Hello.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

OK, I am Doctor Smriti Sikka Visual. Uh, currently I am working as a postdoc. Uh. The exact position is senior project Associate in Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore.

Alright, so you're currently a Senior Project Associate at JNCASR in Bangalore.

I did my PhD in Pondicherry University. And I have finished. Uh, in PST? I in my PhD. The my PhD research work is mostly on. Graphene-based magnetic nanocomposites. I was working in the fundamentals. Like exploring the magnetic properties and ramen and dielectric.

Alright, so you focused your PhD research on the fundamentals of graphene-based magnetic nanocomposites—specifically their magnetic, Raman, and dielectric properties.

Properties of these nanocomposites so that we can actually. OK. Not particularly, but yes, I have actually took some practical classes to the UC and PG people and also I did some of the teaching classes to the UG paper.

Dr., you mentioned teaching practical classes to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. Is there a particular physics concept or topic you especially enjoy introducing to students for the first time?

And guided some of the MSC students in project in our lab. The first time when? Uh, actually the first time when I took the practical class. It is the mostly into the synthesis of nano composites. How different methods are there? Of our synthesis of nanocomposites. Not it is material science fair OK, so graph engine 2D material. So I first introduced strategies, the 2D material. How and how crap. Very unique in this case.

And guided some of the MSC students in project in our lab. The first time when? Uh, actually the first time when I took the practical class. It is the mostly into the synthesis of nano composites. How different methods are there? Of our synthesis of nanocomposites.

You mentioned guiding MSc students and teaching practicals on nanocomposite synthesis methods. I noticed your recent publication, “Magnetism and Raman investigations of hydrothermally reduced GO incorporated alpha-Fe2O3 nanocomposites: The role of temperature-dependent charge transfer induced interfacial interactions.” How do you approach translating the key findings from that research into concepts your undergraduate students can actually grasp?

Then I I introduced the. A concept of ramen spectroscopy, which is a very versatile tool and I mean it is very known. Tool for ages. And then I come. I I mean, I just give you. Them the idea. How graphene is very much temperature sensitive and how any temperature?

Okay, so you start by introducing 2D materials and what makes graphene unique. When you simplify those ideas for undergrads, how do you connect the abstract concepts—like interfacial charge transfer—to something practical or familiar to them?

So you walk them through Raman spectroscopy and how graphene responds to temperature changes. When you see students struggling with the abstract parts—like how spectroscopy links to real-world material behavior—how do you adjust your teaching approach in the moment?

OK, first I will go to the basics of what is spectroscopy does mean. It is nothing but. Energy versus. It is a graph of energy. And versus this web number? So that is a part this undergraduate people can understand very easily. Because they are actually studying the. I mean their courses. Then I. Try to translate what uh, I mean from real perspective. How graphing looks like? What is the structure? How the structure actually the from their knowledge of basic? Because. I'm Kristallography. I tried to relate them how it comes into graph hint.

Okay, so you anchor it with basics like what a spectrum is, then connect it to crystallography concepts they've already seen. When you're relating this to your actual research—say, the role of temperature on interface interactions in graphene nanocomposites—how do you decide which details are essential for undergrads, and which you leave out for a more advanced course?

Then. Only I. Uh, make them understand. How spectroscopy can really map?

So you focus on mapping spectroscopy back to what they've already learned—like crystallography and basic spectra. When you're deciding which research details to include for undergrads versus postgrads, is it more about the complexity of the data, the math behind it, or something else?

OK, for undergraduate people, I I tried to make them understand from the composite background. So how the composite forms? What is the basic chemistry working for to make a composite and then there the interface? Knowledge. How?

Nanoparticle form. Composite with these graphensets and make a nano. Budget, which is clearly different from the individual part.

Alright, moving to your research vision—given your background in graphene-based nanocomposites,

Nanoparticle form. Composite with these graphensets and make a nano. Budget, which is clearly different from the individual part. I'm.

You explained how combining nanoparticles with graphene creates a composite with properties distinct from either component alone. For funding and long-term research impact, what specific applications or industry collaborations do you think are most promising for these nanocomposites?

So you’re focusing on building nanocomposites where the properties are distinct from just the sum of the parts. For long-term research sustainability, what specific real-world application are you targeting—like sensors, energy storage, or something else—and how does that shape your funding pitch to external agencies?

OK my my idea about I started I obviously I will start with the graph in nano composite, but my idea is to extend it to the other Nan other two D comp. Uh, best composites also like MX scenes which is, which is on the floor right now and. So the point is application wise. Yes, graphene composites, it is geopolymers. I will focus that. What is the? I mean this is the recent idea taking save. And also.

OK my my idea about I started I obviously I will start with the graph in nano composite, but my idea is to extend it to the other Nan other two D comp. Uh, best composites also like MX scenes which is, which is on the floor right now and. So the point is application wise. Yes, graphene composites, it is geopolymers. I will focus that. What is the? I mean this is the recent idea taking save. And also. In energy storage or sensing. That are two fields where actually we can architect a lot of 2D based nanocomposites.

