I have completed my graduation Ms. Software Engineering and VIT University. Indeed at 2008. And followed. I did my M tech in software technology. And VIP University. From 2012 to 2014. Followed I. Uh uh, started my PhD in. 2014 in VIT University. I submitted my thesis and got my doctorate degree in two. 2019. From VIT University will look. That after I join an IT company called Pramathi Technologies. That I was. Taking care of. R&D. And working there as a development engineer. I worked that far. 2021. June till 2021 June I was working there.

Then I got an opportunity to.

Thank you for outlining your academic and industry journey. Thinking back on your experience, which foundational software engineering concept do you find most rewarding to introduce to new undergraduate students, and why?

Right, so after your time in industry, when you transitioned back to academia, what was the first course you were assigned to teach, and how did you approach introducing the subject to your students?

I after coming from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology India AI portal I joined at Kingston Engineering. College and I started teaching. Artificial intelligence.

You mentioned introducing Artificial Intelligence at Kingston Engineering College—what teaching strategy did you find most effective for helping students grasp the fundamentals of AI in their first few weeks?

Course AI ML course for the students. I introduced. That the students about. The recent industry trends. What will be the future trends? Industry and what type of technology the student should concentrate. I did an. Memorandum of understanding between. Nascom, Future Skills, Prime and Kingston. College and. I did an MOU between. Uh, Tamil Nadu IT and T Hub and Kingston engineering college IT. For the students. To concentrate more on industry trends. Future tense. And they can focus more on the. Industry-levant technologies. And I conducted. Hackathons there for the students. 24 hackathons. 24 hours hackathon. In Kingston engineering. College, then we did. Project Expo in Kingston Engineering College. And we brought startups a uh. Uh, startup. Hub there and for MSME. Where the students can. Showcase their projects in MSFB. So it was. Built as a hub and we got fun for that. And we have a plate. Two funded projects. Two uh DST, Department of Science and Technology under central scheme. Each project. Has 1,00,00,000 around 1,00,00,000 project. One for the Timry District. Or one for the KB Cooper district? We have submitted the proposal. And it's under progress. And we show we give regular industry talks to the students we. Quotes from the interview.

Dr., your doctoral thesis focused on strategies to enhance research quality and citation impact in scientific collaboration networks. How have you incorporated the key findings from your PhD research into your classroom teaching or student project guidance?

Uh, experts.

You described organizing hackathons, MOUs, and industry talks to make the curriculum more relevant—can you give a specific example of how you integrated insights from one of these industry collaborations directly into your classroom instruction or student projects?

Kill the laborers. That the program is because everybody is using vocabulary now. So those are the insights I bring out. When I go out and I am a. Consultant for. Subject matter expert consultant for sector skills food for food processing in New Delhi are used to. Frame courses for them. Syllabus for them for the. Informal workers who are working in food industry. And dairy industry. And I am advisory member for Commonwealth Educational media sector for Asia. Where to educate farmers and informal workers? On artificial intelligence. How to use those applications in artificial intelligence through artificial intelligence? To make their. Work monotonous, work easy. So these are the additional. Skills I have. So whenever I go out as a speaker outside to the industry or to any public speaker. I. Mingle with the experts and get insights. Those insights I bring back to the institution. And I educate the students. To make them equip for the Industry 11 standard. So generally, students. Follow the conventional model of learning regular subjects. But. When we understand what is. Is really gap in the industry and what is that they really want to. Learn uh. And what is the gap? Industry is expecting. Those things we need to. Have a understanding with the industry experts so we really. Regularly.

You mentioned designing courses and syllabi for informal workers in the food processing and dairy industries—can you walk me through how you adapted technical AI concepts to make them accessible for a non-technical audience in that context?

Speak with the industry experts. And I regularly go for. Talks Industry expert Talks. And I bring them back to thee. Students Desk. And I am an author for India AI portal. Money control. Analytics India Magazine. Emiratis. And 18 usesia CRM Media. So I used to regularly contribute. My opinion articles. For these reputed magazines. India AI portal is a. Joint initiative of Nazcom. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. And Digital India program. I work there as a senior researcher and author. I maintained their. The datasets. And I used to write regular research insights. I used to interview experts. In and around the India. You can see my research articles in Google search itself. And through that I used to have a regular, uh.

You mentioned authoring research insights for the India AI portal and interviewing industry experts—can you share a specific instance where an expert’s perspective led you to revise or enhance your teaching content for your students?

