Of course. We can begin.

Of course.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

Of course. We can begin. Hello, good evening. So hi. I I have done my PhD from IIT Roper. Where my research background? It is focused on. Plasmonics and surface Enas trauma scattering. On particularly. I have a. Toward the cost-effective and reproducible substrate. After following this I have finished. My postdoctoral research experience at University of Alberta. Where I worked on nanoplasmonic based. Bio Applications.

You mentioned focusing on plasmonics and surface-enhanced Raman scattering at IIT Ropar, and then moving into nanoplasmonic bio applications during your postdoc at Alberta.

I deal with. Peptide system and their application for biocycle. Yes. For example, in my PhD I have worked toward the fabrication of cost-effective and reproducible substrate. Later on this work. I have worked toward the bio applications. For example, I have worked. On the peptide system which? We use photo sensing on substrate.

Dr., let's talk a bit about your approach to teaching. If you had to introduce the concept of quantum superposition to a first-year undergraduate class, how would you make it accessible and engaging for students who might be intimidated by the math?

Of course.

Alright—so you'd start by focusing on cost-effective and reproducible substrates, then connect that to bio applications using peptide systems for sensing. When you introduce quantum superposition to those first-year students, what kind of analogy or demonstration would you use in class to make it feel less abstract?

So for example. Whenever we deal. With quantum system. In quantum system, the quantum particles. Yes. Right.

Right, so you started to describe how quantum particles behave in a quantum system. Could you finish your thought—what kind of story or visual would you use to help a student really feel what superposition means, beyond just the math?

OK, so when? Whenever we deal with the quantum superpositions or when we talk about the quantum, it is. Mm-hmm. So beyond just math, Yes, let me explain. So for example. I'm taking the example of a bowl. So if. This poll is similar like a electrons which we call quanta particle.

So, using that ball analogy, you'd have students picture something tangible to represent quantum behavior. I noticed your recent paper, "Plasmonics-Enhanced Characterization of Cervid PrP Peptide Aggregates," accepted in Journal of Biophotonics. Can you tell me how your research on plasmonics has influenced the way you teach concepts like light-matter interaction to undergraduates?

So when I hit a ball and the another ball. Which is the another electron so. Both wave interact. This is kind of the superposition of quantum partic. Yeah, sure.

Given your experience in plasmonics and nanobio applications, where do you see the most fundable research directions emerging over the next few years? Which specific grants or funding bodies would you target to support high-impact work in this area?

So whenever I for example, I did. This survived peptide for the detections on the plasmonics. So whenever we deal with the plasmonics, so plasmonics is the superposition of plasma. So I would like. To target. DSG Anrif. And kind of the. Funding. To put this plot. Monique based Sensing. Right now the area is. Block toward the chemical and the different kind of the pestis. These actions but its application in the biosensing, specially the. Predictions is not. Covered yet people have not explored this area so I would like to pursue this in my future.

Alright, so you see an opportunity to move plasmonic-based sensing into biosensing for new predictive applications, and you mentioned targeting funding from DST and NRF. Since this is an area not yet widely explored, what's your strategy for demonstrating feasibility and attracting sustained funding, especially if early results are still preliminary?

Yes.

The main idea? To terrorize. To get the funding. Is to. Characterize this kind of the biosensing spatially peptide by using air.

Alright, Dr.,

Okay, so your idea is to characterize biosensing peptides using air as part of your funding strategy. How would you actually measure whether students are engaging with these advanced topics in your classroom, rather than just passively listening?

So I can do this idea. Them with analogy with the practical day life applications. For example, if I have to make them understand like centrifugal force. I will give the example of the washing machine spinner.

Similarly, if I have to give. The analogy of the my work. I will explain some kind of the chip. If I put this kind of the. Sedition.

Okay, Professor, let's shift to your role in department-level responsibilities. Accreditation cycles can be demanding—if you joined our department and found that outcome assessment data was inconsistent across courses, how would you approach fixing that?

Suppose a colleague in your department asks you to co-author a paper, but you notice some of their data looks questionable—perhaps a bit too perfect. At the same time, your department is encouraging more joint publications for better rankings. How would you handle that situation?

So if this kind of the situation happens so I will target. To recheck the data. What kind of feed that experiment? And try to analyze. New result. And if there is a pressure then I will also explore simultaneously the another work. Which will lead me to the multiple publications. Is I missed something?

You mentioned rechecking the data and analyzing new results, which shows commitment to research integrity. But what if your department head insists on publishing with that colleague anyway, arguing that it benefits the department's profile—would you still hold your ground, or try to compromise?

No, I would like to hold my ground. And. Recheck the data or I will try to repeat the experiment.

Given your research in semiconductor device physics, do you have relationships with industry partners that could help create internship or placement opportunities for students here?

