Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

Yeah, sure, we can begin. I'm Doctor. Beautiful research. Done my during my PhD.

Okay, so you mentioned your PhD and some research, but that cut off a bit—could you walk me through your academic path in a bit more detail? What was your area of focus, and where did you complete your studies?

So my PhD was. Yeah. My Bachelors. Science, physics, chemistry and mathematics. As well. What's my? Subjects and my masters is in physics. Especially my. Special specialization was in. Condensed matter physics. And my PhD was in physics. From Center for Clean Energy when you call university. And after PhD I joined. IIT Kanpur. As a postdoctoral. No post doctor researcher. Before that I was in JNCSR as a research associate for.

So my PhD was. Yeah. My Bachelors. Science, physics, chemistry and mathematics. As well. What's my? Subjects and my masters is in physics. Especially my. Special specialization was in. Condensed matter physics. And my PhD was in physics. From Center for Clean Energy when you call university. And after PhD I joined. IIT Kanpur. As a postdoctoral. No post doctor researcher. Before that I was in JNCSR as a research associate for. Four months so. Currently. Institute postdoctoral fellow at IIT Kanpur. For undergraduates. I enjoy teaching. Material Science. Especially material science is something that. Describes the science of. Various. Materials that. Different skills. See Nanoscales and mesoscale So I really interested in teaching nanotechnology, especially thin film physics So I really interested in teaching nanotechnology, especially thin film physics.

So my PhD was. Yeah. My Bachelors. Science, physics, chemistry and mathematics. As well. What's my? Subjects and my masters is in physics. Especially my. Special specialization was in. Condensed matter physics. And my PhD was in physics. From Center for Clean Energy when you call university. And after PhD I joined. IIT Kanpur. As a postdoctoral. No post doctor researcher. Before that I was in JNCSR as a research associate for. Four months so. Currently. Institute postdoctoral fellow at IIT Kanpur. For undergraduates. I enjoy teaching. Material Science. Especially material science is something that. Describes the science of. Various. Materials that. Different skills.

You mentioned condensed matter physics as your specialization. What foundational concept in physics do you enjoy teaching the most to undergraduates, and why?

Alright, so you enjoy teaching material science because it covers the science of materials at different scales. When you introduce this topic to first-year students,

Yeah, I'll give. Some analogies. Of certain uh. Materials where it. Goes to the nanoscale.

Alright,

Yeah, I'll give. Some analogies. Of certain uh. Materials where it. Goes to the nanoscale. When?

So you use analogies to explain materials at the nanoscale. Can you give me a concrete example of an analogy you've used in class to help students understand thin film physics?

You were saying you use analogies for materials at the nanoscale—can you give me a concrete example of an analogy you've used in class to help students understand thin film physics?

Yes, actually. My work on. CU3 SBSE for thermoelectrics was about. Enhancing the thermoelectric performance of. A material. So this is actually related to the transport. Phenomena. In the material.

Okay, so your work on Cu3SbSe4 ties directly to transport phenomena in materials. When you’re teaching this,

So like. How the electrical connectivity flows? For example, resistance. What is resistance? This is. Yes. Actually, for example. I can give an example of a guy. Of a person. Moving in a corridor or full of. People.

Alright, that's a classic analogy—someone moving through a crowded corridor to illustrate resistance. When you're talking about thin films,

So when a guy moves through the. Corridor full of people. So he is a bit deflected. Thin films. Actually forms. Some kind of diffractions of when the. Light reflects from 10 films. You can see the fringes. Through the. Thickness of the. 10 films. So this. Can be viewed. Uh. Thermoelectric materials are very futuristic materials which are focused on. Energy, uh. Is harvesting material so I am looking for flexible. Thermoelectric. Devices. And the project based on the flexible thermoelectric devices So I would soon after joining Vit I. Would be. Looking for startup research grant So I would soon after joining Vit I. Would be. Looking for startup research grant. So the various. Agencies like an RF? Can fund. This kind of research, especially there are. Even the industries like Tata Steel. Who can? Fund for this kind of energy harvesting devices because the thermoelectric. Modules can be inscribed in the boilers of the. Reactors and all these things. So where the? Uh, heat can be recovered into energy. So so the gradient of heat can be converted into useful electric energy.

So when a guy moves through the. Corridor full of people. So he is a bit deflected. Thin films. Actually forms. Some kind of diffractions of when the. Light reflects from 10 films. You can see the fringes.

Given your work on thermoelectric materials and thin films, where do you see the most fundable research directions over the next three years? What kinds of grants or external funding would you target to support those projects?

So when a guy moves through the. Corridor full of people. So he is a bit deflected. Thin films. Actually forms. Some kind of diffractions of when the. Light reflects from 10 films. You can see the fringes. Through the. Thickness of the. 10 films. So this. Can be viewed. Uh. Thermoelectric materials are very futuristic materials which are focused on. Energy, uh. Is harvesting material so I am looking for flexible. Thermoelectric. Devices.

