from senior people here.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

@confused post-doc, most of your questions can be answered if you test the waters a little bit. Write to someone young in the department that you are interested in and see what their response is. About timing applications - the one hand applying early gives the department enough time to process your application and on the other, your CV may not be at it best. So take a call based on the feedback you get.

About interdisciplinary research - I think young faculty are doing interdisciplinary research.

confused postdoc said...

@Professor Kulkarni:
Thanks for your suggestion. I am going to try that. So far I sent some inquiries (mostly regarding my qn. 1) to the contacts for faculty recruitments mentioned on dept website like faculty-recruitment@iix.whatever without response.

@Prashant:
Good to find someone on the same boat. One argument for not hiring faculty with a background in a different discipline is that they may not be able to teach all the undergraduate courses. What would be your defense to get around this if you plan to apply in Mathematics? I believe situation would be different in places with only postgraduate (IISc, TIFR, etc.).

On another note, I think it'ld difficult for me to teach all undergraduate courses in Chemical Engineering leave aside a course on string theory :-)

Prashant said...

I'm sure no one expects you to teach all undergraduate courses.
First and second year courses are pretty straightforward and beyond that you would be expected to teach only the courses that fall in your area of specialization (I assume).
For eg., someone who works in Elasticity can teach Solid Mechanics to Mechanical/Aero/Civil Engineers while at the same time can teach PDEs, Tensor Calculus, Numerical Analysis to Mathematicians.

Anonymous said...

Hi

Nice to find a blog on the practical aspects of researchers who planed to move India. Nice effort by Pf. Giri and others..thnx

Does any one know when will be the results of Inspire faculty interview 2012 session II announced? I gave skype interview on 19th dec.

Please comment on the proper way for direct mode candidates to approach any institute to process the fellowship.

surajit said...

Hi,

Today I saw the advertisement of Inspire Faculty for 2013 on INSA webpage. But there is no information about the result of last session. If anyone has any information about 2012 session II please share it here.

I gave the interview on 12th Dec.

thanks

confused postdoc said...

@Surajit

Can you share with us briefly how the interview for inspire fellowship went? Did you apply in "direct mode" or through an institute? Thanks.

surajit said...

@confused postdoc ...

I had applied through 'direct mode'. I appeared for the Physics Committee. My impression is that the committee conducted itself very professionally, though there were hardly one person from my field (I guessed), but questions were relevant. But anyway, you can't expect more than one to be from your field as, broadly its a Physics committee. I prepared around 17 slides with brief description of my achievements and my ongoing projects (Which they told me to pass quickly), ~10 slides on my PhD work and ~5 on Inspire Proposal. They asked questions from my PhD work and proposed project only. From there questions I can guess that they read my proposal and other details carefully beforehand. Overall my experience from this interview was satisfactory.

Only one thing that I didn't like is the time constraint of only 15 minutes for the presentation. Which is really not adequate. They will force you to finish it within the time limit. So, be careful about the time limit.

Lastly, I will say, this was my personal experience with this years committee. This may change with the change in the committee.

Good luck, future INSPIRE aspirants.

Anonymous said...

I had talked with INSPIRE coordinator yesterday, she told me that the results for Session II will be out before the end of this month.

Regarding interview of INSPIRE fellowship, I agree too that they have conducted interviews professionally. They have asked me relevant questions regarding my proposal. Mostly, regarding novelty of proposal and how will I achieve those goals. Some questions regarding host institute. Moreover, commercialization of software (as i wrote software package as a deliverable). This question was an unexpected question.

I don't like that they have not done proper time management and scheduling before hand. They gave me only 5-7 minutes to present my proposal as they were in hurry to do skype interviews. It hurts when I rehearsed 3-4 times the presentation to make it 14-15 minutes from 17-18 minutes.

Overall it was good experience whatever will be the outcome.

Regards


Anonymous said...

My experience with INSPIRE interview committee (2012 Session 11) for Physics (Via skype)was exactly same as the above two post...There were about 6 Prof's in panel, only 1 prof (chair) was asking questions,that too stick with the content in the slides and relavent to the topic. Then 1 question each from two other professors. They are all senior prof's and I felt they haven't updated themselves on the current happening in the field. (my personal feeling)

15 min practice helped me to finish exactly in the alloted time and about 10 min of question..Total time 22-25 min.

Over all experience was good and professional. Lets hope's the best.


SSS

confused postdoc said...

Thanks all of you for sharing your experiences and all the best for getting the fellowship. I was wondering if getting an Inspire Fellowship helps in getting a faculty position or vice versa?

PS: I hope I am not spamming Prof Giri's personal blog with too many queries :-) But this is probably the one and only forum for faculty aspirants!

Anonymous said...

hello,

anyone received interview call for physics from IISER Bhopal or IISER TVM

Thanks

surajit said...

@Anonym

I got the same answer. The result will be uploaded on the DST web page.



Anonymous said...

Hello,
I had interview for INSPIRE Session II in chemistry direct mode. The interview was only for 5 minutes and only one guy (old)appeared to ask questions directly looking at my CV. I am not satisfied with the interview, he wants some answers but cannot be explained without showing him slides (since this guy was from other discipline). No matter whether I receive the fellowship or not, I guess the organisation from Inspire requires a lot of improvement in terms of discipline (especially time). Because people would prepare as per the request, and if some one appears and finishes everything in 5 mins what it means??? More over the old guy is not ready to take answer from me and interested more to argue than discussion. He kept on asking questions. Later I heard from other people that it was the same experience. But would be nice to hear from others their experience...

Anonymous said...

hai,
I did ph.d in chemistry and three and half years of postdoc. I got one nature immunology publication from my postdoc. I am aged 37 meaning I am not eligible for the entry level positions of IITs. Can any body suggest me a place where my CV can be taken up.

surajit said...

@Anonymous..

I think you can check UGC faculty recharge programme. http://www.ugcfrp.ac.in/index.asp?links=ugc1

Anonymous said...

INSPIRE 2012 Session II results are on INSA website.

Congratulations to the selected candidates

Best of luck

Surajit said...

Thanks for the information.

Congratulations to other selected candidates.


Anonymous said...

Anonymous @ January 23, 2013 at 11:18 PM

You can also try places like BITS-Pilani

Good Luck,

RP

Anonymous said...

"hai,
I did ph.d in chemistry and three and half years of postdoc. I got one nature immunology publication from my postdoc. I am aged 37 meaning I am not eligible for the entry level positions of IITs. Can any body suggest me a place where my CV can be taken up."

Don't give up on IIXs. I got hired in one even when I was well past 35. The ad says "preferrably below 35"- I don't think it is a rule set in stone.

Anonymous said...

I know my views mean nothing to the top authorities in IITs, but I find this <35 years criterion unreasonable. There are many people who start their PhD late after many years in industry or have take more time in completing PhD, or have long postdoc experience. They are discouraged by Indian academia. The argument that they will reach retirement sooner is not valid since most professors continue working beyond retirement age. Rather many of them can bring valuable experience, which can diversify Indian academic research. Ironically, they want young blood in faculty and prefer leaving all administrative positions to old people; it should have been reverse of it as it is the administration of IIX which probably need to be more energetic. Or its probably a trend set by some of the respected old faculty members who stopped doing research beyond the age of 40 and keep saying "when I was in PhD, I was working 18 hours a day, today's generation is not serious,.." :) Or may be its because the Indian definition of genius are people who do matriculation before the age of 11, finish PhD in three years, or becoming faculty before being eligible to vote. No surprise we have many child prodigies but few good researchers!

Anonymous said...

