Advait Risbud - University of British Columbia, Okanagan

(Yesss, finally, I get to talk about myself) Hello everyone! My name is Advait Risbud (he/him), and I am a fourth-year undergraduate student in the MEMS department. I did my summer internship in the Solarspec laboratory at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. This internship was via the popular Mitacs program organised and financed by the Canadian government. I intend to address the following points through this blog: how I secured the internship; why this project; my experience in Canada; key takeaways.

The Mitacs portal opens sometime in August and closes in mid-September. There are 3000+ projects on the Mitacs portal floated by various professors from different Canadian universities. You can give up to 7 preferences with a brief account of our research experience. Unlike the last Mitacs cohort, SoPs for individual projects were not expected. They also required at least one, up to two LoRs. The following points should be kept in mind while shortlisting projects: topic (something that has an experimental as well as theoretical component); professor’s repute/background, and university.

My motivation for a research internship sprung from my inclination to pursue science after my undergraduate degree. I would require a recommendation from my professor irrespective of whether I apply for an MS or a PhD (I was not sure of whether to take the job/MS/PhD route). This is where the professor’s reputation/background comes in. The university is important because a big name brings along with it better facilities, resources, peer groups, and much more. In no order, the top 3 universities in Canada are University of Toronto, McGill University, and University of British Columbia. They are all very well resourced and have excellent groups working in almost every field, and I was very fortunate to get into UBC. As far as the topic is concerned, at the time of application, I was not inclined towards a particular research field except a developing interest in condensed matter/materials science. With these things in mind, I filled out my seven preferences and got an interview for my second preference. The interview questions can be found in confession #1686 on the new IITB confessions page.

The project was centred around photocatalysis using organic semiconductors and optimising their performance using various spectroscopy techniques to investigate their charge-carrier dynamics. As I had mentioned previously, this project was the perfect amalgamation of theoretical and experimental work, so I was more than satisfied with my getting accepted.

Mitacs gives their stipend in installments, and the amount covers the flight, stay, and aiyaashi in Canada. I stayed in a campus residence in UBC. The city I was living in was not very pedestrian friendly (poor public transport, you’ll need a car) and all the grocery stores and eateries were far from my house hence living on campus wasn’t the best experience. The major learning came from living alone (though I had my dear friend Aryan Gupta along for the ride), cooking all meals for yourself, and managing your own finances. While I can cook, and Aryan claims to be a chef, we did not have any of the basic utilities that we take for granted at home. This includes pots and pans, spoons, plates, forks, bowls, kitchen towels etc. Buying all these items left a considerable dent in our pockets, and what’s worse is that we did not have the baggage allowance to bring them back. This makeshift living situation was possibly the only thorn in the side of my internship experience.

Nevertheless, we cooked a lot of stuff and had a lot of fun in the meantime. P.S.: Deep frying chicken in a not-so-deep pan is not a good idea.

The lab group made my experience in Canada a delight. We went on many group outings, hikes, and even attended a 5-day conference in Vancouver (where we met a Nobel prize winner!). I hope I have made life-long friends. The conference (CSC) was held at the Vancouver convention center, which is a fantastic location, overlooking Vancouver Island and the Pacific Ocean. The conference was possibly the biggest highlight of my trip. Also, as a part of the Mitacs program, you could interact with people from different parts of the world and learn from their experiences. There were students from Mexico, France, Colombia, England, Ukraine etc.

Now let’s get to the key takeaways. The project was exactly as advertised and gave me an opportunity to learn a plethora of skills in experimental materials science. Having never worked in a chemistry lab before, there was a steep learning curve. I learnt that it is okay to struggle, but not okay to stop working hard. The biggest takeaway, however, is that I now know I want to do a PhD, mostly in the field of spectroscopy.

It is pertinent to ask yourself why you want to do an internship. It is completely fine if at this point your answer is “baaki log kar rahe hai”. Keep asking yourself this question, and maybe by the end of your internship, you will know why you did it.

This will most likely be your first foray into the professional world; it can be awkward, intimidating, sometimes boring. It is an experience nevertheless, and you should remember to have fun.

I consider my internship a success because it helped me make some important decisions about my future. My internship season per se was a little more interesting; we can talk about that some other time.

My advice to anyone considering a research internship is as follows:

• CPI>8 matters in most cases, but there are people who’ve gotten fantastic interns with a CPI<8. Talk to them. Also, a CPI>8 does not guarantee an internship (entrench this in your mind lest you get a rude awakening).
• Figure out a general area that interests you, so that you can answer the basic question, “Why did you apply for this internship/project?”. Don’t worry if you don’t have a very clear-cut answer right now; it’s completely fine. For example, I am still unsure of what I want to do a PhD in. But slowly, the probability space gets refined to in my case, physical chemistry.
• It is not that hard to get an LoR; just ask. Unless you made a mess in their lab or cheated in their course, you should get an LoR. Potential reasons for requesting an LoR: did well in a course, did a project, were a TA under the professor etc.
• If you do get a chance to go abroad, try new things, and meet new people. Don’t huddle up with people from other IITs, and start discussing placement scenes like a bunch of normies. Considering that you might never get to go to that place again in your life, make the most of it.

Now some opinions. I don’t weigh the institute internship process very heavily, I feel it is rigged, elitist, and far from equitable. Why should your resume be in LaTeX? Are there only four consulting firms in the world? Is communication skill equivalent to English speaking? These are all questions you should have asked yourself if you’ve tried to analyze our internship process.

I am not saying this is by design or that the PT cell isn’t rooting for you. We have a fantastic placement team that works very hard to get us some of the best opportunities from around the world. My point is that the professional world is much wider than the view we see from the microcosm of IITB.

There are millions of people doing very interesting things across the globe, and they need your help. Don’t restrict yourself to the three gates of IIT Bombay. Talk to people, learn from their journey, build a network, and eventually, a door will open for you. Keep in mind, you must never stop trying, never stop upskilling, and never stop learning. You are too talented to be giving up.