Discussion with the academia SO. I can understand what is the relevant. Field that is required in the academia. So that. To me to get back to. I cannot mix. Easily so recently. Five months back, I joined Kingston Engineering College in Vellore. That they give me the position to. Speech, AI and ML for the students. Uh, India academics? So since I have a. Uh, very uh. Serious background as a technology senior technology journalist and a senior researcher and author in India. AI portal and Nascom. I usually give examples to the students. That what are all the? Do's and don'ts and what? Things that. The major companies have done through their career. Because whenever I meet any expert, I used to have a ser. A long discussion with them for my interview for India AI. Or Analytics, India magazine or IT News Asia or Emirates. So those. Discussions used to give us insights.

Give students. So those insights are all. The standards for me. To give insights to the students.

You mentioned regularly interviewing industry experts and bringing those insights into your teaching—can you give a concrete example of a time when feedback from an interview directly changed how you structured a lesson or assessment in your AI or ML course?

You've described how you gather industry insights and bring them to your students—can you give a concrete example of a class session where you changed your planned approach based on recent feedback from an industry expert?

So. So I used. I regularly meet experts from. Uh, industries like Accenture, Cognizant. The Microsoft. And I recently. Had a discussion with. The an expert. Uh, so when I I usually I used to ask them. How do you manage failures like when you face? Any kind of rejections or failures? During the development of the product. What kind of? Uh, composition you used to make yourself to make you composed. So they used to give me that regularly, like. Many startups. After 2023. And I mean 2022, late 2022 after the invasion of ChatGPT and all.

Interesting. When you incorporated those lessons about handling failure from recent industry discussions, how did your students respond, and did you notice any changes in their approach to project work or research setbacks?

The many IT companies who who themselves they term themselves as IT companies. Now they represent. Themselves as a. Yay startups. So.

Interesting. When you incorporated those lessons about handling failure from recent industry discussions, how did your students respond, and did you notice any changes in their approach to project work or research?

Moka port whenever they have Moka ports in their organization. Definitely they required a skill to programmers. So that's how. I take that. The gap and I. Uh, educate the students that. Anybody and everybody. They should understand. The skills gap. So please concentrate on other industries. Other than IT industry because other industries required more skilled labours. So that's how I used to educate students.

Thank you for sharing those details. Professor, looking ahead, what is your three-year research roadmap—including the core topics you plan to pursue, your strategy for securing external funding, and how your work will contribute to impactful publications and collaborations in your specialization?

Sure, Arjun. Arjun, as I already mentioned. I was part of. Nasscom project called India AI. India, yeah. National Artificial Intelligence Portal.

Understood. Since you have significant experience with funded projects and national-level initiatives, how do you plan to scale your research lab’s activities—both in terms of attracting top student researchers and building sustainable industry partnerships—over the next three years?

It's a joint initiative. Of Nascom Digital India program. And Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology started in 2018. And later after 2022. It is the official portal of India. And we report to Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, New Delhi. We report to the Secretary and Additional Secretary of Ministry. So since I have a. Uh, very extreme. Uh, exposure with the. Officials, bureaucrats, and. National and. State level E governance agency. I my first target is to get funded projects from. Department of Science and Technology. So.

Given your plan to seek Department of Science and Technology funding, what specific interdisciplinary collaborators or institutional partnerships are you prioritizing to strengthen your proposals and maximize research impact?

That I have more exposure on that. And my team are already working there in those projects. So. My target is to get more funded projects. From Department of Science and Technology. For the next three years. So my objective is to focus on. Sustainable development goals. So it's not that, uh. What is the actual contribution we give back to the society where we live? But what is the actual? Service we can give back to our country. Matters. So my target and objective is. As sustainable development goals. And uh. I I'm I'm sure I can get.

Given your track record with DST-funded projects and your focus on sustainable development goals, what concrete steps are you taking to ensure these research initiatives translate into high-impact journal publications or recognized patents within the next three years?

More external fantastic projects from the Government of India. Other various departments. So, uh. Since I have a. Community with Nas come since I was working for. There is in NASCAR. I have a. A wider network connection. So I can definitely uh. Meet them in person. And do the needful and I can. Bring more, uh. Memorandum of Understanding with national and International. Organizations national level. All government. The related. Initiate terms and funds. I can definitely do a needful sense. Through NASCAR. And internationally, more number of international universities. I can definitely connect and bring more memorandum of understanding. Teachers exchange program. Students exchange program for that I can definitely support. For the next three years, adjunct.

You highlighted your network and prior success with DST funding—what is your concrete strategy for ensuring your lab’s research outputs are consistently published in high-impact journals over the next three years?

Arjun.

Let's shift to your teaching approach. Describe how you would implement an active learning model—such as a flipped classroom—for a large AI or multimedia course, using no slides or traditional lecturing, and how you would ensure all students remain engaged.