To Anon @ January 25, 2013 at 1:28 PM

I too have the same question. Actually, one logic which I have heard from someone is that, young faculty members are easy to mould or are more flexible. There can be two reasons for it.
1) By the age of 35, people have very strong notion of what they want out of their life; strong philosophy etc....
2) They may have the feeling that they are LATE in to things...
So, for example, aged people are less likely to be willing to take undergrad courses, or serve on administrative committees. May be they think that they are so much matured, or have wasted so much time already, they want to use all the rest of the time doing only research. This is of course view of someone, which I could not completely disregard.

But I am quite sure, the real reasons are not very different from the reasons behind limiting the number of attempts in an exam, putting a cut-off on the min marks, ... basically this is a criterion for short listing (which by the way I heard is really flexible).

I think you should be able to find someone in IIT joining at age 38-39.

Anonymous said...

Hi All,

With regards to the above discussion, I would like to strongly express my surprise !

I guess many of you do not know that "power of creativity diminishes with increase in age". Proof: Check most of the major scientists work and you will know when did they come up with their revolutionary theories/innovations (needless to say before 35). e.g. Einsteins 'annus mirabilis' year was when he was just 26 yrs old !! At young age you are brimming with fresh ideas and creative thoughts which becomes rigid as you mature (because you already have a predefined notion towards something)......Young guns are the scientific backbone. So IIT follows this rule and they are right....

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I agree to the anon above.


If someone finishes his/her Ph.D in 3 yrs with large no. of quality papers....they why cant He/She be called a genius !! So if Indian academic believes in this policy, then they are right.

Anonymous said...

I disagree with both anons above me. First, the fact that Einstein or Newton did revolutionary theories at a young age does not mean that they ceased being creative afterwards if this is the logic; actually even Einstein was offered a faculty position much later. Second, we should note the times have changed since the days of Einstein. Today's research is much more collaborative (should be) and team-work than what it used to be and I can quote many examples of Professors in USA whose research groups have done phenomenal work after they crossed the age of 50; look at George Whitesides at Harvard, for example. Third, if really the argument is to hire young people with more creativity, why not offer faculty positions to JEE toppers when they are <30, why this PhD with preferably 3 years of experience :-)

To the anon above: #years one spends in PhD depend on many factors, work of a similar impact may take longer time and advisors have different policies for awarding PhD. I see no correlation between the number of years spent in PhD and success in academia. Do a google search of known academicians in your field and I hope you will get a similar results.

pre-occupations, pre-occupations, pre-occupations ...

PS: I am 32 and I could not recite mathematical tables as I did at 5 :( oh me, poor me :-)

Anonymous said...

I am the person who posted the message on
I am responding to messages from and

In my message, I did mention the concept of shortlisting. The concept of short listing is mostly based
on some notion of excellence. And shortlisting is inevitable. So, I understand that 35 age limit may be based
on such concepts of creativity. But, may be we should discuss the reasons behind such a notion of excellence.
If two candidates have the same skill set, there is a reason for selecting the older guy, because he may
have more maturity, he may have seen more of life. Also to the best of my knowledge, the more the domain knowledge
you have, the more are the chances of being more creative.

Historical data may be used and have been used to justify various selection criteria. But, I do not think human beings have
made much progress in understanding the power of human mind. So, I am not sure how can you say things like
"power of creativity diminishes with increase in age", so emphatically.

Fields medal is given only before the age of 40. Why? May be the reason for this is similar to the reason for the age limit of 35!
But, I do not understand when and how the importance of solving a problem was overshadowed by the individuals (and their age) who solve them.







Anonymous said...

I agree with the anonymous above. I must add here that Fields medal is given in the field of mathematics, where the research is much less collaborative than engineering and traditionally young people are known to do well. In USA (I think in other european countries too), its common to award faculty positions to exceptional mathematicians (mathematicians are usually exceptional :-)) just after their PhD. However, in fields like physics or biological sciences, people with up to 5 years of postdoc experience are common, and they do end up getting good faculty positions and many of up perform great in their academic career even when they start beyond the "magic age" of 35. In engineering, its common for people to go for some industry experience before starting grad school, so by the time they are in the first or second year of postdoc, the "magic age" is crossed. Are these people not valuable to engineering departments, which are supposed to teach engineering and people with industry experience should be a plus for teaching applications of engineering beyond academic setting (and also apply that in the research). I am not saying they are "better" than young people or the reverse, they may be lacking on certain grounds, but they are very useful anyway.

Its high time we should stop applying same yardstick to everyone and stop thinking of numbers in everything. How many papers? How much age? How much % in 10th,+2,BTech? If these are the questions used in shortlisting or deciding on faculty candidates, I would have no hesitation in saying that our Indian system is highly immature and we must do better. I do not mean the numbers are not important but these depend on many constraints, field/complexity of research, the research environment in that discipline, publishing culture in the research group/university, and the nature of collaborations, to name a few.

I am the anonymous of January 25, 2013 at 1:28 PM and January 25, 2013 at 7:10 PM who started this (silly) discussion. My apologies to the blog host for spamming his blog, and my request to all of you to take it as a personal offense.

Anonymous said...

correction:to not take it as a personal offense :-) Sorry for the blunder, I cannot edit my anonymous post

Anonymous said...

To anon @

I do not see how this discussion is silly. I don't know what is the real question that you have in your mind about this issue. But it appeared to me that you asked a question which is directly related to faculty recruitment in IIXs: why there is a mention of age limit of 35 for asst. prof. position? May be there are no easy or simple answers. But the question is as relevant as any other question being discussed in this forum.

(By the way, I thought that you contradicted yourself by justifying in some way the age criterion in mathematics.)

It actually does not matter whether the rule of 35 is strict or not. The mere mention of such a rule raises questions.

In India, you should be above 35 years of age to become the President of the country. So maturity matters for Presidency and does not matter for an asst prof position?

Anonymous said...

The above comment was for anon @
January 26, 2013 at 3:24 AM

Anonymous said...

@Anon above: I said it silly because I thought its beyond the scope of this forum, where people get definite answers for definite questions. I feel giving opinions do not solve the problem, and being still a postdoc, my opinions count EPSILON. Yes, I do believe the age criterions for Field award in Mathematics make sense. Young mathematians do well, statistically. I may be wrong, a Mathematics person can shed more light on this. I think also because a career in pure mathematics is less rewarding generally for monetary reasons, and also publishing papers takes long-long time due to intense review process. You wont find them highly ranked in citation indices for this reason. Thus, a Field award and early hiring can serve as a good encouragement for doing mathematicians.

None of this is true in general about other disciplines. On contrary, as you said, "maturity" (not just in age but in terms of research experience) do help quite a lot. I had numerous times when I had excellent(?) ideas in grad-school/postdoc only to be corrected by my advisor(s). He/she did not have those eureka moments often, but when it did, it meant an advance ;-) So well, I feel the need for a balance, not excluding someone for his age, young or old.

anonymous who started this debate said...

To the anonymous who quoted: "I guess many of you do not know that "power of creativity diminishes with increase in age". Proof: Check most of the major scientists work and you will know when did they come up with their revolutionary theories/innovations (needless to say before 35)."

I recommend the following article published in Nature http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111107/full/news.2011.632.html

Quoting from the article,
"Comparing discoveries made before 1905 with after 1985, the average age at which physicists made their discoveries rose from 37 to 50. Chemists' average age rose from 36 to 46 and that of medical scientists from 38 to 45. Before 1905, 20% of prizewinning work was done before age 30, but by 2000, this fell to almost zero. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences2."

"The same trend was also seen among other top scientists who had not received Nobels."

