PhD in India: Opportu­nities and Challenges

In March 2021 I joined Suparna Bhattacharya, Nutan Limaye, Geetha Manjunath, and Ruta Mehta to talk about doing a PhD in India (part of the Women in Computing series for CSA's Golden Jubilee at IISc), moderated by CSA PhD students Shruti and Shivika. Geetha and Suparna had come back to IISc for PhDs after 17 and 14 years of work respectively. Nutan and Ruta had taught themselves algorithms at local engineering colleges. I was an accidental academic for whom a PhD looked less scary than stand-up comedy.

Nutan, Suparna, and I had each taken on too many courses early. Ruta recommended about 15 days off a year. Geetha advised working students to pick a problem adjacent to their job (not the job itself). To avoid feeling stuck, Ruta gives her students two related problems. Nutan suggested reading groups. I treated even textbook exercises as open problems.

On rejection, Suparna passed on Richard Karp's advice to love your failures as much as your successes. Nutan and Ruta said rejections still sting but reviews improve the paper. Geetha suggested a poster or conference paper before the journal version. I mentioned the CV of failures and said minding rejection, after long expecting it, showed respect for my work.

Ruta (then at UIUC) called her IIT Bombay PhD the best decision for her, since a government stipend left her free to choose her advisor and problem, though US students get more chances to collaborate and give talks. Nutan and I both recommended a postdoc before a faculty job. I had applied only to IIT Gandhinagar. Nutan urged visits of a month or two to other groups. I warned against overcommitting. Suparna closed with her father's reminder that she did the PhD because she loved it, and I said the only likely regret is not enjoying it enough.