Welcome new entrants!
Here’s a brief glimpse of typically how the first year looks like. The outlook will give you a rough idea of what you can expect of your curriculum while pursuing the PG program.
Students joining the Master’s program
For Master’s students, the first year is rather a hectic one where you literally find yourself running for classes. Courses are usually selected with consultation from your advisor. We recommend you choose courses that help you strengthen the core foundation of your specialisation. Additionally, a couple of courses pertaining to statistics would help in removing your hesitation in ‘doing the math’ for your project later in your second year (and who knows even thereafter :P). The process of course selection becomes even more streamlined if you have some idea of the project you will be working on in your second year. This proves to be of great help in deciding which advanced level courses might serve you better. Beside the coursework, you will also be given duties for B.Tech labs. Ideally, you are expected to complete a total of 68 credits. The first semester has 4 credits for a credit seminar, wherein you will be writing a report and delivering a presentation on a topic in conjunction with your envisaged master’s project topic, though not strictly restricted to it. Here again, having a good idea of your prospective project topic will help in better selection of relevant review papers for the seminar, which benefits your literature review exercise for your project later on.
Students joining the PhD program
As a PhD student you are expected to complete your minimum credit requirements within the first year itself. Most students prefer to complete the credits within the first semester, but it’s perfectly okay if you wish to take it easy and distribute your course burden more evenly throughout the year or if you have more credit requirements depending on your background. For students enrolling with a master’s degree, the credit requirement is between 16 to 22 credits. For students enrolled directly after B.Tech or M.Sc., the credit requirement is between 44 to 56. There are 4 credits for a credit seminar, wherein you will be writing a report and delivering a presentation on a topic in conjunction with your envisaged PhD topic, though not strictly restricted to it.The overall credit requirement may also be partially met through an extra credit seminar and/or through an R&D project. The minimum CPI to maintain form the department side is 7. You will be intimated in the beginning of the semester regarding any TA duties that you are to carry out for that semester. Somewhere towards the end of the first year you will be expected to appear for your Qualifier. You should ideally be putting forth your PhD proposal with some preliminary analysis along with a report submission. Feedback and comments received from the Qualifier presentation will help you steer your research in the right way. You are also expected to answer questions pertaining to your coursework. Finally, the APS (Annual Progress Seminar). The year ends with your first APS where essentially you would present your overall research progress made in the first year.
Apart from the routine academic curriculum, there are a number of CEA lectures by guest speakers and renowned researchers. Workshops and conferences additionally are good opportunities and platforms to build your skills. There you go! The coordinating team of Water Group are here to assist you if at any point you feel you need out help. We hope this outlook will help you get a broad picture that will allow you to transit smoothly into this new journey.
This post is written by Pallavi Goswami