Alright, shifting gears a bit. You mentioned earlier that you taught both undergraduate and postgraduate practical classes. Suppose you have to run a session for 100 physics students without relying on slides or traditional lecturing—how would you keep them actively engaged with the material?

Alright, so you’re thinking about extending your work beyond graphene to other two-dimensional composites like MXenes, and you mentioned geopolymers, energy storage, and sensing as major applications.

That is regarding the funding agencies.

Accreditation cycles can be pretty demanding. If you joined our department and discovered that outcome assessment data was inconsistent across physics courses, how would you approach diagnosing and fixing that issue?

Please, please let me clear what you have. Next again.

You asked me to clarify or repeat the previous question. Here it is again: Accreditation cycles can be pretty demanding. If you joined our department and discovered that outcome assessment data was inconsistent across physics courses, how would you approach diagnosing and fixing that issue?

OK, so the last part that I understood. Uh, yeah, yeah.

OK, so the last part that I understood. Uh, yeah, yeah. Yes.

Alright, you signaled you understood the last bit—so let me ask, beyond your research and teaching, what role do you see yourself playing in department-level governance, like curriculum committees or program reviews?

Alright.

Yes.

Right, so you see yourself taking part in things like curriculum committees or program reviews. Can you give me a specific example from your past where you contributed to any sort of departmental governance or accreditation-related activity?

OK, so I have been since I am working in Jane says for the last three years, 7 in my PhD. I was a part of two national seminars in my PhD and in Jens that I am a part of a lot of seminars. Both from I am a volunteer as well as a participants. I do organize seminars more often and also for my rap, which is particularly a optics lab Rahman Spectrum. Lab I used to. Equipment used to. Take the maintenance, charge up all the instruments. Order all the chemicals and do all the. Have a good contact with the engineer. To fix the stuff. Of fixed there is any.

OK, so I have been since I am working in Jane says for the last three years, 7 in my PhD. I was a part of two national seminars in my PhD and in Jens that I am a part of a lot of seminars. Both from I am a volunteer as well as a participants. I do organize seminars more often and also for my rap, which is particularly a optics lab Rahman Spectrum. Lab I used to. Equipment used to. Take the maintenance, charge up all the instruments. Order all the chemicals and do all the. Have a good contact with the engineer. To fix the stuff. Of fixed there is any. Instrument related issue. I can fix those those things so talking to my engineer.

So yes, in that way Uh, I can say.

You mentioned handling a lot of the practical aspects in your lab, like maintenance and procurement. Imagine a situation where a student comes to you, claiming their grade was unfairly low, but at the same time, your department head is urging you to pass more students to improve statistics. How would you handle that tension between academic integrity and institutional pressure?

So you took care of equipment maintenance, ordering chemicals,

You seemed like you wanted to add more—go ahead.

Uh. OK, I just wanted clarification what exactly you have asked me.

Uh, I, I do understand if they the institute pressure, but I did not clearly get.

Sure, let me repeat what I was asking. Imagine you’re in a situation where a student says their grade was unfairly low, but your department head is urging you to pass more students for better statistics. How would you balance academic integrity with those administrative expectations?

Okay, sounds like you're trying to get at the core of the scenario—it's about what you'd do if a student says their grade was unfair, but at the same time your department head is pushing you to increase pass rates. Walk me through what you'd actually do in that situation.

I will not. I would. I would like to prefer not. To pass any student who who will not deserve it but. I will. Obviously work out how the student pass. A rate will increase and I will, uh. Do that part. Very nicely.

Uh, so that my students will not uh. Come in that situation.

Right, so you’re saying you wouldn’t pass a student who genuinely didn’t deserve it, even with pressure. But specifically, what would you do if your department head insisted you raise that student’s grade—would you push back, or try to compromise?

Alright, let's shift focus a bit. Given your background, do you have any industry connections that could help translate into internship or placement opportunities for physics students here?

Right now I don't have any direct industry connections, but working where I am working my ramen spectroscope light scattering lab, we have a lot of industry people in connection with my supervisor and as well as Smith. Who wants to do their? Product testing or uh, do that this ramen spectroscopy thing for their most. Clean medical fields.

So, you mentioned that your supervisor and lab have connections with industry, particularly around Raman spectroscopy and medical product testing. Can you give a concrete example of a time when an industry partner or external organization worked with your lab, and how students were involved in that process?

So they do come. That we have discussions. So in that way I know people and I can really translate which field of my this. I am not a direct student who is get involved but I am just part of the discussion. But yes there is a project where they want to develop. They want to develop a. I mean spectroscopy thing. Which can be a detecting tool for oral cancer. And they are. They need. Our expertise. How to how we can use? This Ramona Ray spectroscope into that tool. In that way, uh, yes. That is 1 connection. But yeah I am not a direct part of this project.

Okay, so you’ve participated in discussions with industry partners about developing Raman spectroscopy tools, and while you weren’t directly leading the project, you were engaged in those conversations. If you were to join VIT, what’s one concrete step you’d take to actively build new industry collaborations that could benefit your students?

