IIT Madras Launches ‘Young Research Fellow’ program for UG Students
INN/Chennai, @infodeaofficial
Indian Institute of Technology Madras has launched the ‘IITM Young Research Fellow’ (YRF) program to motivate students towards a career path in research and application of deeper learning in other career tracks.
Inspired by the highly successful ‘Super-UROP’ program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the YRF program is open to Third Year Undergraduate and Dual Degree Students of IIT Madras.
The program provides one-on-one interaction with the high caliber IIT faculty members, to participate in cutting edge research.
The students will also benefit personally, through a ‘career and life coaching’ (CLIC) program concurrently being delivered by the 1979 alumni, closely curated by expert professional coaches.
The Project is being funded by the Alumni Class of 1979. The MoU was signed on 10th July 2020 by Prof. Mahesh Panchagnula, Dean (Alumni and Corporate Relations), IIT Madras, and twenty-four alumni of the 1979 batch across the world, on behalf of the entire Alumni Class of 1979.
Underscoring the importance of impactful undergraduate research for the institute, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, said, “IIT Madras has long been known for producing world-class undergraduate students.
Today, IITM is very much a research-intensive university where world-class research is a daily pursuit. This program blends these two strengths by giving select undergraduate students an opportunity to discover the excitement of research early.”
This is a year-long program and up to twenty fellowships are being planned to be awarded in the first year. This is a highly selective program and applications will be examined by a senior faculty committee. The program will encourage multi-disciplinary projects.
The IITM YRF program has already received a lot of encouragement and shows of support, with industry and academic partners expressing keen interest.
The year-long unique program is designed to provide immersive and intense scientific exploration opportunities to the students, with the participants executing research projects in any academic department or across departments for interdisciplinary projects.
Highlighting the benefits of this program to IIT Madras Students, Prof. Preeti Aghalayam, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras, and Coordinator of the program, said, “We want students to truly immerse themselves in research and share in the joy of discovery.”
The students selected into the program will be paid a monthly honorarium, provided research guidance by IITM faculty, and will participate in an interactive lecture series on research skills.
They can also avail of mentorship by the alumni batch of 1979. The Young Research Fellows will be strongly encouraged to publish their findings in reputed peer-reviewed international journals and to present their work at high-quality international conferences for which they will receive travel support.