Yes, I have song. I have some relationship with the industry partners especially I think there is a one professor in ISC Bangalore which is the. Doctor, uh. I think Mehak Srivastava and there is another company. Is Madea which works with the optical system. And their electrical. Component so I have that connection with that team.

Okay, so you've got connections at ISC Bangalore and Madea, which works with optical and electrical systems. Can you give a concrete example of how you've leveraged those industry relationships in the past—maybe a student project, a seminar, or an internship placement that actually happened because of those connections?

OK. So directly I did not did any kind of the student projects or internship with this kind of the industries. But I have interactions or connection during an interview. So they offer me a. When I when I was. About two complete my Psgs.

OK. So directly I did not did any kind of the student projects or internship with this kind of the industries. But I have interactions or connection during an interview. So they offer me a. When I when I was. About two complete my Psgs. The connection via this. Interview. Kind of stuff.

Switching gears now, I'd like to touch on a few essential domains. In your research and teaching, have you had direct experience applying machine learning methods—maybe for data analysis, modeling, or in a classroom project?

Alright, so you haven't directly placed students yet, but you do maintain industry contacts from your doctoral work and interviews. Switching gears now, I'd like to touch on a few essential domains. In your research and teaching, have you had direct experience applying machine learning methods—maybe for data analysis, modeling, or interpreting experimental results?

So right now for example, I'm learning this kind of the techniques and for my current project which is right now I'm on this position as a project. Scientists. So my main project is to analyze or characterize the data using machine learning. So right now I'm on the stage of learning this different kind of the models of. And we have a. So I have learned. The basic of the machine learning how we can apply but. It doesn't lead to a publication, kind of the stage. But yes, I get. A separation knowledge at this stage. Can we move to the next question?

Okay, so you're picking up machine learning now and starting to use it in your current project, even if you haven't reached publication stage yet. Let's touch on quantum computation—have you designed or taught any coursework, workshops, or research modules related to quantum information or quantum algorithms?

So yes. Regarding any teaching work. I have done. A lot. I have a lot of teaching experience like before joining the PhD as well and in during my PhD duration I have worked. Served as a teaching assistants of the various courses. Like quantum mechanics? But if you. Keep a particularly on the quantum computations so I can only. Teach the quantum mechanics. See, but not about the quantum computations. And regarding about the research model, yes, I have designed. Kind of various workshop on the characterizations of different materials or thin films like grammar, spectrometer and AF. AFM, that is the atomic force microscopy. In my current position also I have. Nice various workshop. About their basic. Teach about them. About the basic of things that.

Alright, you mentioned teaching quantum mechanics and designing workshops around material characterization,

And their working principal. So one of the my research publication which is actually the my first publication in my research field which is the AU Ag alloy. Nano layer on silicon pyramidal. For the better search response.

So your first publication was on gold-silver alloy nanolayers on silicon pyramids for better sensing response. What was the main experimental technique you used to characterize the nanolayer structure in that work?

So in. In this work. I propose is simple and the cost-of-active matter. Right. So I used. Scanning electron microscope To generate the structures and to optimize the thin film, I have utilized atomic force microscopy. And to deposit. I have used the sputtering system.

Alright, so you used SEM for structure, AFM for thin film optimization, and sputtering for deposition on that nanolayer project. If you had to repeat the experiment with a different substrate—say, replacing silicon with sapphire—what challenges would you anticipate?

Yes, because to generate the 3D pyramidal silicon structure. So it is a characteristic of the actually the silicon silicon wafer because in the silicon wafer there is a one especially for. Type silicon. We choose a particular plane that is 100 plane. We have the one daggling pole and. The daily quote is. To that when we. Koh solution which is a wet chemical edge. Is to the meter structures, but in the sapphire this kind of the tech. Kind of the structure formation thing is. For this kind of the. Substrate if I use I need. The another way to generate the metallic nanostructure of. S suff.

So the key issue is that silicon's crystallographic structure allows for those pyramidal features with wet chemical etching, but that's not possible with sapphire, right? What alternative fabrication method would you consider for creating nanostructures on a sapphire substrate?

So I can utilize. EBIM Lithography. Ion beam irradiation. Kind of the technique. Pattern thus fires. So it's. E beam electron beam lithography. And ion beam irradiation. Ion beam irradiation. To generate the. Different kind of nanostructures own sapphire.

You'd use electron beam lithography or ion beam irradiation to pattern nanostructures on sapphire—got it. Shifting gears, when you teach core physics concepts, especially tough ones like quantum mechanics, what's your favorite technique for making those abstract ideas stick with undergraduate students?

So I can utilize. EBIM Lithography. Ion beam irradiation. Kind of the technique. Pattern thus fires. So it's. E beam electron beam lithography. And ion beam irradiation. Ion beam irradiation. To generate the. Different kind of nanostructures own sapphire. On substrate. Try to explain. With some example. Analogy from kind of slide say I. Earlier gave the book. Example. So I will try to engage and try to make it. More in terms of understanding. Because quantum mechanic is. Difficult to understand because it is not.