"They also suggest that as fields expand, it may take longer to accumulate the knowledge necessary to make a novel contribution. With the exception of 1920s physics, the analysis found that, over time, Nobel laureates received their PhDs later and that there has been an increase in discoveries that depend on previous work. This suggests a modern tendency to draw on more established knowledge, a skill at which older scientists excel."

PS: Well there is an assumption inherent in my argument - nobel prize work is creative ;)

Anonymous said...

@ January 12, 2013 at 11:25 PM
Ankur Kulkarni said...
Does anyone have any updates on the Ramanujan fellowship?

I got a reply from Kohli's office that it will be announced next month. Hopefully, they promptly do so...

Anonymous said...

anyone received interview call in physics from IIT KGP.

Thanks and Regards

Anonymous said...

Anon @ January 10, 2013 at 11:27 AM
and @ January 30, 2013 at 10:14 AM

I dont think the interview process in IIT-KGP has started yet. I received information from a known person few days before that interview process is yet to be started.

Pls. update latest info. if any

Regards

Anonymous said...

To Ratnesh and other applicants of UGC-FRP

Do you have any idea about result of UGC-FRP, I applied for post of assistant professor (life science), somewhere around Aug 2011, interview on Sept 2012, but I don't have any idea about results. Any one of you have any information regarding same.

Thank you!
YM

Anonymous said...

@January 30, 2013 at 1:41 PM:

Several depts have finished interviews at IIT Kharagpur. Some more will conduct this in Feb. One can directly call the recruitment section for info about interviews.

Anonymous said...

anon@January 30, 2013 at 6:29 PM

Do you have any idea which departments conducted interview in IIT-KGP. I came to know recently that interview process has not yet started in the departments where I applied.

Anonymous said...

Dear All,

This post is specifically intended for successful DST Fast Track Young Scientist recipients.

My question is from the date of acknowledgment of the proposal (sent by the DST, Ministry of science and Technology through email), how long does the decision process take ?

Thank you.

surajit said...

@anon..

Q ................ My question is from the date of acknowledgment of the proposal (sent by the DST, Ministry of science and Technology through email), how long does the decision process take ? ..........

A. You got an acknowledgment? :O you are lucky :) But anyway... generally meetings take place twice in an year. August and March. After the decision they take atleast 6 months to send you the first letter. At least for me it heppened like this. But recently I came to know that they are processing it little faster now.

Satish said...

This post is regarding the DST- INSPIRE faculty award results recently announced. Did any one got communication from either DST or INSA? If so please discuss the terms of the letter.
I have been selected but didnt heard any thing from either of the agencies. What will be the next steps? Could previously selected INSPIRE awardees in direct mode comment on this? I want to know what is the proper way to approach institutes for sponsoring?

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous said...

UGC-FRP results are out...

http://www.ugcfrp.ac.in/List-of-Faculty-Selectees-under-UGC-FRP.pdf

Surajit said...

INSPIRE Faculty awardees.. if anyone of you get the selection letter please share the information.

I want some information from the past awardess...

Q. If some one joins as ISPIRE faculty what should be his/her designation? Will he be called an Assistant Professor? or Scientist E? or only INSPIRE faculty??

thanks

Anonymous said...

Thank u Sarajit !!

So after the decision (march or aug), it took 6 months to notify the candidate ?

Regards,

Anonymous said...

Hi All,

Its already Feb, any news about Ramanujan Felllowship result ?

Thanks

Anonymous said...

@Surjeet:
I guess INSPIRE faculty is more appropriate designation. As per pay INSPIRE Faculty may be equivalent to assistant professor or scientist E, but at the end everything depends on your host institute. They may treat you as “Faculty” or “post-doc” depending on their approach towards young faculty.
In many institutes directors/deans/ and permanent faculty are not aware of this scheme so they will think you as a super-postdoc..
Yogesh

Anonymous said...

@ Yogesh...........you hit the nail...particularly when you join in the super institutes of India you are none other then simple post doc...partially one cant blame because INSPIRE has been awarded to the candidates who just submitted their thesis and also to candidates with 5-6 yrs post doc experience in USA, Europe with good track record.

No clear specified rules or instructions has been sent out by DST/INSA to the institutes on how to treat fellows.....end of the day all IIX's are independent bodies none can dictate them .....

Most cases these super institutes and other institutes allow you to work because of free employee they get with overhead to the institutes and the minor equipments you buy (although its peanuts for experimentalists)...again your fate is hanging if you didn't perform and get permanent faculty sooner......Keep in mind, in these super institutes the chances of absorbing you as permanent faculty is negligible.....

On any case DST-INSPIRE is good initiative for young faculty aspirants

SVSS

Anonymous said...

@SVSS
“Remember that the only entitlement you have is salary (that is mentioned in the offer letter), if you think rest (start up grant, students, office, and lab space, which are not mentioned in the offer letter) are favors you are receiving, rather than you are supposed to get, your life will become more easy.” ( this statement mentioned somewhere by Prof Giridhar in this blog)
Above statement is well applicable to INSPIRE “Faculty”. There are some advantages of getting status of “post-doc” rather than “faculty” for INSPIRE Fellows. You may not get facilities like permanent faculty; but post-doc status can protect you from much of administrative work and teaching. One can concentrate more on research work...
At the end I still believe it’s a good scheme for fresh Phds atleast better than conventional post-doc
Yogesh

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Since everyone's talking about INSPIRE, I also had a question.
Is there any case where an INSPIRE awardee has joined as an asst prof on contract, and been able to draw salary from INSPIRE?

Anonymous said...

Please provide some information about IIT Delhi faculty housing i.e. type of housing for Assistant and Associate Professors. A comparison with IITM and IITK will be much appreciated.

TA

Anonymous said...

Please provide some information about IIT Delhi faculty housing i.e. type of housing for Assistant and Associate Professors. A comparison with IITM and IITK will be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

TA

surajit said...

Thanks everyone for your comments on INSPIRE faculty status and all.

Anonymous said...

@Ankur Kulkarni,

Hi
You mentioned once tht you would like to change breakup for travel and contingencies.
Did you get approval for change in break up of Travel and contingencies grant from DST?

If yes, please share the procedure for the same.

Thanks

Ankur Kulkarni said...

^ No it was not approved.

Anonymous said...

New vs old IITs: any opinions/perspectives?

I will be applying shortly for a faculty position and I know that the best thing for me would be to visit individual institutions and form an informed opinion.
Nevertheless, I would like to hear from other prospective colleagues about what do they feel about this distinction.

More specificially I wish to know your opinions on teaching responsibilities, research opportunities, and the attitude of administration.

It would also be interesting to know about IIT Roorkee and Guwahati as it's not easy to put them in either category.

thanks in advance
Prashant

Anonymous said...

Hi Prashant,

New IIT's are better in terms of work independence. You will mostly have colleagues of your age group which helps in keeping sync. Vibrant atmosphere of research. Teaching loads might be little loads initially. You may have to design labs, experiments, buy equipments all yourself first; which to me is good as it gives me complete freedom. Also you can have a lot of Ph.D scholars to work in your group.

Old IIT's will not have this (hassle or independence: whichever is your interpretation). You will colleagues of various age grps. Admin is pretty similar everywhere i guess.

Anonymous said...

Anon, who enquired about IIT-Kharagpur interview,

Interview process has started. Today and tommorrow, interview is scheduled for chemical engg. department

Prashant said...

Thanks for the reply, Anonymous at February 11, 2013 at 10:00 PM.

I suppose you are working at a new IIT? It's good to hear that there does exist a vibrant research atmosphere and you can get a lot of PhD scholars to work in your group. I had, in fact, assumed the contrary - that it would be difficult to attract PhD students and research funds to a new institute.