OK. I will start with my expertise area with Ramanujan. Open dielectrics. I would like to. To go this I told you 2D based, uh. Today based this composites so I and their application that is the initial part and. I would I would like. To I think there are a lot of scope in industry. Where they're looking for. Better material.

Okay, switching gears now, Professor. Let’s talk about some of the core skills for this role. Starting with theoretical physics—imagine you’re designing a graduate-level seminar. How would you get students to engage deeply with a challenging theoretical concept, rather than just memorizing it?

And uh. With stability or with proper uh. Properties to be analyzed. And I think that is. OK, so I for graduation students, I. I mean, I would like. To make them understand. How? What they're reading in books. Actually, they come into the picture of reality and I would like. To uh, besides with this, this is practicals I would like to do a basic DfT course, not course. But yeah, basic DfT ideas. And there. So how this DfT uh. Things are connected to the. Real physics, what they are reading. Book. In that way I would like to build up a connection between what they are reading and what actually computation looks like and what is the connection between that.

You want students to see the real-world connection between what they're reading and how those concepts come alive through computational approaches like DFT. Can you describe a specific activity or assignment you’ve used, or would use, to get students hands-on with something like DFT, rather than just talking about it?

Yeah, I will first explain some of the basics of TFT, how DfT will load the what parts DfT will consider and how it will start. And we'll go for hands on, obviously. Because with handsome all they realize. What I have explained them. It is. They are considering it and doing something.

I do it's very small examples like. Then the next step will be start.

Alright, you’d start by explaining the basics and then get students hands-on so they really experience how DFT works.

Sounds like you like to start with small, manageable examples before building up. Switching to semiconductor device physics—if a student is struggling to connect the theory of energy bands to real-world device behavior, how would you help them bridge that gap?

OK, in this case I would like to. Make the student understand how the band gaps, how this band picture looks like, how? How it connects to the system is. System and then obviously with some of the basic experiments, uh. I can tell. First I would like. To convince them what differences he has been seen with different materials. Then I will go to the band picture. Go to the material details and. Uh, I will tell him or her to understand in that aspect which material connects to which band picture.

OK, in this case I would like to. Make the student understand how the band gaps, how this band picture looks like, how? How it connects to the system is. System and then obviously with some of the basic experiments, uh. I can tell. First I would like. To convince them what differences he has been seen with different materials. Then I will go to the band picture. Go to the material details and. Uh, I will tell him or her to understand in that aspect which material connects to which band picture. And what is the? Dynamics is happening there.

Alright, so you’d start by making sure the student really understands how different materials relate to different band structures, then move to the band picture and material details. Let’s talk about machine learning now—imagine you’re mentoring a student who wants to apply machine learning to a physics dataset, but the data is really noisy. What’s the first thing you’d have them do before training any models?

So you'd focus on helping the student compare different materials and link those differences to their band structures and device behavior. Let's shift to machine learning—if you were to incorporate machine learning into your research or teaching, what kind of physics problem would you use it to tackle first?

OK, first. And firstly, if I will approach machine learning, I will actually take a particular problem which has a lot of data set available in the literature.

Okay, so you’d start with a physics problem that already has a rich dataset in the literature. When you’re dealing with a noisy dataset, what’s your first step to make sure the machine learning results are actually meaningful?

So that. That it will be the data training and all of the whatever model we are going to. Yes. I just did not get you. You are asking me how you will approach machine learning when I I have to deal with a noisy data set, right?

Alright, let's pivot to quantum computation for a moment. Suppose you're introducing students to the concept of quantum entanglement in a classroom setting—what's one analogy or demonstration you'd use to make that concept less abstract for them?

OK, let me just think.

Take your time.

I would like. To give them the idea about uh. The basic how? Entanglement actually looks like if I am talking about.

I would like. To give them the idea about uh. The basic how? Entanglement actually looks like if I am talking about. Student then. Right now.

So you’d give them a sense of what entanglement actually looks like—can you give me a concrete example or analogy you’d use, maybe something you’ve found works well with students who don’t have much quantum background?

So you’d try to give students a sense of how entanglement actually looks in practice.

Right. I mean, it is not. Not coming directly into my. I didn't get to again.

You're saying it's not coming to you directly—that's okay,

I'll just can I write uh. I am not direct. Out into the any industry where. Industry-based projects for concern. But as I told you, there is a lot of experts coming into our lab. In from industry virtual, so we have a lot of discussions. And because they also want us to. And give our ideas. How? What product they're looking for or what kind of testing they're looking for? Our idea I have been a part of those type of discussions. But. I don't. I don't. In a project.

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

Yes, uh. I would like to ask as. The faculty position for research. So how bit is looking uh?

So you’re asking about the scale of research expectations for this faculty position. The department values both fundamental and applied physics research, and there’s an emphasis on publishing in reputable journals as well as engaging in collaborative projects—both within the university and with industry partners. Support for new faculty includes start-up funding and access to shared lab facilities, so you’ll have resources to launch your research agenda. Anything else you want to know about the role or the team?

Look other. Control pit. Detecting from this a particular position.