1) A PhD student must stay focused on their research goals and methodology to complete their degree in a timely manner. Many distractions like helping others excessively or non-academic activities can derail their progress. 2) It is important to build professional relationships with supervisors and peers based on mutual respect. Students should avoid bootlicking behaviors and assert themselves when needed. 3) Facilities and resources at research institutes should be used judiciously for academic purposes only. Personal matters and non-academic activities do not belong in labs or other professional settings.

1. OM
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A GOOD PhD Student!
L C
Opportunities and Traps
E E
S H
H A An alternate perspective by
D
Suddhasheel Ghosh
D
S U
Delivered on the occassion of the Department Day, Department of Civil Engg.

2. Am I the good student?M
C O
L .
E E
S H
HA
DD
S U
In case you are giving me scornful looks ...

3. Am I the good student?M
C O
L .
E E
S H
That who knows his weaknesses is
A
the wise guy, he who thinks he is the
H
D
smart aleck everytime is otherwise!
D
S U

4. Broad contents
OM
● Ideal expectations
L . C
E E
H
● Adventures or otherwise
A S
H
● The supervisor
D D
U
● Precautions
S

5. Prof. S. K. Jain: On achieving goals
OM
L . C
E
“It is easier to draw a straight line
from A to B, if your eyes are
always on the target”
H E
S
B
HA
DD
U
A In an Engineering PhD, this line
S
denotes the methodology of research
Prof. S. K. Jain is currently on deputation as the director of IIT – Gandhinagar.

6. The problem and its statement
OM
L . C
Popularity of the domain and
E
the open problems
Your skill sets: Mathematical
H E
S
ability, Problem solving,
Leadership capability,
resources
HA
Programming; Available
DD TRADEOFF
S U

7. Deliberate, Collaborate, Elaborate
OM
L . C
E
CE
H E
A S SCIENCES
H
ME HSS
D
EE CSE
BSBE
D
... and others
S U
...in the stage of advanced research

8. My dreams on the day of joining ...
OM
● Maximum 3.5 yrs
L . C
●
E E
4-5 journal / conference papers per year
H
● A very brief thesis
●
A S
Join some big organisation
H
● … and of course other mundane matters of life
D D
S U

9. Situation today ??
OM
● Conference papers -
L . C
●
E E ...
Yes, National and International
H
● The other parameters remain unsatisfied
A S
D H
U D
S Why?

10. Focus (or the lack of it)
OM
L . C
E E
S H
HA
DD
S U

11. OM
CL .
The lure of mundane
E
life andH E
other
A S
(mis)adventures
H
D D
S U

12. OM
L . C
E E
S H
HA
DD
S U
Either before or after, never in between!

13. Beware of
OM
. C
CHOMUs
H E E L
S
तबA हमे‌ थामना,
जब चोमू का हो सामना,
H करे, हम मदद करे,
तू ही
D Intelligence की हो कामना
Dना ही
वो बजरापा
S U
Mandatory prayer for every student entering into a PhD programme

14. The Chomu (चोमू) Effect ...
OM
● Urban Dictionary: Chomu (n.)
L . C
● One who cannot make his own decisions;
E E
More often than not, is making fun of others;
H
●
S
● ... and has stupid whims of his own.
A
● The Principal Goal(s) of a Chomu
H
● Waste your time
D
Get his work done by you while he takes the credit for it
●
●
U D
Principal Symptom
S
● Enormous urge to seek instant gratification
● Enormous urge to show off his whims
● Vivid examples

15. OM
Suddhasheel! MATLAB mein
optimization ho jata hai kya?
Yeah! Maybe you can check these
commands. Wait, let me show you...
L . C
E E
S H
HA
D
Wow! I
can get my
D
thesis
U
done by
S
him!!
Working with Java Working with MATLAB
and C++ + MATLAB doc open

16. OM
L . C
E E
S H
H
Fast food may be A
good to eat,D it
D
but
S U
is junk!
Save yourself, stop instantly gratifying your colleagues!

17. Intellectual gains or botheration …?
OM
L . C
E E
S H
A
Control!
H
Don't spoon feed!
DD Chuck spoon feeding
seekers out of the
U
group!
S Save your energy for research, rather than spoon feeding others

18. Learning, not to spoonfeed, the hard way
OM
● Helping
L . C
●
E E
Merci Monseiur/Mlle, c'etait très gentille!
H
● Acknowledgements in their theses.
●
A
your degree? S
But, does going out of the way for others give you
● Cost?
D H
D
● Time
U
The 'friend' can get his/her thesis done by you.
S
●

19. Learning, not to spoonfeed, the hard way
OM
● Helping
L . C
●
E E
Merci Monseiur/Mlle, c'etait très gentille!
H
● Acknowledgements in their theses
●
your degree?
A S
But, does going out of the way for others give you
● Cost?
D H
D
● Time
U
The 'friend' can get his/her thesis done by you.
S I DO NOT KNOW!
●
● Divine Enlightenment? Wastage of time? Say:-

20. M
Suddhasheel! How to reverse
O
order a matrix without using
FOR in MATLAB?
I don't know!
L . C
E E
S H
HA
D
Now he
would at
U D least Google
S
Working with Java
and C++
Working with MATLAB
+ MATLAB doc open

21. OM
L . C
E E
The laboratoryH
A S environment
D H
U D
S

22. OM
L . C
E E
S HOh! The divine pleasure
HA of anonymously browsing
the profiles of Beautiful
DD babes and Handsome
Hunks!
S U
...and reading non-sensical updates like « Mujhe FTV
se apna birthday yaad aaya hai! »

23. Use, overuse, misuse … decide
OM
L . C
E E
S H
HA
DD
S U
Your lab mates and co-researchers require /
need / deserve an equal share of facilities

24. OM
L . C
E E
S H
The lab isn't a bathroom or a toilet! Leave
A
these things at the hostel!
H
DD
S U

25. Silence!!! This is a lab ...
OM
L . C
E E
S H
HA
DD
S U
Mobile Phone rings Effect after mobile phone rings
… and not a discotheque!

