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My PhD journey … up, down, and then up
A PhD journey is never easy, and it becomes even more difficult when you are doing it alongside a regular faculty job at IGDTUW. But, there are many factors that have helped me sail through in this journey. The first factor is my PhD advisor (‘PK’ as he likes himself to be called, without the ‘Sir’). This in itself should give you a sense of his humility and down-to-earth attitude. He has been extremely understanding to me all throughout this amazing journey. He is one among those who has dedicated his life to academics. In this journey, I have had so much to learn from him, not just the technical…
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A Journey Down the Precog Memory Lane
My story starts on June 13, 2018. I was on my way to Hyderabad to join as a Research Intern in the CVIT lab. On the train, I was browsing through Facebook lazily, while my mind was wandering elsewhere, wondering what kind of project I would work on at IIIT. As I was scrolling through a few memes in my Facebook feed, I thought it would be absolutely hilarious if I end up working on memes in my research. The very next day, Prof. Jawahar told me that I would be working on a project related to “memes for blind” with Prof. Ponnurangam Kumaraguru. Thus, I began my wonderful journey…
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At the crossroads: (with) Precog
Life is a journey through innumerable cross-roads. And at each cross-road, we are going to meet new people, experience new things, and spend our precious time. In January 2019, I (Aanshul Sadaria – IIIT H Class of 2020) came at one such crossroad, not that I knew it was going to be a life-remembering junction of my journey. I happened to remember reading a mail from an unusual named professor – Ponnurangam Kumaraguru asking for students to work on the #Killfie project. It didn’t tingle my senses much due to the fact that it was a more formal mail (which is quite anti-PK) and more importantly because it focussed on…
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Solving ‘cool’ problems, with the coolest of all – Precog!
My journey starts from back in May 2017. It was the summer when I was starting off with my first ‘social computing’ project. As I had just completed my 2nd year in college, I had almost no knowledge about the research domain. I was looking for professors or researchers in the field of computational social science and social computing to guide me with the technical aspects of the field. This is when I came across PK sir and his research group PreCog in New Delhi. They were doing some really amazing work analyzing social systems and the social web. What really interested me the most was this was all for…
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The Tale of my coincidental thesis featuring Ponguru as the Guru
The circumstances under which I met Prof PK cannot be exactly called fortuitous, but they do make for an interesting story, nonetheless (if I may say so myself). And am I glad that it happened! Let me start by telling you about this. After the sad demise of my previous thesis advisor (may his soul rest in peace), my previous research work had come to a grinding halt. After running like a headless chicken for a few months, the faculty thought it made more sense for me to dedicate my research hours to a new research topic. To the uninitiated, having to change research topics is not only daunting but…
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Together with PK and Precog
My name is Himanshu, a final year student at IIIT-Hyderabad. I am honoured to have the opportunity to write this blog. PK has been more than a mentor to me. He shares a very healthy relationship with all his students. I got to know PK in the starting of my 3rd year when he visited IIIT-H during his sabbatical. As the semester began, I learnt about the new sabbatical faculty from some of my friends who took courses and projects with PK. The projects offered by PK were based on real-time challenges with a quite unique and interesting approach. He took over the students with a storm and I also…
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Once upon a time working under (strikethrough) with PK
Hi! Myself Shreya, Dual Degree student at IIIT-H. Around Feb / Mar 2018, I heard about PK through a senior of mine. He told me so many things about him and I also searched him and his work online. A week before he was coming for his 1+ year sabbatical, I started reading his research papers, made points why I want to work “under” him. As soon as we got mail that PK joined the college for a year, I mailed him for a meeting regarding research. Surprisingly, I received the response mail from him with a date and time which I wasn’t expecting so quickly. In between I prepared…
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The Precog project lifecycle – a Twitch worthy stream of work!
This is a little different from the other posts in that it is in part an attempt to document the lifecycle of a project at Precog – from ideation to publication, and in part a brief overview of what I worked on during my time there. So if you’re an undergrad or a prospective intern, it might be a worthwhile read as to why you should definitely try to look for an opportunity with the group. I’ve tried to highlight the unique aspects of the group which is what makes it a place where students enjoy doing quality research. The paragraphs which begin with highlighted words are concerned with the…
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The Highs and the Lows: The (extra)ordinary journey!
As I sit down to pen this blog, there’s a flurry of emotions that run through my mind; happiness, sadness, nervousness, excitement, and anxiousness. Last couple of years have been a crucial part of my life starting 2014 when I began my adventurous and bumpy PhD ride. PhD isn’t easy and there will certainly be plenty of obstacles on the way to touching that shiny degree. Disclaimer in bold: I don’t plan to demotivate my reading audience, just putting words to my thoughts as they flow. Take all the bad and good things which you read with a pinch of salt. Trust me, its all worth it in the end(the…
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Ode to PK (and Precog)
My name is Dheeraj, and I’ve just completed my third year at IIIT-H. I had the opportunity to work with PK on his sabbatical here at IIIT-H. As I sit down to write this, it seems kind of an injustice to sum up all of my experiences with PK in a few words. I’m not great with putting emotions into words, but I will try my best. I’m also aware that most people write this blog after they’ve completed their journey with PK, but I hope that isn’t the case with me. I hope this blog signifies a beginning, not an end. I’ve absolutely enjoyed my time working with (not…