Hey everyone! I am Saumya Singh, a fourth-year undergraduate student from the Aerospace Engineering Department. I hope you are doing well.
So before I jump to the main topic of my research internship, I want to tell you how much I procrastinated. As far as I remember, these guys contacted me in mid-July to write this blog, and I had to give the first draft around mid-August and right now, it is the end of December.
# Part 1: Application:
To start with, let me go back to my second year when I belonged to this confused species of people who kept oscillating between Research and Industrial work. At the beginning of my fourth semester, I was determined to get my summers sorted, so I took a project under the AE department and was trying through SIP to secure an internship for the summer. I skipped SURGE since I had recently started a project which I planned to continue in the summers. I will recommend you to apply for SURGE as it guarantees, to some extent, the completion of your project.
I had a couple of failed interviews in SIP, but I had the momentum to keep trying. But then COVID happened, and motivation is volatile. Initially, I was enjoying myself at home, and I thought everyone was at their leisure and the situation could not be helped, so I didn’t realize I was wasting my time. When I did realize it, it was already May. I frantically started trying everywhere to secure an internship, but in vain. All I did in four months was a few courses on Coursera and some failed attempts at CP. I felt I was lagging behind, and I wanted to give up. It is difficult to get out of that feeling. It is okay to not get an internship, don’t lose hope
It was August already, and after frittering away four months I had only added four Coursera courses in my CV (✷‿✷). I registered for the SPO internship drive. Being from the AE department, what followed next was the “non-dept-biased” shortlisting and a series of failed interviews. I had weak communication skills, and you know how hard I prepared during the summers. I survived because of my friend Shrestha. I used to shoot all my complaints at her. And she always said "Jab lagna hoga tab lag jayegi"
Due to COVID, a number of research programs were suspended. So I focused on the few options I had. One of them was MITACS. I found the application procedure pretty straightforward—a number of projects to choose from and a mandatory LoR requirement. Other parts of the Application included answering some questions on the MITACS portal. These questions are a key part of your application and should be answered carefully within the specified word limit. Even though I had not done any significant work on my project by then, my Professor was kind enough to provide me with a Letter of Recommendation. For the projects, rather than looking at the project topics, I focused on the skill requirements. I applied in the projects where my profile matched with the required skills and sorted my preference list according to the university ranking . In my case, I was okay with exploring something new. It can be risky, however.
The shortlisting procedure is never disclosed. So don’t blindly believe what previous MITACS interns tell you. Luckily, I got an interview email for my first preference. All the failed SPO interviews did come to help me this time :p. I would say it was more like a conversation than an interview. But the hard part is the long dry wait. For a month or two, you would not get any updates on your application.Be patient
# Part 2: Experience:
Keeping aside all the hopes of visiting Canada, I started the internship in a virtual setting with a huge time zone difference. The first few weeks were dry with a few literature reviews, since my internship started in mid-May and the MITACS sessions did not start until June. When the sessions did start, they used to be scheduled late at night, even at 3 AM in the morning. Lockdown had already turned me nocturnal, so it was not difficult for me to adjust to a new sleep/work schedule.
My project was based on Soft Robotics, which I was not familiar with. It was fun to learn about a new emerging area of research. The work initially was lab-based but we modified our objectives keeping in mind the virtual format. I interacted with my Professor over zoom calls, once in a week or two, and we exchanged updates over email. I was supposed to get hands-on experience in the lab, but had to console myself with the simulations.
MITACS provides each intern with a mentor as well. Normally, mentors are there to help you adjust when you are in Canada but in a virtual setting… :). I had a couple of meetings with my mentor and it was fun to have a little chit-chat with her. Research works are usually slow. I did not reach the expected outcome in 12 weeks and sometimes it did get frustrating but I learned a lot. The best thing about my internship was I am no longer oscillating between research and industrial work. I know I want to pursue a Master’s degree and then I’ll think about the future.
# Reach out to me part:
Despite the online nature of things, I had my fair share of learning, interaction and fun in those twelve weeks and I am glad. (Okay maybe less, actually no, travelling and visiting places that MITACS interns normally do :) Feel free to reach out to me if there is anything you want to discuss. Bye and take care.