Exchange Diaries  

Varna Tiwari | Chemical Engineering

Effat University, Saudi Arabia

Research Area: Machine Learning and Deep Learning

1. Which University did you get in? What was your research topic?
I got a research intern opportunity in Effat University located in Riyadh,Saudi Arabia and I got this opportunity post COVID . My domain of expertise is Machine Learning and Deep Learning , and the research topic was Detection of COVID using the CT scan images of lungs

2. How did you apply for FT?
The process was quite trivial , i had to got to IR CELL portal and I uploaded my resume and and build my profile over there , and the i applied to Universities mentioning my statement of purpose

3. Why do you think FT is important?
The quality of work we get there is far better than many other internships . We have to work on live data , that way we can see the changes happening around us. Thus the exposure and the experience that we get by doing FT is a lot and very helpful.

4. What was the role of CG?
CG plays a quite important role. It shows your academic behaviour. It plays an important role depending on which domain you are applying , if you're a core student it shows , CG plays a major role in you getting an FT . But if you are for research area outside your department or curriculum then it might play such an important role as you getting an FT then will depend on your previous experiences

5. Can you share the details of the project you worked on and the Prof. you worked under? Also, did you do any similar projects here in KGP?
I have started my UG thesis under the Maths Department , it is based on the Recommendation System used by Netflix , the motivation behind this is what i learnt in the University using the live data.

6. How did your university manage everything in this confusion of Covid-19?
The things were planned keeping in mind the pandemic only , there were frequent meetings , we had to report to the concerned professor on Mondays . We used to upload our code on GitHub , and we had to tell what our vision was in the coming week . Professor also used to guide us , so that we could get better outcomes from our model.

7. What were the difficulties you faced during the entire process? Did the current pandemic situation affect you in any way?
The process was quite smooth and I applied through the portal and within a week or so I got my acceptance letter. And yes, definitely the pandemic has affected my internship. Generally , students go to the university and get some on-site experience . We also get to know the work culture at the university. So we couldn't experience all of this and that's the major drawback.

8. How would you describe your overall experience?
I was initially not prepared For an FT , but as I started working it was quite interesting . Because eventually when I started working I appreciated myself as I was getting the results and also I was working for a good cause , so that motivated me more. And these were the major reasons which led me to write a paper on my research topic.

9. What advice would you like to give to our fellow KGPins who aspire for FT?
I will definitely suggest someone to try and go for it . It is a learning experience for you.