26. My supervisor
is an IDIOT!
OM
Gives NO
L . C He knows
E
NOTHING!
attention to me!
H E
My supervisor gave
A
me TA and my CPI S Paper lying with
H
Supervisor for > 5
went less than 8
months
The D
D
Supervisor and YOU
U
S you could cherish for life … or weep upon
A relation

27. After all he is a human being ...
O M
Supervisor's C
● Your priorities ●
L . priorities
● Your thesis
E
●
E Your research
H
● Calling up your family ● Your co-researcher(s)
S
once in a while … research(es)
A
● Your girlfriend / ● His project(s)
H
boyfriend / spouse ● His career + papers
DD ● Institute committees
His family esp. children
U
●
S Being more considerate earns you the respect!

28. Other places vs. IITs
Oof M
.C
Other Places in India
life and L
● Students run errands Full independence
●
●
24 hrE
studies
E – 8 hrs / week
● Bringing milk,
groceries, taking the access to internet
H duty
●
●
Supervisor runs errandsS
child to the school
TA ●
A mentor to keep the
●
●
Supervisor acts as
H student from digressing
●
●
● Writing the student's
D
thesis
D
Getting it through the
●
from his track
U
doctoral exam panel
S

29. In the lands abroad … and here
O inM
● Meeting frequency:
anytime L
.C
We can almost walk
●
● 1-2 times a month
E
E problems
Not irritated!
H
Professional
●
●
relationship
S Personal
●
●
HA
Need for taking
appointments
DD
S U
There's happiness in appreciating good things
There's happiness appreciating good
in life. Welcome to the power of +ve thinking
in life. the power of +ve thinking

30. OM
L . C
E E
H
StatutorySWarnings
H A
DD
S U

31. Bootlicking: The BOOBY trap
OM
●
L .
”YES SIR/MAM!”, to whatever the supervisor says! C
● Never mind wrong or right
E E
H
● The TRAP
●
A
you and your approach) S
Supervisor may start thinking he/she is always right (about
H
Egos may clash when you oppose
●
● Handling
DD
U
● Tactfully handle / avoid bootlicking (answering how, would
S
end up in me writing a state-of-art research paper)
● Reject/circumvent any such advances/lures/invitations

32. M
Its a PhD program and not a
honeymoon
C O
● The ”Honeymoon” attitude (of the student)
L .
Casual approach to the PhD program
E E
●
I was a good student earlier, so I would do well in the PhD program.
H
–
S
– Don't worry, even if I do not work, I would end up doing well!
”Are ho jaayega yaar!”
A
–
Sight seeing (read – aimless web browsing)
H
●
Love making (read – pointless personal conversations)
D
●
”Arey! This is so simple yaar” : Hand waving
D
●
Aftermath of the ”Honeymoon”
U
●
S
● Kaam ki fikar kar, kaam ka zikar kar, zikar ka fikar kar, fikar ka
zikar kar, par kaam mat kar!

33. Relations with people
O M
●
L .C
The Head of the Department: Handle with care
●
E E
Potential misusers of facilities of Labs and the
institute: Avoid
Chomus: Strongly avoid H
●
S musings
Ahandle with care
CPI >= 9.0 Beware of their
H
●
D
● Supervisor: Definitely
●
U D
Girlfriend/Boyfriend or spouse and family: You do
S
not need my opinion

34. Attention ...
OM
● Cordiality
L . C
● No spoonfeeding
E E
H
● Discuss – ideas may arrive from anywhere
S
● Its your baby, not your supervisor's or anybody else's
Work!
A
●
●
D H
We are all just prisoners here, of our own USB device (with
due apologies to the Eagles' Hotel California)
●
U D
Backups!
S
● Peer fights to supervisor and peer politics
● No! No!

35. Where we started ...
OM
L . C
E
B
E
Eyes on the goal!
S H
A
HA
D D
S U
Principles,
Dignity,
Integrity Focus! Like the horse in the race!
Focus! Like the horse in the race!

36. M
Our goal isn't this ...
C O
L .
E E
S H
HA
DD
S U

37. But these ...
OM
L . C
E E
Second Narmada Bridge,
S H
Mumbai urban viaduct Bandra-Worli Sea Link,
A
Gujarat Mumbai
D H
U D
S
Konkan Railways Clover Leaves near ITO,
Delhi
And of course the Delhi Metro …!

38. OM
L . C
E
© Suddhasheel Ghosh, 2010
E
H
Researcher, Geoinformatics
S
Department of Civil Engineering
A
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Kanpur UP
D H
e-contact: suddhasheel [AT] gmail dot com
U D Website:
http://www.suddhasheel.com
S http://indiapolitique.wordpress.com