Anonymous said...

Prashant above,

It is on the contrary extremely difficult to get PhD students at new IITs. Given a second option, most people prefer to join more estabilished places. The internal situation in new IITs is a function of the Director.

Anonymous said...

Prashant,

I dont know what made the anon above to reply in such a negative mode.

I know a lot of Profs in New IIT's having 5 Ph.D scholars and many RA's in their group. So it is nothing like that !! In fact, you can also get a lot of start up funds (there is no upper cap). Also as I said, you have complete freedom of designing your labs, experiments, course, etc..no interference from senior guys..

rest is upto u to decide.

Anonymous said...

Hi all,

just to let you know, i got to know that DST Ramanujan Fellowship results have again been postponed to March... disappointing...!!

Anonymous said...

Anon and Prashant,

I am a Prof in a new IIT: The funding is limited to 5 lakh for theorists, 10 lakh for expt. PhD students are hard to come by and generally of poor quality - "number" isnt any issue, quality is...you have no choice but to do a lot of admin duties and the growth/decisions depend on Director and Registrar's whim and fancies.

Prashant said...

Anons above: Thanks all for sharing your views.

Every time I become excited about great opportunities and challenges at new IITs, people's views make me realise that I'm living outside India and a bit disconnected from the real issues. It's a tough choice I guess!

Anonymous said...

@ Anon: February 15, 2013 at 9:03 AM

In the new IIT I am talking about there is no upper cap for seed grant.

Further, I do not know what do exactly mean by high quality Ph.D students? Most of the cream will never do Ph.D @ IIT (old or new irrespective of that), as they want to go abroad.

Anonymous said...

Further, I do not know what do exactly mean by high quality Ph.D students? Most of the cream will never do Ph.D @ IIT (old or new irrespective of that), as they want to go abroad.

Exactly. Most of the medicore students do Ph.D in old IIT. Among them, the worst of them become faculty in new IITs. Most of the faculty in new IITs have Ph.Ds from old IITs, mostly from their mentor institution,

Anonymous said...

@ Anon above:

What about the foreign Ph.D holders returning back to India in your opinion ?? and btw based on these facts how r u able to classify between old and new IIT's ??

Anonymous said...

for any phd holders (foreign or national), joining old iit is much preferred over new iit. simply because, more phds in old iits (ofcourse phd students will try to get in established place rather than a new place). also for any new faculty, initial few years of research output (publication, patent, research proejct) is the major share for evaluation to get upgraded to next level. for that old iits are again better as there is less time for oraginizing new set-up or much less administrative loads than new iits. one +ve point for new iits is that for 2-body problems (both husband and wife are faculty candidates), new iits are 'easy to get in' option than old iits (for better faculty retention). also faculty poching from new to old iit is another hardle for new iits (recently several from iith and iitgn have moved to old iit). reverse flow (old to new) is yet to start.

Prashant said...

@anonymous above: It is perhaps not so straightforward.

I recommend reading this blog entry
http://academic-garden.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/my-job-search-story-choice-between.html

Anonymous said...

The sequel to above blog entry:

http://academic-garden.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/thoughts-on-moving.html

Anonymous said...

Faculty selection criteria at non-entry level (i.e. associate and prof. level) are going to be changed sooner at IITB. This move will be based on several matrix based calculations of various performances (teaching, research, outreach, admin work etc.) and then peer review process (similar to IISc system) followed by selection committee. If it starts sooner at IITB, it will be one of the new and most transparent selection in IIT/IISc system altogether for higher positions. Not sure if any such reforms at other IITs are also under consideration.

Anonymous said...

To anon above:

I do hope appropriate reservations for OBC and especially SC/ST are taken into account for promotions.

Anonymous said...

Great, the Ramanujan fellowship page on DST is now dead:

http://www.dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/ser-ramanujan.html

iitmsriram said...

Anon, please check around before cribbing. SERB now has its own website at www.serb.gov.in and this has more information, perhaps better presented, on Ramanujan fellowships and other programs.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

I saw the SERB website and was rubbing my eyes in disbelief. I can't believe we can make such a nice website. It has a good layout, good colors, nice high-resolution pictures (taken in proper lighting), and (thankfully) no blinking "NEW" signs and no random tickers going from left to right. When you read the info, it doesn't sound like Stalin speaking; to be addressed with such kindness and dignity is touching. And amazingly, all links seem to work! How did this miracle happen?

Anonymous said...

@iitmsriram

And how could Anon have known about this new website - in a dream. So far DST used to deal with RF.

A polite language from your side will not do any harm, I suppose.

No, I am not the anon.

iitmsriram said...

anon wonders "And how could Anon have known about this new website"? Perhaps, by trying something any reasonable person can be expected to try? Which is what I did and it took all of about 30 seconds to get to the new web site. The link

http://www.dst.gov.in/scientific-programme/ser-ramanujan.html

does not work. So, back up and go to www.dst.gov.in - which works. And, what a surprise, it has a very easy to find link for scientific programs - scientific and engineering research. That page has an almost impossible to miss blurb inviting people to visit www.serb.gov.in for information on programs and schemes.

And, is "please check around before cribbing" considered impolite?

Anonymous said...

@iitmsriram

"And, is "please check around before cribbing" considered impolite?" -- may not be so in Indian or IIT-M standard.

I read this blog (don't comment) to keep myself a bit updated about happenings in IIXs from USA... but sometimes really feel frustrated to see the mindset of some senior people here, and I start thinking whether I really should consider Indian academia as career ?!!

surajit said...

Can anyone please tell me how much is the salary of an assistant professor in DST institutes (at entry )?

thanks

Prashant said...

Anon at March 2, 2013 at 5:16 AM:

I suppose it is worth appreciating that Prof. Sriram is actually taking time out and commenting on the blog - just to help young people. I'm sure no one is paying him anything to do this.

If you are getting a high quality service for free, you should try not to make stupid comments like the anon (at February 27, 2013 at 1:09 AM) did there.

Anonymous said...

Dear All

I request a small information.
How many copies of Ramanujan fellowship application has to be submitted to DST?

Anonymous said...

Can someone tell me about faculty hiring process in IIT-BHU? when are they gonna start the hiring process?


PM

Anonymous said...

To the Anon above

New Director of IIT-BHU is about to join in couple of weeks. You may expect official announcement for faculty recruitment soon.

Anonymous said...

Hello Ramanujan fellows,

I was thinking to buy a computer. Can a computer be bought under this fellowship?

Regards
Bhuvanesh

Anonymous said...

IITBHU: Being an alumni myself, i came to know abt that from alumni page last wk. but its frustrating that faculty hiring getting delayed like forever!! Back in July they said once they form BOG, then they said once they form DOFA..now they say once new Diro joins!! Worst part is that they are loosing some of the good young faculty!! Personally, i wld join another IIT in June if I dont get a call from IITBHU.

PM

Anonymous said...

To the anon@above
Some of my friends gave presentation in certain departments of IIT-BHU, when they visited India. They had been told that they may be called for interview soon once the new director joined the institute.

Anonymous said...

Anyone received interview call letter from IIT-Kharagpur, Chemistry department?

Anonymous said...

Anyone received interview call letter from IIT-Kharagpur for physics assistant prof.

Anonymous said...

IIT-BHU: Yes I am one of them who presented seminar and waiting for the interview call since last 5 months. Its just because my joining date in another IIT is approaching, i am getting restless. :)

Anonymous said...

BTW: the above comment is mine who brought up the topic of IITBHU.