I'm thinking because for example the quanta particles like electrons, protons is behaving like a wave.

Okay,

Right, so you use analogies like comparing quantum particles to waves, to help students grasp concepts that aren’t intuitive. When you design your exams or assignments for these core physics courses, how do you balance conceptual understanding versus problem-solving skills?

Yes, this I can balance by giving them the assignments even in the class tutorial as well as give them the. Homework or. Give them some suggestion of the YouTube lectures because right now there are a lot of stuff is available on the. Like Internet? So I will try to engage them giving the monthly assignment even. Also thinking about. To give them a tutorial or to. Teach them in that class like one by one student. So that they can get some idea by themselves and then I can modify their understanding where they are. Something and I will try. Make their understanding. Clear way.

Alright, so you use a mix of tutorials, internet resources, and one-on-one attention to make sure students really grasp the material, not just memorize it. Now, thinking about your work with semiconductor devices—can you give a concrete example of a time you had to troubleshoot or optimize a semiconductor device, maybe during fabrication or testing? What steps did you actually take?

So there was a. Time like when we are fabricating the some fabricating some kind of the thin film, specially the metallic films. I found an issue with the shorting of the wire in the DC fabrication. So, so DC power. The DC power source is generally used to fabricate the metal film. I found. There is some kind of the dust is stuck in the connections which. Stopping the currents. So when? Use the multi meter to check. Four connections and I I'm able able to figure out. Chinese da. Electron. Current flow, so that's why. High figure out.

So you ran into a shorting problem during metallic thin film fabrication, tracked it down with a multimeter, and found dust interfering with the DC power connections. If the device's I-V curve still looked off after cleaning, what would be your next diagnostic step?

So definitely if the. Ivy Coffees still off. Means the other point which comes in mind is there is a problem in the connecting wire. So I will try to replace the connecting wire with the new one and try to look for the. Vico. Try to look for the IV curve. Can we move to the next question?

You'd swap out the wire and re-check the I-V curve—makes sense, that's a systematic approach. Now, thinking about your industry or consultancy experience, can you describe a project where you had to apply your academic expertise to solve a real-world problem outside the university setting?

Yes, the main project. Is I would like to take from the my research experience that is the fabrication of substrate. So as I described.

So you want to reference your research fabrication experience as your main industry-facing project. Can you give a concrete example of how that project addressed a specific need or problem from industry, and what the real-world outcome or impact was?

The silicon pyramidal structures. Is the simplest and the cost-affective approach to generate a search. OK.

So the silicon pyramidal structures gave you a simple, cost-effective way to make a SERS substrate, which clearly has industrial value. For your recent research publications, can you describe one where you integrated machine learning or quantum computation methods, and what specific problem those methods helped you solve?

Sudha inga research publications are while writing a. Or while I having the research experience? I face the problem for example when we. Analyze the data. Which we get from the ramen. So there is. We tried to. Analyze this data by our best way or by best of our knowledge. But sometimes some kind of the knowledge. Or missing data. Untouchable so. We'll try to we try to apply machine learning.

So you ran into missing data and knowledge gaps while analyzing Raman data, and that pushed you to try out machine learning approaches.

So that we can. Fee did this machine learning with a. Or supervise. So as I told earlier. So it's been, I think four months. So right now I'm on the state of the learning. I did not. Say we have a kind of the producible or we can. That is those to you. Yes, we are trying the first. Model and. We take the data and we try to. Model our data with. HT search papers.

So that we can. Fee did this machine learning with a. Or supervise. So as I told earlier. So it's been, I think four months. So right now I'm on the state of the learning. I did not. Say we have a kind of the producible or we can. That is those to you. Yes, we are trying the first. Model and. We take the data and we try to. Model our data with. HT search papers. So we try to train our system with the. Otherwise model. Available in the publication. So quantum computation I can say. Is not in my skill set.

Okay, so you're in the early stages of applying supervised learning to your Raman data,

Uh, only have the basic idea how the quantum computers works, but yes. The quantum computers are there definitely it will make. MICE analysis.

Thanks for clarifying that quantum computation isn't in your skill set. For the machine learning you're attempting—what algorithm or framework are you actually using to model the Raman data, and can you describe a concrete step in your workflow, like how you handle data preprocessing or feature selection?

Alright, we're wrapping up. Is there anything you'd like to ask about the role or the team?

Yes, I would like. To know about the what kind of the research facilities is already there. And fight. Uh, like. Is I is initially I get some funding for my. Establish the research lab.

Okay, so you're interested in what research facilities are already available and whether there's initial funding to help set up your lab. Typically, new faculty have access to shared core facilities like advanced microscopy, fabrication, and characterization tools, and there's a startup funding package provided to help launch your research—though the exact amount can vary based on negotiation and institutional policy. Do you have any other questions about the position or the department?

No, I just have curious about the research facilities and about the research finding.