You mentioned flexible thermoelectric devices as a focus, and that these materials are futuristic for energy harvesting.

You talked about using analogies and real-world applications when teaching material science and nanotechnology. Suppose you had to run a session with 200 undergraduates—no slides, just you and the students.

So this can also be gone to the. Wearable electronics where the flexible thermoelectric generators can be. Run using the body. Where the body heat? Can form a. Kind of. Gradient heat gradient. I would be connecting. Through the the uh. Examples like. Movies. So there are certain movies where. People show certain. Kind of phenomena.

Okay,

So connecting it all through that. So we can. Have some discussions. Actually. This kind of data. Can be fixed with. Making better uh. Curriculum. Actually. Making the better, uh. Syllabus and. Motivating the students.

Towards this. Well, and making them. Understanding, uh. Towards the industry. Or some application.

Okay, so you’d focus on improving the curriculum and motivating students, but the issue I raised is about inconsistent outcome assessment data—like,

Alright, Professor, let’s shift gears a bit. Imagine a student files a formal complaint alleging your grading is biased, and at the same time, your department head is pressuring you to improve pass rates. How would you navigate that situation?

First thing is about. The grading will be done without any partiality, without any bias.

Right, so you’d make sure grading is impartial. But say the department head keeps pushing for higher pass rates, even if it means changing your grading standards. How would you respond if your academic principles were at odds with that pressure?

So the student who has. Issues with this particular gradient I will. Take certain special classes. Or a special kind of. Increasing the pass rates means. The making the students to learn. So that ideally it's about. Uh, making them to learn. So it's not about increasing the grading. Or making the liberalization of the grading. Something like. So, uh. I should focus. The slow learners.

Right, you’re saying the focus should be on helping slow learners rather than lowering grading standards. But if your department head insists on changing the grading policy itself—say,

Who are in the class and I will. Keep separate attention for that. So the grading can be. Uh, made more linear.

Given your research in thermoelectric devices and flexible materials,

But the teaching style is always. The the one which? You can. Uh, improve about. Yes, actually. We are working on a. Project where? Collaborating with. ISRO Indian Space Research organization so we are. Forming a prototype of this material and will be. Keeping so it's not about the flexible. Thermoelectric generator. Instead we are doing. Optical, uh. Solar Rift. Reflector so that we have high emissivity coatings. So this. Kind of collaborations with ISRO.

Is so making the students who are working with us? Focused towards the. Industrial Research.

You mentioned a collaboration with ISRO on high emissivity coatings for optical solar reflectors. That's a substantial industry connection. Have you been able to involve students directly in any of that work—like internships,

You mentioned your interest in machine learning earlier. Suppose you were designing a course module where students use machine learning to analyze experimental data from semiconductor devices. How would you structure that assignment to ensure students learn both the physics and the computational methods?

Yeah, generally. Using the machine learning models we will be. We will first we will try to reproduce the results already published.

So you’d start by having students reproduce published results using machine learning models on semiconductor data.

So when this kind of results are already reproduced? With our existing models. So we will. Will be getting some. Actually, when you reproduce the results from the. People so you will be analyzing the data.

Alright, you're saying students will analyze and reproduce results, but I'm still not hearing how you'd make sure they get the physics behind the data. What concrete steps would you take, maybe during lectures or lab sessions, to reinforce the physical principles while they're working with those machine learning models?

By yourself and you will be understanding how. How this particular? Uh. Actually during the lab sessions. We can. Have a discussions regarding this and we can even have a discussions. So The thing is about it's about the group discussions with the students so that. People can learn. The ideas?

You mentioned group discussions during lab sessions to help students learn the underlying physics,

So all of. About It's all about discussions and. Uh, taking the. MMM, essence of it. Can you ask the question again?

Alright, Professor, you mentioned discussions and capturing the essence, but let me repeat the question more clearly. When you publish your research, what specific steps do you take to make sure your work gets noticed and cited by others in the academic community?

Yeah, first thing is about. The novelty of the research.

You said novelty is key for getting your research recognized. Can you give me a specific example of how you’ve highlighted the unique aspects of your work—maybe through conference presentations, outreach, or targeting certain journals?

So once we. Publish our research. A novel business. Then we will be. Yes. Can you please ask the question again?

You mentioned novelty as your main strategy, but I need something more concrete. For example, have you ever presented your work at a major conference or reached out to collaborators in other fields to boost visibility?

Yes. Actually I have uh. Submitted and I have presented my. Research in international confidential.

Alright, you presented your research at an international conference. What about quantum computation—if you had to introduce quantum algorithms to undergraduate physics students, how would you simplify the concepts so they don’t get lost in the math?