PM

Anonymous said...

anon@above

May I know, in which department you have given presentation. My friends presented in physics and chemical engineering

Anonymous said...

May I know in which department you have given presentation. My friends gave presentation in physics and chemical engineering department

Anonymous said...

Just about 20 hrs. ago from now, in facebook (social media), a page has been created "PPC for Director" for the campaign in support of long-waiting decision for Prof. PPC of IITKGP to take charge of Directorship of IITKGP (after his selection by panel) because of some framed reasons. People / alumnus of IITKGP and others may look at that page and support Prof. PPC for the good cause of that institute (IITKGP).

Anonymous said...

To,
Prashant March 4, 2013 at 3:24 AM

iitmsriram answers to comments which he likes to, especially when a comment gives him opportunity to berate a young faculty (go back in all the comments and you will find plenty of rude comments by him - hint search for "sour grapes". He used it to define young faculty who dared to mention anything bad about IIT). Again, I am not a "sour grape" because I got an offer from IIT and did not join (senior faculty at that place were like iitmsriram only), and if you care to ask to people who refuse IIT offers, this attitude of senior faculty would come out as the topmost reason.

He could have simply pasted the new link but that would not be like him. How could he miss the chance?

Btw, no one on any blog provides any service to anyone.

@iitmsriram: Yes, it is impolite and you should know that.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anon @ March 7, 2013 at 7:41 PM,

I feel such statements (made by Prof. Sriram) come out automatically from a lot of senior faculty in India due to a feeling of superiority (age factor). Probably sometimes they dont mean it, but it happens due to less sensitive environment. But that can not be a justification for being impolite to junior faculty.

I hear several horror stories of ill-treatment from Asst. Prof (my former students) in IIXs. They are worse than being impolite.

A Senior Faculty in USA

Anonymous said...

Just to correct my previous post:

I hear horror stories of Asst. Prof (my former students) being ill-treated by senior faculty in IIX.

A senior faculty in USA

Anonymous said...

Amazing ! Martini like commentary by the bond (or Bond) of Indian science.

http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/104/05/0567.pdf

Anonymous said...

Dear professor Giridhar,

I am a fresh graduate from IISc and I want to point out about the pathetic situation of our official website to you. I am unable to see a webmaster ( which is wired) and on the homepage, the developer has putup an advertisement of his web design company which is even wired. you can check this by going through this link. There is a testimony from Prof. Viay Natarajan from CSA. If the positive testimony is real, then he does it in a totally unprofessional way. (http://www.surfzone-india.com/).

iitmsriram said...

Wonder why "a senior faculty in USA" wants to be anonymous. For the anon who made the initial posting "Great, the Ramanujan fellowship page on DST is now dead", the reply "Anon, please check around before cribbing" would sting as it points out the lack of thought / action before posting. I don't see it as impolite. I have always identified myself, so if any of you want to check if I am a nasty abusive senior or a helpful administrator, you could send mail to young or old faculty at my institution and ask them (feedback from disgruntled former faculty / unsuccessful applicants does not count). Like I have said before on this blog, don't believe conspiracy theories of those who did not apply or did not get job offers here (ahh, the sour grapes), why not ask those who did get the offers? Heck, even our host here (who seems to have disappeared for a while) knows me well enough to offer some comments.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

I would really appreciate if this blog does not become about the psychoanalysis of Prof Sriram.

Anonymous said...

@iitmsriram

I believe the senior faculty from US is anon to save his former students from your kind.

And only thing your comment points out is your arrogant attitude.

It seems everyone who disagrees with you is either disgruntled or sour grapes. There are plenty who do get job offers and still do not join because of people like you.

It is funny to see that you do not even find your comment impolite which pretty much sums you up.

Anonymous said...

A question in context of IIX:

Can a faculty change the department they are assigned to - say electrical to cs? Of course, it can happen only if the other department agrees, but is it possible? Are there any precedents?

Trinadh said...

Thanks admins.. for taking time answering lots of queries of those who want to R2I.

My query is specifically regarding INSPIRE Faculty Award. I would like to know if DST extends the time to activate the faculty award(which is 3 months) if some one who is under consideration at a couple of places request for.

Previous INSPIRE Faculty awardees pls comment.

Dr. Nisha said...

I am presently working as Assistant manager (Evironment)at GMDC Ltd.
I have done my BSc and MSc in Environmental Science and PhD in Marine Science. I wish to apply for the assistant professor at IISc. Plz guide.

Techman said...

@nisha

Please look at the dept. website to check if an advertisement is out. You may also check for faculty advertisement at IISc website and see if the concerned dept. is mentioned. Or you can ask the HOD.

This is how one goes for applying to IITs, hopefully it is same for IISc.

Good luck.

Anonymous said...

@Trinadh..

I'm sailing in the same boat. I have wrote to a senior scientist in DST who is incharge of INSPIRE program exactly on the same query, he responded me back promptly that if one identified host institute withign 3 months then they will consider for defering the joining date upon mutually agreeing with host institute...DST should seriously consider for extending the validaity of the award. Its extermely challenging to happen something in India with 3 months that too for candidtes who had their PhD + postdoc in abroad or spent considerable time in abroad without any contact with indian academia......or else several potential candidates offer will be lapsed.....
VSSS

Anonymous said...

What about income tax For InspIRE faculty??????
I am an INSPIRE faculty awardee of 2012. As March approaches I want to know if we need to pay income tax on this "fellowship". Secondly, Since salary being given to us is the equivalent of a metro IIT assistant professor salary, are we eligible for HRA (which is approx. 11,400 INR for iit assisstant prof.) benefit on income Tax?

Anonymous said...

Hello,
Anybody received interview letter for physics at IIT KgP. Plz reply.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi all,

Any updates on Ramanujan Fellowship results. It is due in march, if i am not wrong...

Thanks

Anonymous said...

@Ramanujan Fellowship

A recent conversation with DST in charge of RF, confirmed that the selection committee meeting is not over yet. They are trying to conduct it within the next 2-3 weeks. All the best.

Anonymous said...

@VSSS

Thanks for your reply, you mentioned that the time of Inspire faculty award will be extended for joining, in case if the candidates identifies host institute with in 3 months. I would like to know what if someone in screening process needs time for a month or two to finalize the host institute.

I was trying to contact DST-INSPIRE officials over phone for long time, but none responded.

Anyways all the best for ur search.

Anonymous said...

Anyone knows the interview status in IISER Trivandrum in Physical Sciences

Anonymous said...

Any updates about Ramanujan Fellowship

dd said...

hi, i need to send break-up of usage of research grant for my INSPIRE fellowship ... can someone who has done this recently let me know what details i need to provide for the same? thanks ...

Anonymous said...

I called Mr. Kohli today, he said that the outcome of Ramanujan Fellowship would be available at end of April.

Anonymous said...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/88-of-IIT-B-students-say-professors-inept/articleshow/19435098.cms

says something?

Anonymous said...

Hi, Does anybody have any idea about the tentative time period for IIT Madras interview? When enquired, I got a response immediately saying that the details will be communicated after shortlisting. My understanding from old posts here and IITM faculty guide is that it will be a short notice, hence the query.
Thanks

iitmsriram said...

Anon asks "Does anybody have any idea about the tentative time period for IIT Madras interview?". Interviews will be in June and perhaps extend into early July. Department-wise dates have not been set yet. Called candidates will get approximately 3 weeks notice.

Anonymous said...

Dear Prof. Sriram, Thank you very much. I was really hoping that you would respond and you did indeed. Appreciate that. I can plan my india visit accordingly. thanks again.

AYoungFaculty said...

@Anon April 8, 2013 at 10:25 AM

For me the article only showed the attitude of current generation of students. There was no suggestions by students to improve their own behavior.