A wide exposure. And I'll definitely can support and placements also since. I was part of Nastum. Since NASCAR is a union of IT companies. I can definitely support and. Placements and bring internships. To the student communities. Arjun.

You emphasized using real-world case studies to engage students—can you share a specific example of a student project you mentored that applied these industry insights, and explain how you measured its success?

So, we used to take students to the State Institute of Rural Development, SIRD under Tamil Nadu. So those it is a department under government of Tamil Nadu. There they educate students and bureaucrats. In India. About the Sustainable Development Goals, what is that the act? The they actually, uh. The problem? They face in the village and in the municipalities. So I. Any technology or any knowledge which is which cannot be applied to the. General people. It is UN. Right, so.

Let's talk about accreditation and institutional progress. Professor, if tasked with improving your department's “Research per Faculty” metric for upcoming accreditation, what systematic approach would you use to boost this metric while maintaining quality standards?

A model with. Some IoT. Sensors which? Once the water level reduces less than 25 percentage immediately that sensors can switch the signal to the. Base office. On the from the base office immediately it switch on the motor. One this tank level. Raise about 98 percentage immediately again it. To give sense the sensor to the. UH signal to the UH through CSAR. To the best. And immediately it switches off the. Motor so this is the project. We contributed to the nearby village. And uh. It is the act. Actual sustainable development goal. And similarly when we. When for uh in text forming in Bangalore? That I saw. Many industry relevant projects where we can. Support for. Differently abled people. So many problems are there. We need to find the problems first. And we can approach the solution accordingly.

Now, Professor, imagine you are faced with an allegation of grading bias in your course—an accusation that conflicts with institutional pressure to maintain high pass percentages. How would you address and resolve this situation while upholding academic integrity?

Arjun, first I make sure whether all these students. Have industry relevant exposure.

So.

I don't.

Understood. When you say you first ensure all students have industry-relevant exposure, what specific mechanisms or documentation do you use to demonstrate that your grading was fair and unbiased if challenged?

Understood. When you say you first ensure all students have industry-relevant exposure, what specific mechanisms or documentation do you use to demonstrate that your grading was fair and unbiased if challenged by administration or parents?

Tools students right from the classroom itself. They should have the exposure that what kind of tools the industry are. Using regularly. Those tools, they will concentrate. And when a student enters for the placement. The students. Should know. The Expo there should be exposed to the industry. And they should not. Feel any kind of.

Drop or any kind of. Lagging in. Understanding or expressing their knowledge. That's the first motto. The the motors. To equip the students. And make them. Uh, ready for the industry? Ready, uh. Uh, equipped.

Let's move to a different area. Can you walk me through a recent project or course where you integrated advanced multimedia or artificial intelligence concepts, and explain how you ensured students gained both theoretical understanding and hands-on experience?

That's the first thing. And uh, the other things are all side effects, definitely. It will bring more percentage. Arjun.

Okay. Since you mentioned preparing students for immediate industry contribution, what methods do you use to evaluate their proficiency with these industry-standard tools before awarding final grades?

You’ve highlighted the importance of equipping students with industry tools—can you give a concrete example of an assessment or final project where students directly demonstrated their readiness for immediate employment?

So now industries are all expecting, as I mentioned. I recently went to IMTEX forming at Bengaluru. So there. Many industries. All almost all industries are now using Mocha board. M0C 0B0 T. Mock up what?

So those Moco boats are all? Program the mocha boats to do. Specific task.

You mentioned industries are now using Mocha board—can you describe a student project where you required the use of Mocha board, and explain how you evaluated their technical and practical proficiency with it?

When students programmed the Mocha board for a specific task, what criteria did you use to evaluate both their technical solution and their ability to document and present their work to a potential employer?

So for those. Program uh. Mocha boats. They require programmers.

When students programmed the Mocha board, how did you evaluate both their technical implementation and their ability to communicate or present their solution to an industry audience?

For that. We need to understand what. Kind of, uh. Area. And what kind of? Program uh. Programmers. They require an industry. So apparently and.

How do you ensure students not only learn to program devices like Mocha board, but also develop the ability to troubleshoot and resolve unexpected issues that arise during hands-on lab sessions?

Their input V. And I encourage students to concentrate on those things. When they develop. A particular. Uh.

Wastage collection mission. They demonstrated a project called. Wastage Collection. And when they showed that? Be. I asked them how did you train it? They said that they have the. Just used a small program. And they train the mission to do a specific task. I asked them, can you do? Can you apply the same thing when you go to any particular industry? Because each industry. Wants to do a specific test and it is not a. Regular test. Each time they want to do it. You test under. Accordingly, I educate and encourage students to. Learn to. Program hockey board to do a. Particular task. Arjun.

