Yeah. Thank you. Good morning for giving me this opportunity.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

Good morning. My name is Arup Sarkar. I did my PhD. In physics. Basically one. Langmuir Monolire. And molecular electronics.

Okay, so you focused on Langmuir monolayers and molecular electronics during your PhD. Can you share how that early research shaped your later work or teaching focus?

And, uh, didn't. I joined uh. For post. In India. Yes. Yes. So in Langmuir modular I make. I made all 13. Monolayer. A film video ordered and oriented, and there I have studied chart transport. In out-of-planned direction.

Alright Professor, with that background in mind, tell me about a foundational physics concept you most enjoy teaching and why it resonates with your students.

And in my postdoc I researched transport in similar kind of system, but in that. Yes, I like to discuss about. Faraday's law because. That is very important for our daily life. And it is used everywhere. Yes.

Okay, Faraday's law is a classic. When you teach it, is there a particular demonstration or real-world example you use that gets students especially engaged?

Yes, I can. This kind of demonstration using wire and taking.

And then pass a note. No. Change the magnetic field by moving the magnet and you see that in coil. How voltage is enveloped?

Alright, so you have a recent publication in ACS Nano on converting organic monolayers into patterned single-layer conductors. How has your experience with that research influenced the way you explain charge transport or nanoscience concepts to undergraduates?

Right, so you move the magnet to change the magnetic field and show students how voltage is induced in the coil—that's a classic hands-on demo for Faraday’s law. Thinking about your work on organic monolayers and charge transport, have you found ways to connect those cutting-edge research topics to the undergraduate curriculum, maybe through labs or seminar discussions?

Yes, so. Basically what I did in post doc. This is quite advanced.

Alright, shifting gears. Given your background in Langmuir monolayers and charge transport, where do you see the most promising opportunities for external research funding over the next few years?

And there is actually lots of puzzling behavior that transport it happens in organic monolayer. And that's not yet solved. So this is kind of advanced thing. Yes, so basically you can use it for biosensor. And different kind of. Application like you know. Gas sensor. And of course some you know, device like FET, you know, can just. And everywhere you can use this langmuir. Thing and also I am also interested in the advance of Langmuir Langmuir Manolo that is self assemble mono. So. I am planning to combine both. And have some innovative device. Governments and also. Other new kind of application. And the kind of funding I am looking for is in DST. And DRDO. And CSR. All these Indians you know.

Will note on UH funding agencies. Also I will try some private. Things, uh. OK. From like Mercedes and other places? To get funding also there are some state government, they provide funding.

You mentioned DST, DRDO,

Alright, let's talk about teaching. Given your expertise in molecular electronics, how would you design an active learning exercise for undergraduates that goes beyond lectures and gets students directly engaging with the core ideas?

So basically I would like to. Show demonstration. As much possible, just like I have shown I told the Faraday's laws. And similarly for example. How you know static charge using this balloon kind of thing?

An Indian rabbit animal. Using. People so all kind of demonstrate.

Okay, so you’d use hands-on demonstrations for static charge, like the balloon example. But with a large class—say, 150 students—how do you make sure they’re not just watching,

Alright, Professor, switching to a broader topic. 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?

So I I would try to do more hard and you know, I will try to improve. My things to. To make it more. Things. So basically I believe in hard work. Yes.

So you mentioned hard work, but process is key with accreditation. Can you give me a concrete example of how you’d standardize or coordinate assessment data collection across multiple courses in a department?

Can you please uh. Explain just I didn't understand your question.

Sure, let me try to rephrase. Imagine the department has several physics courses, and each instructor is collecting student assessment data in a different way—some use spreadsheets, some don't track outcomes at all, and the formats are inconsistent. How would you organize or standardize the way data is collected and reported, so it meets accreditation requirements?

OK, so basically, uh. I love to talk with each and every student and they are, they are, you know. Especially I see they are. Reports and always I try to. So interact personally and you see that. How is their growth? Is they really understanding?

Switching topics, Professor. Imagine you’re supervising a research project and you notice that a student’s data looks suspiciously perfect—almost too good to be true. At the same time,

So all these things. So I really take care that who is there, you know? Try to understand the. Yes. So basically what I do is now I am. Guiding on MSC project and almost finished you know.

On Superhydrophobic. Coating. So I tried to explain to the student that you should not compromise.

You mentioned you’re currently guiding an MSc project and keeping a close eye on your students. But in the scenario I described—where there’s pressure from your department for strong results,

So you make it clear to your students not to compromise on integrity, even under pressure. But if your department head pushed back, insisting results were needed for funding—how would you stand your ground?

Yes.

Given your background in molecular electronics and organic monolayers, do you have any industry connections or collaborations that could help students access internships or real-world projects as part of their studies?

Yes, so I know a few of them in HSB. Also, I look forward to different kind of collaboration. Interdisciplinary collaboration so that we can do internship kind of things.

You mentioned HSB and looking for interdisciplinary collaborations for internships. Can you give me a concrete example—have you helped a student secure an internship or brought in an industry project before? If not, what specific steps would you take to make these partnerships real for students at our university?