-AYoungFaculty

Prashant said...

For the anonymous who cited a Times of India article above, here is a response from the original source
http://www.insightiitb.org/2013/response-to-toi-article-titled-88-of-iit-b-students-say-professors-inept/

Times of India does have amazing ethics of journalism :)

Anonymous said...

I have a question regarding faculty position for foreign candidates (not of indian origin). The advertisements posted by IITs state that an appointment can be made only for 5 years. However, I know at least one specific instance from IITM where a foreign faculty has been serving for more than 5 years. Is this possible, and under what circumstances?
Also, are these foreign faculty given adequate lab space, PhD candidates and startup?
Thanks!

iitmsriram said...

anon wonders "However, I know at least one specific instance from IITM where a foreign faculty has been serving for more than 5 years. Is this possible, and under what circumstances?". Well, get a new 5 year contract, leave the country and re-enter with a fresh visa for another 5 years. And, these faculty members are entitled to all rights and privileges as permanent faculty members.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Prof Sriram!

Anonymous said...

Recently I was going through SERB (DST) website:(http://www.serb.gov.in/faq.php#emr-faq), and reading about Extra- mural Research Funding scheme. In FAQs, it says, "The Board funds only one project to an Investigator at a time, except in cases where calls for proposals are invited for specific areas/schemes/programs"

Does it mean, you get funding for only one project at a time from DST, and then wait for year (s) to get it completed for next proposal funding? I am not clear, please suggest. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone let me know, for AP position in IITG, how many days before the scheduled interview date the candidates are called for the same?
For outstation candidates, it would be better if they can inform atleast 20-25 before the D-Day.
Thanks

DKD

Anonymous said...

I have an interview call from IIT-X. However, the call letter asks me to produce an NOC from my current employer. For obvious reasons, I cannot ask for an NOC from my current employer - it is like putting down your papers before you have another offer in hand! Is there a way out of this conundrum, or am I just stuck?

iitmsriram said...

anon asks "the call letter asks me to produce an NOC from my current employer". Tell the IIX that as your current employer is a private employer (in Western India, did I get that right?) and as there is no provision of transfer of service / retirement benefits or lien, you will be resigning your current assignment and produce proof of that at the time of joining, so NOC need not be insisted upon at the time of interview. You can give your own declaration that you are not under any bond or similar obligation with your current employer. That should do.

Anonymous said...

Anybody has heard from IIT hyderabad?I got the acknowledgement from dean's office immediately but the HODs never respond to emails. HODs in IIT Madras and Delhi have been good in responding but the new IIT heads never respond to emails.

Anonymous said...

When will the results of Ramanujan fellowship be announced..??????????????????????????????? How much more time is needed ???????????? I applied almost 8 months back !!

please suggest

Ankur Kulkarni said...

I have applied more than a year ago.

Anonymous said...

Rama Rama Rama...(Nujan).

I talked to Mr. Kohli...Sure and Shot results are coming in May.. (I do not believe this 100% sure and short things in life). Good luck guys.

Anonymous said...

I was told by Kohli's office that the results are expected early june! I have also heard that Ramalingaswamy results will come out in June.
Last year both the results were announced in January/February.
As usual no consistency in such flagship programmes. What about next year, will there be an 'year' skipping technique?
IISc Fellow


Anonymous said...

Hi all,

Ramalingaswami results are almost out I guess. I received a mail and a letter informing me that I am not selected. So I am guessing the ones who are indeed selected for the fellowship may have received the congratulatory e-mail already.

Good luck,
Ravi

SKR said...

DBT is more efficient in handling Ramalingaswami fellowship than DST'S Ramanujan fellowship.
List of candidates selected for the fellowship is out.
http://dbtindia.nic.in/docs/ListofselectedcandidatesforRamalingaswamiReentryFellowship201213revised.pdf

I had bad experience with ramanujan fellowship application and very disappointed with the selection process and amount of time it took. I find the process is much better handled for RLS fellowship. Last date is december 31st and results were out by april 10th. Though, I am from chemistry background, I wrote proposal related to bio area which worked out for me getting the Ramalingaswami fellowship.

Anonymous said...

hi all,

Does anyone know when we can get the result of shortlisted candidates for DST-inspire award 2013 interview?

Thanks

S. Paul said...

Few people got a call for the interview already (Physics)....


Anonymous said...

Hi There,

Would like to share my experience with the new IIT selection process. May be of help to those who don't have a teaching experience.

I got shortlisted at IITX(western India), dean asks my postdoc supervisor for reference letters before meeting me , then I had a good skype interview with dept colleagues and dean and after 2 weeks communicates with a negative reply saying my profile does not match the requirements. First, I thought it was indeed very kind of the dean to at least reply, although negative.
However, I contemplate, whether the new IITs know what they want. They only know (very well)that they just want to hire new faculties who can teach without having any vision about the future research of the depts. There is absolute mismatch between the mandate of the search committee, and the selection committees.

Now, let me tell you about the IITX (eastern India). Almost same thing, I wake up early morning just to appear for a 10 min sham interview for a chemical biology program. The dean is still busy to send me a regret mail.

The new IITs will love to offer jobs if you need only a desktop to do research or if you have had a formal training (MS or PhD) from an established IIT. Some institutes tries to distinguish themselves by acting fast (in weeks) and by offering extra salary award, however, lacks responsibility in making decisions.

Anonymous said...

To Anon above,

I completely disagree what you said.
My experience with all new IIT's was excellent. I am still working in a new IIT in western India and also have been part of faculty recruitment process multiple times already. I have got the seed grant what I desired which enabled me to buy what I wanted. Research is always the thrust here. Teaching is not the main priority. Our engg dept has almost 90 % foreign qualified Ph.D/Post-doc. So my real experience is completely contrary to your assumption.

Anonymous said...

Disagree with anon above..You are just satisfying yourself when you did not get in old IIT..sour grapes..

Anonymous said...

haha :D seems people like u suffer from this typical "sour grapes" problem ! btw, Have you made it to old and new IIT's ????

just for your info: I got offers from 3 IIT's including old and new. But choose new over old because of location advantage . Now tell me who is suffering from a prob ?? :)

Anonymous said...

Guys cool down. It's not a place to discuss 'sweet and sour' items. Help others with information. I agree, someone's experience may not replicates other experience, so it depends on many factor. Cheer up and keep working on.

Anonymous said...

I heard from a somewhat better informed colleague of mine over a tea gossip that DST is considering to get rid of DST Ramanujan Fellowship altogether.

His argumnents were - (a) the burden of mission re-entry is somewhat shared by DST-INSPIRE and (b) the feeling that the earlier Ramaujan fellows would have anyway joined their institutes of choice irrespective of the fellowship, as in most cases the institutes forward Ramanujan application only after offering the candidate a full time job.

My colleague further supported his arguments by pointing that (a) the time lag between two successive Ramanujan results keep increasing (b) the idea of the conclave of fellows (which took place in Pune in May2012) has been abandoned and (c) although the fellowship and research grant amounts of Ramanujan award are dwarfed by a somewhat less competitive DST-Inspire, DST has not made any initiative to correct the trend.

Since the reasoning sounded convincing, I would like to know if anyone here has any idea about such plans.

SMC

Anonymous said...

@Ramanujan Fellowship

Looks like the selection meeting is over. One researcher applied with our institute as host institute called Kohli today and got a positive reply. He was told that the official letters may take few weeks to dispatch :)

Ankur Kulkarni said...

What a waste.. So these guys will be sending physical letters? I have applied more than a year ago and changed residence thrice in the interim. How am I supposed to track the letter? When Inspire can send emails, why can't Ramanujan?

