Grad studies - II: Exploring academia as an undergrad

In my last post on grad studies, I made a list of topics that I thought were important from a prospective/current graduate student's point of view. This post follows up on that one with an essay on exploring the academic world while an undergrad.

Exploring the academic world as an undergrad is both useful and daunting. It is useful since it helps you make a very important career choice - whether to continue in academia or jump into the "real" world. Exploring the academic and research world as an undergrad can be a daunting prospect as well, because, often, you dont know where to start. So, how should you undertake this little exploration? Let me try to answer this in an anecdotal manner followed by a few general comments.

I was lucky in my "explorations". Fed up with text book metal extraction stuff, I had partly made up my mind by the end of 2nd year to opt out of metallurgy asap (i.e. immediately after BTech) and get a software job. However, as luck would have it, we went to IISc Bangalore on a study trip during the 3rd year of BTech. We went to meet our erstwhile college seniors, who were ME students at IISc. And in doing so, at some point of time during that trip I found myself standing in front of Prof. Ranganathan's lab. They had a wonderful poster outside the lab highlighting the work of Eric Lord and S. Ranganathan on geometry of quasicrystals. Ever since my school days, I had loved geometry and math. The reason I found metallurgy so stultifying in undergrad days was because it seemed bereft of mathematical beauty. That one poster gave me hope that there may be a lot more to metallurgy than I learnt from undergrad courses. Subsequently, I spent months searching up quasicrystals on the internet. I garnered some information, found some research papers, a short monograph, and just as importantly, made email contact with a number of scientists and professors working on this field who kindly directed me to a few valuable resources. I searched up people who worked on quasicrystals. I applied and got an internship in Prof Chattopadhyay's lab. Although I finally didnt work on quasicrystals and nor did i have much success on my internship project on solidification I gained valuable experience and insight to the research world.

I was lucky to come across the poster. Such luck is not uncommon, but it doesnt come the way of everyone. So what should you do if you didnt have "luck". Well, first of all, there should be a resolve not to trash your discipline unless you have given it a good shot - meaning, dont think of switching lanes too early. Secondly, think clearly about what you are passionate about (in my case, it was numbers, math and geometry). Then talk to professors to see whether you are able to tie up your passions in any research field (IMHO, you should be able to do this!! That's the beauty of research). I cant over-stress how important this step is. Thirdly, walk through the library. Look at books that professors havent ever suggested. Often such books turn out to be specialized books and may be a bit tough, but, they have the advantage of offering you a glimpse on how things may look at the research level. No professor at undergrad level asks you to browse through the "Physical Metallurgy Vol 1,2 &3" by Cahn and Haasen. But having done just that, I found an useful article by Walter Steurer on quasicrystals, which helped me fuel my interest on. Lastly, keep your eyes and ears open for research projects. Nothing matches gaining experience on the job. So, working on a research project part time in your college, or a summer internship in a research lab helps you no end.

To summarize:
1. Be positive and dont equate coursework with research; often research is infinitely more interesting than coursework. So, before giving up on higher studies/research, give it a honest shot.
2. Never give up on your passions; and, always look for research fields where the topics about you are passionate has a key role.
3. Write to people; whether grad students, or scientists or professors (in your university and elsewhere) with a short note on your area of interest, the sort of work you visualize that you would love and ask for guidance. However, do proper research on the net on whom to write to, and dont make your letters too generic.
4. Dont just live on the net. The college library (however big or small that may be) is a resource as fantastic as the net. Just browsing through the book shelves may be an immensely rewarding experience.
5. Look out for research openings for undergrads. Hands on experience in research at undergrad level is invaluable.