Exchange Diaries
Siddharth Das | Electronics and Electrical Communication Engg.
Ph.D. in Cryptography and Hardware Security, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
What part does a Ph.D. degree from a prestigious university play in a student’s life?
A Ph.D. degree is a gateway to more advanced and complex research works. It is a must if you wish to get into the teaching profession. Even if you want to apply for corporate jobs later, it is advantageous because you gain a lot of technical experience. Moreover, the transition from Ph.D. to corporate is not difficult because you have the experience of working under someone(professors) and how to meet the deadlines. It basically brings you a step closer to excelling in the field of research.
When and how did you get the motivation to do a Ph.D.?
My interest in academics was the motivation behind doing a Ph.D. I was pretty much interested in the courses taught in my department. I applied for a project under a professor who gave me the motivation to do an internship abroad. At the end of the second year, I completed an internship at the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan (based on materials research). I also did another project at IIT Kharagpur, due to which my field of interest changed to applied cryptography and hardware security. At the end of the third year, I got an internship at MIT, which inspired me to apply for Ph.D.
How did you prepare for it, and what is the procedure of application?
All universities have deadlines to apply for Ph.D. programs. GRE and TOEFL are necessary, and you can start preparing in August and book dates for them way before the deadlines of universities. Some of the good resources for preparation are Manhattan Prep GRE Books, Magoosh app, and videos on youtube for TOEFL. You require a resume, a Statement of Purpose, three letters of recommendation, and a transcript. Start preparing the resume from August. The Statement of Purpose should be original work. You can take references from other SOPs for which DC is a good source. It should be concise. You should mention points like:
1. your entire journey
2. the motivation behind doing a PhD
3. why you are interested in that particular field
4. experience in that field
5. names of professors under whom you want to work
You can get letters of recommendation from professors under whom you have done projects or those who gave you an EX in a particular subject. You can get the transcript from the UG Department, although some universities accept the ERP version as well. You also have to pay an application fee. A month after you have applied, if a professor has flagged your profile, you will get an interview call. After about a month, results are declared.
What is the role of CGPA?
Some universities like UCB and MIT are highly biased towards academically higher students and give a lot of importance to CGPA. Sometimes they only take department rank-1. However, if you are really interested in your field and have a couple of publications and some exceptional work to show, you can convince them. It is suggested that you maintain a CGPA of greater than 8.5 and have some experience in your field.
How are you planning to manage your finances?
My finances are not a problem for me because I am getting a funded scholarship, so my tuition fee is waived, and I am getting a monthly stipend.
How is your university going to manage everything in this pandemic situation?
CMU is taking online classes, and if there are any lab courses, they will send equipment to the students. The universities are going out of their way to help their students so that their education is not discontinued because of this situation.
What difficulties did you face (or may face later) in the process because of this situation?
I wanted to go to the USA and start my work a month before the session starts, but I could not go as the visa centers were closed, and there were no international flights. There would be some inconvenience in doing lab work. However, there isn’t much research work in the first semester, and we mainly have to focus on the curriculum so that it won't be much difficulty later.
How did IIT Kharagpur benefit you in your journey?
Everything resulted because of IIT Kharagpur. It provided me with the academic foundation. The projects I did here helped me in deciding my interests and goals. I took a cryptography project here, which provided me with the base required to do the Ph.D. I got a better view of working in research labs. Although labs are more sophisticated in the USA and Japan, getting a basic idea of what it feels like working in a research lab helped me.