Anonymous said...

Contacted Mr. Kohli this morning. Engineering Science..My case not recommended. He said, only 1 candidate is recommended in Engineering Science. Good luck guys...

Anonymous said...

@ Ankur on RF

Don't worry, they will send the letter to your host institute. Last year the meeting was held in May and I got the letter in August ! Hope it will be faster this time.

Anonymous said...

Did anybody selected for Ramanujan Fellowship in Physics ?

Anonymous said...

I am trying to contact Dr. Kohli and i never get the line, may be i am calling to wrong number (91-11-26590499) and i am trying from USA, could anyone let me know what is the right way to get the line.

Anonymous said...

Above: Call me around 10:00 a.m.

Saswata said...

Comments about Ramanujan fellowship:

-I have been able to reach the number 91-11-26590499 several times. There is another number: 91-11-26590599.

-The fellowship is still being handled in an unprofessional way. They claimed to have lost or not received my annual report, so I had to send the photocopies again (lucky that I kept one copy of every document). Then they claimed to have not received that as well. Then it turned out that the address of Dr. Kohli as given in the SERB website is not regularly accessed by the person who receives the phone at 91-11-26590499. Anyway, now the search is going on from compounds to compounds of DST! [again, I was aware of such tricks by DST ad therefore kept the tracking number of postal deliveries.]

-They send one copy of the selection letter to the candidate's host institute, and another one from which (s)he applied from.

Anonymous said...

I had heard that the IIT Madras faculty interviews will be held in June (2013). I was wondering when the interview call letters are sent out for the same. Anybody has an idea?

Anonymous said...

Anybody received interview call (chemistry) for the second round of selection from UGC-FRP.

Anonymous said...

UGC-FRP physics second round anybody??

Anonymous said...

Hi All,
I got Ramanujan fellowship offer letter. So the felllowship is truly alive.
Best
sp

Anonymous said...

@ SP above,

Congrats !!

Have you mentioned anywhere in your Ramanujan Fellowship application while applying that you are already offered a job (or will be joining soon as a faculty) in an IIT ?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I did not have any offer back then. I applied in August/Sep last year.
best
sp

Ankur Kulkarni said...

Wow! This is the best news I have heard for a while!

“There is no point being dismissive about ranking. Instead we must understand why we are not there. While learning from them, we shall also present our case,” another government official said, also requesting anonymity. “So, their view about our institutions must be based on complete information.”

http://www.livemint.com/Politics/X1xJY3phY6DwwFkWyG3sPO/India-to-lobby-foreign-agencies-for-improving-university-ran.html

iitmsriram said...

IITM faculty interview schedule is now up at the applications portal. Shortlisted candidates are being notified by email and can also find out their status at the applications portal.

Anonymous said...

Dear Dr. Madras,
I have been following your blog for quite time. I believe that this will be a good platform for sharing my thoughts about a recent interview that I had at one of the new "IITs" in the south. Just for the record, I hold a Ph.D. from a major university in the US and am currently gainfully employed in very good company in the US making >120K USD (money is not important but it certainly defines the nature of work I do). Since this was the first Interview call I got from India, I decided to attend it personally to get a feel about the Institute and surroundings. I took off from work, spent close to $2000 and arrived at the airport where someone was supposed to pick me up. After numerous calls back and forth and waiting for more than an hour, I was able to find the person who showed up in a dilapidated car. Not that this matters the most, but the driver very adamantly refused to switch on the A.C. in spite of the fact that it was burning hot outside. Also, the accommodation arrangement was horrible and every interview candidate agreed to that. The candidate seminars were arranged in a way that reminded me of my B.Tech “viva –voce” examination. One by one candidates were called inside the room and the first thing they heard was “you have 20 minutes – Start” (Not sure if this is the way to treat someone who gave Invited and keynote talks at major conferences). The second day selection committee interview was a little formal but still inefficient. Most of the questions were irrelevant and did not made much sense at all. This was not only my experience but experience of other candidates as well. None of the current faculty members demonstrated any interest to interact with candidates and the atmosphere was set as if candidates have committed a grave mistake by deciding to attend the interview. In a nutshell, the whole interview process was a joke and derogatory to someone who has a decent qualification and is not desperately looking for a Job. I personally think that IITs have a long way to go if they really want to attract good talent to come and join them. Maybe a little planning and better attitude towards candidates would help but I am not sure if this does not happen due sheer negligence or unjustified arrogance. Hope this post cautions prospective faculty candidates of IITs and sends feedback to the policy makers to modify their selection process.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous above,

The "AC part" was to test your resolve and a sampler of what lies ahead - you failed the test.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous with Interview experience:

Caution: you may (will) be branded as sour grape.

Anonymous said...



Anonymous May 30, 2013 at 7:12 PM:


If you are into CS/EE, you can look in to IIIT-H or IIIT-D. The research environment is as good as you can get in any IIX, and overall academic/working environment is excellent.

Anonymous said...

anyone received interview call from EE dept. at IITM

Thanks
J

Anonymous said...

I am Anonymous,May 30, 2013 at 7:12 PM.
I am neither a sour grape nor did they plan the AC thing. I have rejected an offer from one of IITs earlier (who interviewed me via skype) so I cannot be jealous of not getting this offer. I would have rejected it anyways. The sole purpose I attended this interview personally was to see how much Indian academia has changed over the last 10 year. Unfortunately, I do not think it has changed even a bit. Folks are working on stuff that is atleast a decade behind in terms of research. The arrogance is most likely due to insulated IIT environment (Frog in the Well saying). Just for the records, I graduated from one of IITs and I was equally arrogant or say "ignorant" during my IIT days. After coming to US, I realized what academics really is.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, i have received the interview call letter(email) from EE in IITM. The interview is on 28th. my application portal gives me the recent update regarding the interview shortlisting and dates. If you dont see that in your portal, try ringing the HOD. so far i am happy with the way i have been getting responses from IITM. All the departments that i had applied to had acknowledged my application earlier (HODs confirmed the receipt of reference letters as well) and shortlisted for 2 depts... all the best

Anonymous said...

I gave my final interview at one of the established IITs in early May. I am wondering: by when does one typically get a *formal* decision (i.e. letter of acceptance/offer or letter of rejection)? I know all decisions require the stamp of a governing council, but it's been almost a month already since the interview.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

^ you should be able to know the result of your interview by simply contacting the HoD.

Ankur Kulkarni said...

The formal letter can taken longer based on availability of various people and things are often slower in the summer.

Anonymous said...

The only new IIT in the South is IIT Hyderabad. Also explains the AC problem!

Anonymous said...

Hi... I have been following this blog for quite sometime... it is really a great effort (since it is the only one I know of..).. I have a question, has anyone applied to IIT- B? say Mech or Meta departments?. Anyone go calls for skype presentation or interview shortlisting?... would be of immense help if you could share this detail.

Anonymous said...

I have applied for a faculty position to IITM. In fact, one of my friends also applied to IITM. I am surprised to gather the information that no one has called-for a particular post in a particular department. I came to know since they did not want to call anyone within the department for the post, they also rejected all external candidates who applied for the post. In the advertisement, they have specified the fields we work and we are having very good record in publication, phd guidance, sponsored project(s), working experience and even citation. When they specify a research field in the advertisement, at least they should call the top 3 applicants in that field for seminar/interview. I urge that the admin dept. should check that the short-listing process went on in a fair manner; its because of internal politics, if external candidates are not called-for interview, its shame to the department and to its IIT. I do not know whether admin. department conduct meetings with all the department heads to see that how and why a candidate is short-listed/not short-listed.

iitmsriram said...

