As a part of our Placement Guru vertical, Chennai36 got in touch with Suparna(EP batch of 18 ) to talk to her about her placement experience. Insti LIfe: How it all began My life in insti mostly revolved around academics. I also played badminton during my first two years, I never made it into the insti team, but I enjoyed the game. I used to ask questions about acads to my seniors. I worked on the IITM-Sat project during my freshie year and I had a good rapport with the senio

Priyanshu Mishra (insti name – “mistake”), one of the most famous stand-up comedians in Chennai circuit, originally wanted to be a fighter pilot. He graduated from department of Aerospace Engineering of IIT Madras and currently works with an interesting start-up. In this interaction with Chennai36, he opens up about his unconventional career choices and a lot more. Did your experience at IIT Madras somehow shape your career as a stand-up comedian? Oh definitely! I think there

R. Srikumar, a well-known name in the IPS, completed his Electrical Engineering at IIT Madras in 1970. Having chosen to serve the society, he went up to become the DGP of Karnataka. Currently, he serves as the chairman of a public Trust called Indian Centre for Social Transformation. In an interview with Pranit Mehta from Chennai36, he shares why he chose this Unconventional career and his experiences ranging from institute life to solving the Rajiv Gandhi case and his other

We spoke to Sumon Das, an alumnus, who recently passed out of the Department of Civil Engineering (batch of 2018). He is currently pursuing his Ph.D at Columbia University, an Ivy league college. We detail some of the foolproof fundaes he passed on to us from his experience. The following excerpt is taken from a telephonic conversation with him. Life at Columbia University… Located in Manhattan, New York city, CU proved to be quite a new experience for Sumon. He found the cl

Ashwin from the Department of Chemical Engineering interned in his 3rd year, on a project involving enzyme catalysis in the Nagaoka University of Technology. Our correspondent Adriza speaks to him about his experience. How did you get to know about this internship opportunity? I interned in the winter vacation of my third year. I’m currently in my 4th year and am majoring in Chemical Engineering. I was interested in the field of Bioengineering at that time. I had mostly worke

Saarthak Marathe is a third-year undergraduate student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He talks to our correspondent Rohith about his experience at the ISIR Lab in France where he conducted research on robotics at the end of his second year. Here are some of the excerpts from their conversation – Why did you choose Sorbonne University to intern at? Well, it’s not about the university, it’s about the lab. The ISIR Lab has a good reputation for robotics and haptics

Karan Patel is a 5th-year Dual Degree student in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering and is minoring in Operations Management. He did his summer research internship at the end of his 4th-year at the Operations Research Center, MIT Sloan School of Management. Chennai 36 got an opportunity to talk to him. The gist of the interview is as follows: Hello Karan! Can you tell us about your internship experience and about the topic that you worked on? My internship at the ORC, MIT Sl

Dr. Avilash Raul is the Principal Scientist at Indo German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS) and a guest faculty at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras. Chennai 36 correspondent Rasika Joshi sits down with Dr. Raul to talk about the projects and research internship opportunities for students from all fields at IGCS. Could you talk about why IGCS was established and briefly outline your association with it? The Indo German Centre for Sustainability was

Mayur Joshi is currently in his fourth year of Mechanical Engineering. He’s a Dual Degree student with Interdisciplinary specialization in Data Sciences. This is his second time with Chennai 36, previously having talked to us about his CERN internship last year. In his third year, he went on a research internship program through the DAAD WISE (Working Internship in Science and Engineering) to RWTH Aachen University in Germany. This internship is entirely funded by the German

In their new study, Dr. Pallab Sinha Mahapatra and Mr. Siddhant Mohapatra from IIT-Madras have discerned the dynamics of the prey-predator relationship in a confined space. Through a modeling approach, the scientists have co-related the survival of prey to the strength of the disturbance caused by the imminent predator attack. Living in communities is not exclusive to humans. Many insects, animals, and birds prefer to stay in groups; for example, fish swim in shoals, birds fl