How do you ensure that students working with Mocha boards develop not only programming skills but also the ability to troubleshoot and independently resolve technical issues during their projects?

You’ve described encouraging students to adapt their programming to different industry test requirements—can you walk me through how you assess a student’s ability to independently research and implement a solution for a novel task they haven’t seen before?

So I ask I generally educate students to do a research. Through Google Scholar. So they must understand what is the recent research contribution from the research community.

Right, so when your students use Google Scholar to research recent advances, how do you evaluate whether they've accurately understood and applied that research to their own project work?

Only then they can. Uh, have the knowledge of what is what was actually happening. And how can they? Enhance the existing. Research. So literature surveys must. For any. Student to understand their. Area. So I generally educate students to do a thorough. And deep literature survey. Related work uh. So I asked them to collect more than. 30 articles from the reputed journals and I asked them to do a thorough research. In a table asking them. What has happened? For the past. 1. Like almost 10 years they should have a clear knowledge what was happening in their. Area. Only then they can understand that. The OR what was? What had happened and what were? Uh, what is possible and what not possible? And what we can concentrate in future. So literature survey is must. So I encourage my students too. Do a Taro literature survey.

Understood. When students complete their literature survey and select a research direction, how do you determine whether their chosen approach is both original and practically relevant to current industry needs?

So we need to compare the existing model, our own model with the existing model. So, uh. Once the student. Collected the literature survey and brings. An objective of. What they are planning to do for the next UH. Uh, area. I immediately call. An industry expert. Whom are working. In the particular project. Who are expert in that particular project. I called them for a discussion. And we? Will give the students to understand. What does really? Happened in the industry in a particular. Area. So. I will take their student directly to the R&D develop. Research and development, uh. Lab in India whether it is in India or abroad. I will definitely connect with the. Relevant expert and relevant expert team. And I take the student to the lab. So that the student will understand.

Well, academic student academic research should have a. Clear collaboration with the industry research also. So I will connect with the industry experts. And I'll take the students to the relev. Required that R&D labs. And may give them exposure. And to understand what is that. Really that we need to concentrate more. Arjun.

You mentioned connecting students with industry R&D labs—when those students present their project ideas to industry experts, what criteria do you use to evaluate whether their proposed solution meets both academic rigor and real-world applicability?

When you bring students into direct contact with R&D labs and industry experts, what specific feedback or evidence do you look for from those experts to confirm that a student’s work is ready for real-world application?

I. Get feedbacks. From I generally get feedbacks from the experts.

When you receive feedback from industry experts on a student’s project, can you share a specific example of feedback that led you to adjust your teaching approach or curriculum?

Once I I do a carav. Uh, verification. I give the second level verifications to the industry experts. And I get the feedback from the relevant. Industry experts. And from that? Industry feedback. People have a second level discussion with our own students. To what is that we are? We need to concentrate for the next level. And accordingly we concentrate at June.

Once you’ve had that second-level discussion with students based on industry feedback, can you describe a time when a student had to pivot their project approach significantly—what was the main reason for the pivot and how did you guide them through it?

That concentrated make ourselves. To a couple self to. So. Back to the society, and so to the. Problem that what we are actually lacking and how to. Approach to the problem. So educating. Must and it will be done in a healthy way, Arjun.

That’s a thoughtful way to frame feedback. Focusing on the teaching side, when you introduce a new laboratory or theory course, how do you structure the first few sessions to ensure students of varying backgrounds can all engage and succeed?

Following this uh. My points, my teaching. And accordingly. I refined. To the next. Coming classes are June.

You mentioned using real-life case studies to engage students—can you give a concrete example of a case study you’ve used in class and explain how you adapted it to ensure students from non-technical backgrounds could participate meaningfully?

Arjun.

Right. When you notice that some students are struggling to follow the initial case studies or stories, what concrete adjustments do you make in your teaching approach for the next session?

I get the feedback. What is the problem they face? Whether? The communication. Or what kind of? Problem we are facing. Accordingly, I will I will refine the teaching style if they want. More number of. Uh, slides or more number of book references? Or more number of videos. Or more number of insights from the industry experts. I collect the input from the students. And I. Tailor the course and sessions accordingly for the next sessions. Arjun.

Understood. Reflecting on your approach to adapting teaching materials, can you share a specific instance where student feedback led you to introduce a new resource—such as a particular video, book, or guest lecture—and describe the impact it had on student engagement or learning outcomes?