And coming to the point you have said? I will try to. Take some simpler problem which can I can get? Very simple. OK so till now I didn't have any opportunity because recently I started my teaching career. But in future of course I will do. So I know many officers. And some of the company as I said, HHB Bangalore. And I know. A few of them, so I will try to. And I inspired my student to go there.

And coming to the point you have said? I will try to. Take some simpler problem which can I can get? Very simple. OK so till now I didn't have any opportunity because recently I started my teaching career. But in future of course I will do. So I know many officers. And some of the company as I said, HHB Bangalore. And I know. A few of them, so I will try to. And I inspired my student to go there. And have some experience also in other research In IIT izers outside.

Alright, Professor, now I’d like to touch on a few technical topics central to this role.

You mentioned IIT and "izers outside"—can you clarify what you meant, or are you referring to external collaborations with IITs?

Yes. So basically here I was talking about that. That student can get the benefit of their. IIT iz faculties. And if possible I will try to collaborate also. I have no problem and in fact I have some collaboration. For example, in Jane Cesar, I am collaborating for some biological studies. Of sample. And it will be published soon in Journal of Material Chemistry B. So yes, I am very open to cloud.

Yes. So basically here I was talking about that. That student can get the benefit of their. IIT iz faculties. And if possible I will try to collaborate also. I have no problem and in fact I have some collaboration. For example, in Jane Cesar, I am collaborating for some biological studies. Of sample. And it will be published soon in Journal of Material Chemistry B.

Yes. So basically here I was talking about that. That student can get the benefit of their. IIT iz faculties. And if possible I will try to collaborate also. I have no problem and in fact I have some collaboration. For example, in Jane Cesar, I am collaborating for some biological studies. Of sample.

You’ve got some collaborations going with Jain CSR for biological sample studies, and you know contacts at HHB Bangalore. Let’s shift to semiconductor device physics. Suppose you’re teaching a module on advanced semiconductor materials, and a student asks how bandgap engineering can be practically used to improve solar cell efficiency. How would you explain the concept and its application to them?

So you’ve got collaborations underway and are working toward interdisciplinary projects. Let’s shift to machine learning for a moment—if you were to supervise a student applying machine learning to experimental physics data, how would you help them choose the right algorithm and avoid overfitting?

So you’ve published with Jain CSR and you’re open to more collaboration for student benefit. Now, shifting to semiconductor device physics—say you’re teaching a module on MOSFETs and a student struggles with the concept of threshold voltage. How would you break it down in class to make it click for them?

OK, honestly speaking, I don't have experience with machine learning. But in future I would like. To learn a. Yes. So. This is my answer.

Thanks for being candid about your experience with machine learning, Professor. Shifting gears, let’s talk about quantum computation. If a student in your class was struggling to grasp the concept of quantum superposition, what analogy or teaching strategy would you use to help them understand it?

And I will show them that how the wave nature. Here's this destruction and. Unconstructive. Yes, so there I would like to do this laser experiment using laser having some oil and I showed. Constructive and destructive interference on the wall. Yes, so this is the most simplest thing I can start. I'll give the feelings And from there I will start And from there I will start. Yes, so. I don't have any experience till now because I didn't get any opportunity. But I would love to do it. I know a few of my friends, they are doing this thing, you know, they have industry project and they have experienced. Of of doing this, you know application oriented work.

Yes. So I would like to start from the concept of. Double slit experiment. This classic OP.

Okay, so you’d use the double slit experiment as a starting point to illustrate quantum superposition. How would you connect that experiment to everyday intuition for students who might not have much physics background?

And I will show them that how the wave nature. Here's this destruction and. Unconstructive. Yes, so there I would like to do this laser experiment using laser having some oil and I showed. Constructive and destructive interference on the wall. Yes, so this is the most simplest thing I can start.

And from there I will start. Yes, so. I don't have any experience till now because I didn't get any opportunity. But I would love to do it. I know a few of my friends, they are doing this thing, you know, they have industry project and they have experienced. Of of doing this, you know application oriented work. And and I would like to collaborate with them. I would like to learn from them So. So yes, in future I would love to So. So yes, in future I would love to. Yes. So first we'd like to make. Our result? And try to make our result and we have to be strong and with that our result. I would like to. Go to industry and. Until then, see we have this. OK. And it can be used for your industry like this? And list blower it.

Right, using a laser experiment to demonstrate interference patterns is a hands-on way to make the concept stick. Now, Professor, thinking about industry projects or consultancy—have you ever been involved in a consultancy project or helped a company solve a real-world physics problem? If not, how would you approach building those industry relationships?

Okay, so you haven't done consultancy yet, but you've seen colleagues work on application-oriented projects. Let's say you wanted to start building an industry partnership for student projects—what's the first concrete step you'd take to make that happen?

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

And that is how both will get benefits. Whenever it is out. And if it is this. So let's close. OK, so my role is about this. This is about assistant professor research. So teaching and research load how much it will be measured. If we con consider that. Proportional loss. The whole it is. Can you kindly let me know?