Thesis Tales: Carnegie Mellon University
Written on March 24th, 2020 by {"login"=>"jcbitshyd", "email"=>"journal@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in", "display_name"=>"Journal Club, BPHC", "first_name"=>"", "last_name"=>""}In this Thesis Tales article, Journal Club talks to Akhil Agnihotri, a 2016 batch Mechanical student from BITS Hyderabad who worked at the Safe AI Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, USA last semester, as an off-campus thesis.
Q. Where did you get your thesis and what was it about?
Answer: I worked for a total of about 6 months. I worked from home for the first month before I got my Visa and after that, I was at Carnegie Mellon university’s (CMU) Safe AI lab, one of the flagship labs in robotics. I focused on Machine Learning and Computer Vision. I worked on two projects there. The first one was on the implementation of T intersection scenarios between two vehicles and the second one was optimising LiDAR configurations to be placed on the vehicles.
Q. Out of a) CGPA, b) Projects, c) courses in college and d) involvement in technical teams, how would you rank these factors in helping you get the research internship? Experience in which of these helped most during the internship?
Answer: Based on my experiences, an individual’s projects, his college brand value and CGPA (as a qualifying criterion) matter the most. Being parts of teams have not helped me as much compared to the work I’ve done, academically.
Q. When did you start applying and how many professors, universities and programs did you apply to?
Answer: I started around January 2019 and I sent around 400 emails in a span of about 3 months. Out of those, I got 50-60 replies. They were a mix of negative and positive. Out of these, I got accepted to 9 or 10 programs and I chose CMU based on my preferences.
Q. Did you get any funding or support from the host university (CMU)?
Answer: I did. It was on a per hour basis and you could use it for anything. I was not a student at CMU so I had to live off-campus. And my Visa was sponsored since sponsorship by the host university is a requirement to get it.
Q. What was your major criteria for choosing CMU? Did it depend on the professor?
Answer: The professor I worked under is pretty well known in the research community so that was a big factor and the areas he works in were also relevant to today’s world. Companies like Google and Uber have opened research centres around Pittsburgh for CMU students. Being in an environment like that motivates you more and gets you acquainted with what’s happening in the real world.
Q. How did you find your area of interest and how did you start working in that area?
Answer: I had not narrowed it down till I got the opportunity to work at these places. I was interested in robotics, computational fluid dynamics and in my first year, I was interested in Physics. But if I was interested in something, I gave it my all till I exhausted my interest or I delved deeper into it further. I felt like robotics was a good fit for me, with my background and was good in terms of career prospects.
Q. Did you get the experience to work on autonomous vehicles on the campus?
Answer: I did work on a project and got a publication out of it. It was on a smaller autonomous vehicle navigating the roads. We conducted simulation and testing. So that helped me gain experience and interest. If the publication is relevant to the professor’s field, it will supplement your application
Q. What were your first impressions of CMU?
Answer: My lab was a Chinese lab so there were around 100 Chinese researchers around me. There were only around 2 or 3 Indians there. The pressure to produce good output, working 10-12 hours a day, 6 days a week was pretty overwhelming and I had to quickly adapt to that. The infrastructure is good and it is pretty well maintained. Some of the front runners in robotics work there and they receive a lot of funding. You might find the professors in the gym, and you can go up to them and talk about anything. They are less formally dressed than we are. It makes for a relaxing environment.
Q. How difficult was it, adjusting to the American lifestyle?
Answer: Personally, I found it easier to live there than in India. The people respect your space and you have to go out of your way to involve yourself in stuff. Since Pittsburgh is not a big student town, it has very nice and accommodating people. In fact, I got free food at a couple of places just because I was their first Indian customer. I was actually living with a 2012 batch senior from our campus and that made things easier as I didn’t have to worry about accommodation and helped me focus on my work. It gets lonely sometimes but that’s the nature of research work. Overall, America is a pretty fine country.
Q. Did CMU live up to your expectations?
Answer: It really did. I had to step my quality and quantity of work to meet the expectations of my advisor. I was the first Indian intern at the lab ever. And the lab has mostly Chinese people, I didn’t feel like a part of the lab sometimes but that’s not exactly their fault. All in all, it was pretty nice.
Q. What were you provided with by the university to conduct your research?
Answer: I had a gaming monitor, not for gaming, but for research and a Logitech steering wheel setup, because that’s what I was working on. I needed this equipment. You get whatever you need for the research. The CMU card gets you free transport throughout the state and they provided me stipend so that I could support my living expenses. I had to spend around Rs.50k from my own pocket throughout my internship. It was pretty reasonable.
Q. What changes does BITS need to make so that research is more accessible for its students?
Answer: The paperwork that you have to complete and get signed aren't very necessary, a lot of times. The host professor already had work to do so you feel a little conscious giving them five more forms to fill. This didn’t really make sense. They want a detailed account of what you’re about to do there which is probably not going to be looked at by anyone. It creates a lot of disturbance. They need to hire professors who have more exposure to international research. They need to have more connections abroad. IITians with profiles not as good are able to outperform BITSians and get more opportunities because of the tag. Connections do matter, and IIT has more.
Q. Do you have any advice for juniors wanting to get into research?
Answer: Most of the people are confused about what they want to work on. Even I’m not fully committed to the field as of yet. This is caused by lack of exposure. Don’t go for a PhD without being sure. Take your time and decide. You need to find a balance between what you’re interested in and employability. My interests have changed a lot since my first year. What I’m doing is not my first preference but I’d be pretty satisfied working on it.
Transcribed by Ankur Pandey. Edited by Nivedan Vishwanath.