Unlike at other institutions, shortlisting at IITM is done by the selection committee and not any departmental or Institutional internal committee. Majority of selection committee members are external (typically senior Profs from other IITs or IISc) so they don't have considerations like "did not want to call anyone within the department for the post, they also rejected all external candidates who applied for the post".

Anonymous said...

My experience of INSPIRE presentation/interview

I appeared for interview via 'Vidyo Video Conference facility'. A nice facility implemented by INSA so that candidates should be able to communicate with all the panel members (about 5-6 in number). Earlier I was told that there will be 15 min of presentation and 15 min of discussion on proposal. However, during presentation they told me total 25 min and only 10 min for discussion. I finished my presentation in 15 mins. They asked some questions which were difficult to explain in the given time as non of them were from my specialized field. I don't know if they found some satisfactory answer from me (answer which they were looking for). Then there were some question on technical aspects of the proposal and what are the courses I can teach. I found few members (specially the person from my broad field, only member to whom I identified) of committee who were trying to put others (candidate) down, however, that was on a very low scale. Overall I am having mix feeling of interview.

I don't know/understand how is this system works. Like how do they will decide based on 15+10 min of interaction. Even someone above mentioned about 20 min of presentation for a regular faculty position. Institutes generally take more than 1 hour of interview to selected PhD students. Or things are already almost decided and these presentation things are just formalities. Can't understand how much weightage is attached to these presentations.

Anonymous said...

@iitmsriram:
I think, IITM included external members in selection committee (for short-listing alone? or they will also continue to be in the interview committee?) only works in paper. My understanding (which is arrived by gathering opinion of some people who works in IITM itself) is the following. Usually, the head and the internal dept. team shortlist the candidates which will be sent to external members for their opinion/further approval. The external members usually agree to the decision of heads/admin (why they bother the change the decision and where they have time or they simply want to be amicable). If the selection committee (including the external members) convene a meeting and discuss about shortlisting, then I agree that the decision will be fair. If opinion is sought over email, I doubt about its fair process. I wonder to see the statistic record of how many the decision of heads have been challenged by the external committee members?

iitmsriram said...

anon says "If the selection committee (including the external members) convene a meeting and discuss about shortlisting, then I agree that the decision will be fair". The IITM procedure (in place for two years now) is to have a tele-conference (not email with a request to answer yes or no, but not a physical meeting either). There is only one selection committee which does shortlisting first and the interviews later. The applications are on line, the selection committee experts are given id's at the applications portal so they can see all materials submitted by the candidates. HoD is not a member of the shortlisting panel, it includes only the external subject matter experts and the Director (HoD is present as also a Dean, but they are not members of the shortlisting panel). Tele-conference typically runs 1 - 1.5 hrs. For departments with large number of applications (Humanities, for example), multiple sessions are used (this time Humanities had 3 sessions). Fortunately, almost all external experts are willing to spend the time to look over all the materials uploaded by applicants and they are coming to the teleconference with their own notes. In fact, the more senior they are, the more time they are willing to invest in this, it appears (recent retirees are the absolute best at this) and the more meticulous their notings are. Instead of having an " ... understanding (which is arrived by gathering opinion of some people who works in IITM itself)", why not ask any IITM HoD who has been through this process? "People who works in IITM" may have no clue as to what happens at the teleconference. This process may be the best we can do without having the selection committee members travel twice, once for a short listing meeting and a second time for the interviews.

Anonymous said...

@iitmsriram

Can get the information about the selection committee under RTI?

iitmsriram said...

anon asks "Can get the information about the selection committee under RTI?". What information? If you want a list of members, yes, that is available under RTI, but only after selections are completed. There was a plan to publish this at the applications portal last year, but the portal crashed after the selections were finalized and this plan got shelved. Maybe, we will do it this year (pro-active disclosure).

P S said...

It saddens me to see that so many people here are questioning the honesty and motives of the selection committee. If you're not shortlisted or selected, is it possible that the reason was your weak application instead of some sort of corruption at the relevant IIX?

It is laudable that Prof. Sriram is answering all these questions with such patience and grace.

Digbijoy Nath said...

This thread has been of immense help to me, and now that i am starting to apply for faculty position in India, I have come across both sides of the spectrum - while HoDs/faculty search committee of some institutes are very courteous, hospitable and prompt in replying emails, it is indeed depressing to receive no response at all from HoDs etc of some institutes. Application filled month ago has no feedback and the search committee won't respond either. But what I really feel good about is the presence of such institutes in India whose HoDs are very nice, welcoming and positive in responding. That gives me hopes.
[I shall of course not name either type of institutes in a public forum]

Anonymous said...

To: P.S.

People are questioning because they are routinely finding discrepancies in the decisions of selection committee. If you care to look around, you will find many such instances across all IITs. IITM obviously has got the best procedure of involving externals for shortlisting but at other IIX, internal politics is playing a big part in promotions/ selections. You will find plenty of faculty who have been promoted over their better colleagues (objectively better).

Anonymous said...

Hi all,

I am wondering if anyone can provide some information on collaborative funding opportunities between India and US research labs. I am not talking about fellowship programs such as Wellcome-DBT or NIH Fogarty, rather pure individual PI's collaborative grants.

Thanks in advance
RP

Anonymous said...

@IITMSriram
Glad that IITM is more transparent selection system. If a candidate is not shortlisted for interview, then, do IITM ready to send the comments of selection committee to the rejected candidates (as a private mail) so that they get chance to improve themselves and overcome the weakness? How do we know our weakness (from the perspective of selection committee which we might not know) unless it is told.

iitmsriram said...

anon asks "do IITM ready to send the comments of selection committee to the rejected candidates (as a private mail)". Just like in the interviews, the selection committee is not making candidate-wise notes, but only has an overall result - shortlisted / not shortlisted, on the basis of discussions. So, there aren't really any comments to be shared over email (in most cases; for some candidates, there is information noted and available). And, like in the case of unsuccessful candidates at interviews, the HoD who is present during shortlisting, may be willing to share some information over the phone based on impressions gathered during the discussions (or from the notes as indicated above).

Anonymous said...

When the DST inspire faculty awards results will announce for session I 2013 (Physics, interview was held on 29 th May?
Thanks in advance

ABC

Anonymous said...

You may call INSA.
Phone (Reception): 011-23221931
Mobile: 9873645073

Anonymous said...

Can anyone tell when the csir-ugc net certificates will be dispatched? It poses a major problem when one is applying to the iits under the net fellowship. They are asking for the certificate.

Anonymous said...

A question about inter-IIT transfers.

My wife and I are both at one IIT and want to move to a different IIT. In this case, our applications have to go through the official channel.

If one of us gets an offer and other doesn't, is it possible for us to refuse that offer?

To clarify, if you submit an application through the official channel, can you retract your application after getting offer from the other institute or is it necessary to take that offer because you went through the 'official channel'?

Anonymous said...

DS
dear all,
can any one tell me about non-academic selection process..
I have applied before 2 months at IISER pune and have no news..

Anonymous said...

Does the non government employees are
considered for experienced technical gov jobs

Anonymous said...

If a successful Ramanujan aspirant wants to change the host institution from IIX to IISC, what he has to do?.

Je said...

@Transfer of RF

I think its possible with the consent of heads of both institutions. Generally they discourage it, but if you get all the paper work done properly they normally allow the transfer. Get help from somebody who did it before.

Anonymous said...

Je @ above

Thanks for your info.

Whar type of paper work needed?. Do you mean the person has to get approval prior to the communication with the heads of the respective institutions.

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