Basic Information

  • Name Aditya Nirmale
  • Curriculum: Electrical Engineering B.Tech
  • Year of Study: 2nd
  • Company/University of Internship: Chubu University
  • Year of Internship : ‘24 Summers
  • Mode of Internship : Hybrid
  • Duration of Internship: June to July ‘24
  • How did you get this internship offer? Cold Mailing

Getting into the Internship:

What specific domain or field did you target to get an internship in?

Computational neuroscience

Can you elaborate on your interview and the type of questions which were asked?

I cold mailed muliple Professors from Universities which had MOUs with IIT Bombay. Having completed a recent internship at IISc for the WInter of ‘23, helped me convince the Prof to sponsor me for a visit to his lab in Japan. The interview was just a discussion and nothing very difficult, mostly basic questions on my resume which I had forwarded to the Professor.

Were there any significant roadblocks or challenges that you encountered during the internship application and selection process? If so, how did you navigate or overcome them?

The Professor was adamant on giving me an online internship. But I happened to be more adamant than him, and tried a great dea of persuausion that worked out in the end. The reason of his initial reluctance to accept me for an offline internship was the lack of enough time to obtain a Japan VISA. The VISA was hard to get without an MOU between Chubu University and IIT Bombay, which expired in 2023, but managed it ultimately with some planning. As far as sponsorship was concerned, I did not talk to him about it, but the Professor ultimately paid me 100000 JPY, along with sponsored stay at the International Dorm.

How did you handle any rejections that you faced (If any) during the internship application process?

I was rejected by the Professor(Prof. Yuji Iwahori) I actually mailed to at Chubu because he had students from IITG already at his Lab accepted before me. Although I was disappointed, I did not want to talk no for an answer, so I asked him to forward my profile to anyone who might be interested in working with me. Prof. Yuji forwarded my profile to Prof. Yamauchi, with whom I ultimately worked with.

During the internship:

What was your specific profile or project topic during the internship?

Research Intern

How would you describe your overall experience as an intern?

Brilliant experience. Although it did drain some expenses from my side even though it was sponsered, I was ready for it. The Professor arranged for two welcome parties during a 2 week stay, the Lab partners didn’t know English but they were nice people with whom I had some great time(using Google Translate). I went to Tokyo and Kyoto during the weekends, which is quite far from Kasugai, where the Unversity was, but the transport connectivity is amazing and I highly recommend a Japanese University for an internship.

Could you provide insights into the organizational culture of the company/university and what your peers were like?

Japanese peers were great and helpful, very unique people and amazing culture. I did not work under anyone other than the Professor and had a 1 to 2 hour discussion with him everyday. I learnt a lot personally from the Prof. who was so kind. He came all the way to the Nagoya Airport to pick me up and I also had lunch with him. The “organizational” structure was never a problem.

Were there any networking opportunities or professional connections that you established during the internship?

Apart from Prof. Yuji Iwahori and some IITG students, I did not really ake any “networks” because the time fram of the offline internship of two weeks was really less. The online portion of the internship was much relaxed.

After the internship:

Based on your experience, would you recommend this internship to others interested in the same field? If so, what aspects make it worth recommending? If not, what factors influenced your perspective

Yes, I do recommend it. The aspect of visiting Japan for almost a fully funded trip where you can learn so much about so many things is worth it. You get to learn a lot about Japanese culture, people and their work ethic. I learnt a great deal about Computational Neuroscience and it’s algorithms. I recommend it highly.

Any other insights which you want to provide people aspiring to pursue university internships or research in general?

I am not exactly an academic stud; I did not have a high CPI and did not perform well in IITB courses because they didn’t align with my interests. I was under the impression that only high scorers and DRs could get into Foreign Universities, but I managed to overcome this by indulging in things I liked to study and forcibly opening doors of opportunites for myself. You just need one acceptance letter, so do not be too disappointed by rejections from Professors. I was not responded to by hundreds of Professors, but it didn’t really matter in the end because you need only one.