And the main thing is to reach. This particular research. Yeah, let's go. Quantum computation is something very. The difficult topic so I have to. Make them understanding. From from the principal. So what exactly is the? Certain terms. Like how does? This evolve. And how the? Derivation of this particular terms are.

Makes sense in this research and also.

Okay,

You started to connect quantum computation concepts to research,

So ultimately. Yes. Can you ask the question again?

Alright, you were starting to tie quantum concepts to research but didn’t finish your thought. Can you give me a concrete example—say, how you’d use a current research project or experiment to help students visualize something like superposition or entanglement in quantum computation?

Actually superposition. Is something. That, uh. Exist in between the. Zero and one say. So I will be. Trying to explain it. Like how? This is a. In between position.

That happens. Not exactly.

Alright,

That happens. Not exactly. Discreet.

You said superposition "happens, not exactly"—sounds like you're thinking through how you'd explain it. Mm-hm.

Mm-hmm.

Can I ask the question again?

Of course, I'll repeat the question for you. When you're teaching semiconductor device physics, what's one hands-on experiment or demonstration you'd use to help students really understand how a p-n junction works?

So the hands-on experiment is. Using a. Exact the diode itself. So I can show the variation in the currents. Like how the? Device work. With the model. So I can even show with the model. It's it's pre injection is all about. The formation of a barrier.

Okay so you'd use a diode and show current variation to illustrate the p-n junction and the formation of the barrier. When students struggle to connect the theory to the device behavior—how do you help them link what they're seeing in the experiment to the underlying physics?

Right, so then. This is something.

You were saying, “right, so then this is something”—sounds like you’re mid-thought. Go ahead.

So I will actually show that. Picturized. Models like. Anime, kind of. Things where people can. Understand how the electrons move. What exactly happens in the junction? And how to barrier light changes?

And how? How we change the bias and the barrier height can be changed?

Alright,

You’re showing how changing the bias alters the barrier height, and using animations to visualize electron movement. When introducing machine learning to students, how do you help them bridge the gap between the math behind algorithms and actually implementing a simple model—say, for classification?

Actually, the machine learning is something that. Works with the normal. Uh, neural. Kind of ideas, neural network kind of ideas. So this is. The same way how you. Think how are human things?

Alright, so you connect machine learning to neural network ideas and relate it to how humans think. Let's shift to quantum computation—if you were teaching students about quantum gates, what's one analogy or approach you'd use to help them grasp how a quantum gate differs from a classical logic gate?

So this. Is using such kind of? Uh, basic. Can you ask the question again?

OK, so the classical. Logic gate. Has 2 inputs. It's a different. Kind of ideas. Right, so the. Zero and one. Can give only a certain. Output. It cannot give output in between this. Right, it's it's a superposition Actually, when I. Write a paper. So I will have. A certain idea. That what kind of research I'm going to Actually, when I. Write a paper. So I will have. A certain idea. That what kind of research I'm going to. Publish SO. And I will be having an idea. So I'll be. Uh, referring various different papers which are published in different journals.

Sure, I'll repeat my last question. If you were teaching students about quantum gates, what's one analogy or approach you'd use to help them understand how a quantum gate differs from a classical logic gate?

OK, so the classical. Logic gate. Has 2 inputs. It's a different. Kind of ideas. Right, so the. Zero and one. Can give only a certain. Output. It cannot give output in between this.

You pointed out that classical logic gates only output discrete values—zero or one—with nothing in between. Switching topics, when it comes to research publications, how do you decide which journal or conference to target for your work, and what's your process for preparing a paper for submission?

So. Then I will automatically I will get an idea of where my journal my. Paper can go.

So. Then I will automatically I will get an idea of where my journal my. Paper can go. Hey, Cortana. Yeah.

Alright,

Okay, so by reading through other journals, you figure out where your paper might fit. When you're actually preparing your manuscript, what's your approach to structuring the main results so readers from different fields can understand your work clearly?

Okay, so you use references from other journals to figure out where your paper fits. When structuring your manuscript, how do you decide which results to highlight in the abstract and introduction, so readers immediately understand the significance of your work?

Yeah, I understood the question.

You said you get an idea of where your paper can go based on the research topic and references. When you're working on industry projects or consultancy, what's your approach to balancing academic rigor with practical constraints—like deadlines or client needs?

Yeah, actually the. One of the research.

You started to mention industry research—sounds like you had something specific in mind. Go ahead, I'd like to hear more about how you balance academic rigor with the practical demands on a consultancy project.

Can you ask the question again?

You started to mention one of your research projects. Go on.

Yeah.

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

I have mentioned about. Uh, the research project with the. ISRO. Actually, we are. Consistently in in touch with the. Nothing.