As part of our annual ritual of interviewing the institute gold medalist, our editor Debaditya Sinha spoke with Pooja Sekhar, the current gold medalist who's pursuing her PhD at the University of Colorado Boulder. Read on to discover her lighter side, as well as advice she has for her juniors.
Debaditya Sinha: To begin with, I want to congratulate you on behalf of the entire Sopanam team. Tell us something about your hometown and school life, how they influenced you with regard to coming to IISER.
Pooja Sekhar: Thank you so much. I'm a native of Trivandrum and studied in Sarvodaya Vidyalaya. I liked science, especially Physics. I used to participate in science exhibitions and Olympiads at the school level. I had written engineering entrance exams, but since I was not so interested in technical fields and because of my passion in physics, my mother, herself being a school teacher, motivated me to join IISER.
Debaditya Sinha: Any special reason why you were interested in physics? For some of us, it was a brush with "A Brief History of Time" or "Cosmos” which we encountered in the school library. Any such motivation for you?
Pooja Sekhar: Yeah. For me, one of the reasons was reading through “A brief history of time” and just wondering about things which at the time made no sense to me, making me even more curious. Then I also had an opportunity to meet Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. I was able to interact with him along with other school students. He also inspired me a lot to pursue a career in research.
Debaditya Sinha: I can totally understand what an inspiration Dr Kalam can be. I had the fortune of listening to him when he came to my school's annual prize distribution ceremony as the chief guest. To this day, I remember his every word.
How did you meet him, if I may ask?
Pooja Sekhar: Mar Ivanios College (near my school) had conducted an invited talk and some students from different educational institutions under the same management were fortunate enough to attend his talk. I was one among them.
Debaditya Sinha: Great. Let's come back to IISER now. Can you tell us about your internships and publications?
Pooja Sekhar: During first year, I attended the National Initiative on Undergraduate Science camp, conducted by Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education, TIFR, Mumbai. I got selected and did my first two summer internships on Theoretical Chemistry under the guidance of Dr. Tapan K Ghanty in BARC. During this time, I published two papers in Journal of Physical Chemistry A and C. I chose this topic since I liked the Quantum Chemistry course in our first semester. Later, the discovery of gravitational waves and LIGO fascinated me a lot. I attended all the colloquiums and poster presentations in IISER organised by Dr. Archana Pai. During this time, I was a recipient of the DAAD-WISE fellowship and was lucky enough to do an internship at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Germany. I worked on 'Beam Splitter Thermal Compensation System'. I could actually work in GEO-600, an interferometer in Germany similar to LIGO. Then I applied for the LIGO-SURF program and got selected for an internship in Caltech. I worked on optical loss characterization in 40m prototype.
Debaditya Sinha: On that note, did you also conduct semester projects in IISER? There is a general doubt amongst students as to whether they should do research even during semesters or concentrate solely on GPA? According to you, what matters more during graduate admissions — research experience or GPA?
Pooja Sekhar: I haven't done semester projects. I concentrated on studies. However, I spent two winters in the lab that I was planning to join for my major project. I feel that GPA plays a major role in getting selected for internships abroad and the initial stages of graduate admissions. From my experience, I feel that a good recommendation from a reputed person outside of IISER plays a very important role in graduate admissions. Here in US, you still get time to explore more about the fields you like and then finalize on your guide and project. Thus, I feel that even though it's good to have more research experience, it's better to focus on studies and then try to work with a good group during the summer.
Debaditya Sinha: So which professor did you work with for your major project? Also, tell us something about the topic you worked on there.
Pooja Sekhar: I worked with Dr. Ravi Pant. We demonstrated the nonlinear optical phenomenon of four wave mixing in silica and chalcogenide fibres around the 2000 nm wavelength regime, which has not been explored in great detail till now. We studied the effect of dispersion on four wave mixing.
Debaditya Sinha: Nice. Is your work at CU Boulder closely related to your major project?
Pooja Sekhar: I haven't started working in a lab yet since we have to do TA duty. But yes, I have spoken with a few professors in my field of interest and mostly my thesis work will be in the same field.
Debaditya Sinha: So a friend texted me a question this morning that he wants to ask you. How important are GRE scores for grad school admissions in the US?
Pooja Sekhar: There are cutoff GRE scores for different US universities. From mine and my friends' experiences, I feel that if you get a score more than the cutoff (for general GRE, a score above 320 is considered good), it's totally fine. I think the admissions committee value publications, research experience, and recommendations more.
Debaditya Sinha: Can you also give us a few tips on how to prepare for GRE?
Pooja Sekhar: For general GRE, the first step is to improve your vocabulary. There are Magoosh flashcards in playstore which are very helpful for this. I feel that it's good to practise questions. There are paid online websites to prepare for GRE like Magoosh. I hadn't used it but if you want it's really good. I had used a book by Princeton Review which was good. Then, there are two free practice tests which you should definitely try before the exam. For Subject GRE Physics, be clear with the fundamental concepts and do previous year question papers. The exam is easy, you just need to manage time.
Debaditya Sinha: Thanks for the tips.
Pooja Sekhar: It was my pleasure.
Debaditya Sinha: So, where do see yourself in 10 years?
Pooja Sekhar: As a scientist.
Pooja Sekhar: I haven't planned as such. I aspire to become a good scientist.
Debaditya Sinha: I guess that's all you need. Can you tell us about your hobbies? Or which clubs were you part of during your BS-MS?
Pooja Sekhar: I like Bharatanatyam. I had learnt it for a few years. My hobbies while in IISER included watching movies and reading novels. I was part of the Astro Club and Anvesha (Physics Expo) during initial years.
Debaditya Sinha: You must have a lot of wonderful memories from your time at IISER. If I ask you to list just 3 of them, what would those be?
Pooja Sekhar: What comes to my mind first is organizing Anvesha Physics Expo during my third year. We stayed for almost the whole night in the Gem building. It was an amazing experience. Next, we had a wonderful batch tour after our second year. The third thing which will always be memorable memorable was going to Sulthan's Sulaimani late in the night along with half of our batch.
Debaditya Sinha: You said you enjoy reading novels and watching movies. Which is your favourite novel and which is your favourite movie?
Pooja Sekhar: Tricky question! There are quite a few. I'll just name some of them. Novel – “The Remains of the Day” and “Love in the Time of Cholera”.
Movie – “Joker” (Dark night) etc.
Pooja Sekhar: Oh, I like interstellar also!
Debaditya Sinha: I get it. It's hard to choose between Ishiguro and Marquez. Since you mentioned Joker, I guess you'll watch the new Joaquin Phoenix version that comes out in October
Pooja Sekhar: Of course. Sure.
Debaditya Sinha: Last question-
What suggestions would you like to give to our friends at IISER, especially the first years who've just joined our family?
Pooja Sekhar: IISER is one of the best institutes in India for pursuing a career in research. So make use of all the exposure you can get being an IISER student. Also, this is the phase of life when you will explore the most - both academically and socially. So be serious about your ambitions. And last but not least, enjoy college life - this is the most enjoyable part of your life.
Debaditya Sinha: So that's a wrap. Thanks a lot for talking to us. Best wishes for your time at CU Boulder and beyond. It's Saturday night there and I won't take any more of your time.
Pooja Sekhar: Thanks. This was my first experience of being interviewed. Best wishes for your future.
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