Module 6: Resources

It is very easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of such resources available out there.
Everyone has a take on how to be a good researcher, and doing just the right things to land a great research opportunity.

While there’s value in going through some of these pages, if you’ve been through the previous modules, you really don’t need to go through any more material on what’s the best way to think about starting off with research—you have all the information you need.
It’s time to get to work. The number of such resources you’ve read, the number of podcasts you’ve listened to, or the number of subreddits you follow and contribute to on this topic does not matter. What will matter is your portfolio, and whether you enjoy doing indulging in research. Focus on acquiring this experience now.

This advice notwithstanding, we’ll attempt to keep this page updated. You may particularly find the experiences of other researchers who did not have research opportunities in their undergrad interesting.

Advice on applying to competitive Ph.D. programs in CS

Note - if you’re spending time obsessively going through these links, stop, and read the note of caution mentioned at the top of this page.

Academic statements to graduate schools

Research internships for undergraduates

Research jobs in India offered to undergraduates

Not a lot of product research groups exist where academic-style research happens, with publications as one of its goals. Some of these groups may no longer maintain active research groups. You should definitely reach out to the founders directly (these are typically small orgs) and check with them.

Experiences of researchers

We reached out to researchers from different areas of research in computer science, and those who are pursuing different professions after their PhDs (not necessarily in CS). We asked them questions like how they started their research journey, how they chose which field to specialize in, etc.

Click on the names below to see their responses.

Area of expertise Name Notes
Computational biology Hamim Zafar Faculty now at IIT K. UG is CS.
Computational economics, Game theory Garima Shakya Switched fields between MTech and PhD
Computational social science Aruna Sankaranarayanan Worked in the industry for 4 years. Her MS thesis informed her PhD area.
Computer architecture Akshitha Sriraman Faculty now at CMU
Computer networks Midhul Vuppalapati PhD student at Cornell.
Computer vision Yash Bhalgat Worked in the industry after an MS. Then decided to do a Ph.D. 
Computer security TBD ~
Cryptography Bhavana Kanukurthi PhD in theoretical CS right after UG
Databases Tarique Siddiqui Worked in the industry before doing an MS. Did a PhD after a good MS experience
Human-computer interfaces (HCI) Divy Thakkar Product Manager at Google Research India
Machine learning (ML) Shibani Santurkar Currently a post-doc. Did her PhD right after UG
Natural language processing (NLP) Abhilasha Ravichander Worked for 2 years before MS/PhD
Neuroscience Himanshu Ahuja Directly applied to neuro after UG in CS
OS/Compilers TBD ~
Programming languages Debasmita Lohar Spent time as an RA before joining PhD
Programming languages, Cognitive neuroscience, ML Shashank Srikant Worked in the industry for 5 years first. Then spent a year exploring social orgs before joining grad school.
Programming languages, Software engineering Malavika Samak Did an M.Tech/PhD after 2 years of work. Then did a post-doc. Had a child along the way
Reinforcement learning (RL) Sapana Choudhary Did her MS, worked as an RA, before joining PhD
Speech processing Sameer Khurana Worked in the industry for a few years in between MS and PhD
Social startups Vivek Seshadri PhD in computer architecture. Decided to then move into social orgs
Science communication Sarah Iqbal Moved to science communication after a PhD/post-doc in biochemistry
Theoretical computer science TBD ~