C ryptography is a beautiful branch of mathematics which guarantees the art of secret-keeping. In today’s world of big data, there is a serious conflict between utility and privacy. The prime example of this conflict comes from the field of medicine — the abundance of genetic data today makes it possible to imagine a future where medicines can be personalized, but developing this capability requires running algorithms on large scale genetic data which is highly sensitive, and

Graphene, a ‘wonder material’ derived from graphite, promises new revolutions in the field of electronics, computers, solar panels, optics, bioremediation etc. These new horizons in various fields are, however, halted by the low and costly production of graphene. A team of scientists from IIT-Madras has now developed a low-cost method for production of graphene nanoplatelets clearing a major roadblock in the application of graphene in various industries. Graphene is a single-

The elevator probably counts itself amongst the world’s most pitiful objects, for it flies up and down for miles without ever having gotten anywhere. Today, it flew with a lady. “Hmm”, jabbing a button that read four, Claire mumbled into her phone. “…and how’s Albert doing?” “Great!”, a male voice replied on the other side of the phone. “The little devil seems to have calmed down.” “And the dentist said…” “No sweets for a long time. Otherwise, it’s going to be cavities all ov

Swaminathan (Sam) Sivakumar is an Intel Senior Fellow in the Technology and Manufacturing Group and Director of Lithography in the Portland Technology Development organization at Intel Corporation, leading the definition, development and deployment of Intel’s next-generation lithography processes. He is also responsible for developing resolution-enhancement technique s and optical proximity correction technologies in support of Intel’s leading-edge patterning solutions. Chenn

She stood proudly at the centre of the gallery, admiring the throng of visitors streaming through the doors. She warmly greeted her patrons with a polite smile. “My dear, you’ve outdone yourself this time- how realistic this one! Is! I almost cowered under its gaze,” exclaimed Nita, an aristocratic octogenarian who stubbornly refused to acknowledge her age. She smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yes, this took a while to perfect,” she said, running her fingers

Surya Srini just released his first original single “Kadhal Aadhirai” while also working in a corporation. He graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering of IIT Madras in 2019. In this interaction with Chennai36’s correspondent Sujay Srivastava, he opens up about his unconventional career choices and a lot more. When and how did you start developing an interest in music? I was in 1st grade when my mother enrolled me in a keyboard class because she was a busy worki

The Other Side is back with a brand-new podcast series, From Insti & Beyond, in collaboration with the Alumni Relations Cell of IIT Madras. Here, they aim to talk to distinguished alumni of IITM to enable young graduates and students across IITs to make better and more informed decisions regarding their careers and lives. In the first episode, The Other Side hosts Mr. Shiv Shivakumar, a leader who needs no introduction. Shiv Sir, a distinguished alumnus of both IIT Madras and

The journey to founding his startup started in the second year of his insti life, when he began tutoring students as a part of the Acad Buddy program. Taran Singh, an alumnus of the 2019 batch of the dual degree program of the Aerospace Department, tells us his story on founding Melvano. Besides Acad Buddy, Taran had begun to home tutor students nearby, who were preparing for JEE, and realized his passion for teaching. He understood the core problems faced by students who wer

We talked to three of our alumni – Kaushik, Tanya and Shreyas – currently working at Bain and Company. They share their experience at Insti and fundaes about consulting and Bain in specific. Here are some of the excerpts from their conversation. 1. What exactly is your work as a consultant, and how does a typical day at work look like? Kaushik: We are staffed on different projects and for various clients in varied industries. Each client has significant problems they want to

As Bain & Company has opened for internships this year, we sat down with the final-year students placed at Bain the previous year. Read on to find about their preparation, experience at Bain, and more. 1. What exactly does the work of a consultant entail? Rohith: In management consulting, a consultant gets access to problems & scenarios businesses and corporations face across industries. As part of a large team, you try to arrive at a diagnosis and solution for these issues/s