Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

So. My name is Ajil K. I have completed my PhD in from. National Institute of Technology, Karnataka.

Alright, so you finished your PhD at NIT Karnataka. Can you walk me through the main focus of your doctoral research and how that shaped your current academic interests?

And currently I'm working in VN 18 and Adobe Assistant program. 30. Sorry. Can you please repeat the question?

Dr., given your background, I'd like to understand your approach in the classroom. What's one foundational concept in mathematics you particularly enjoy teaching, and how do you introduce it to students encountering it for the first time?

So Math. Teaching is. Kind of a difficult. In comparative to. All of the other subjects. But when you go into a new, you need to provoke the thoughts of the students. That is the basic idea need to. Encourage them to put their logic into the kind of problems we are discussing in the class. And one more thing as a technical institute. An institute, uh, like. VAT must. Like when we are teaching in a technical institute, we must. Focus on some applied level problems.

Like the class. Must start with the kind of challenging engineering problem. And then we can go together.

Okay, so you're emphasizing provoking students' logical thinking, especially with applied problems at a technical institute like VIT. Can you give me a concrete example of an applied math topic you've introduced in class, and how you got students actively involved with it?

Okay, so your method is to hook students with engineering problems. Looking at your research, I see your thesis focused on the semilocal and local analysis of efficient root finding techniques in Banach spaces. Can you share a time when you had to explain that work—or any of your published results—to students without a deep background in analysis?

Yeah.

Technically. Iterative methods are there to find the solution of. No linear equations.

Technically. Iterative methods are there to find the solution of. No linear equations. But Yeah, all the Yeah, all the. I would like whatever we were doing in the PhD is extendable to like. Like few more years we can continue in the research, it is still an active field.

Right, you said yes,

Alright, Dr., shifting to your research—given your background in iterative methods and analysis, where do you see the most fundable research directions over the next few years? Which specific grants or funding sources would you target to support that work?

And. I think from Serb NBHMDST we can get some. Projects but. Not in recently in the near future like within 3.

Switching gears, let's talk teaching. Suppose you have a large first-year math class—maybe 200 students—and you can't use slides or traditional lecturing. How would you keep those students engaged and make sure they're actually grappling with the material, not just listening?

You mentioned SERB and NBHM as possible sources, though you said not immediately. But just before that, I’d asked how you’d keep 200 students engaged without slides or a traditional lecture—can you walk me through exactly what you’d do in that scenario? For example, how would you structure the session, and how would you know if students were actually understanding or just tuning out?

The idea of lecture is something like. Give some spark from the initial stage of the lecture. So The thing is you need to give a problem. When you enter into the class, that's where you keep the attention. That problem must be interesting.

The idea of lecture is something like. Give some spark from the initial stage of the lecture. So The thing is you need to give a problem. When you enter into the class, that's where you keep the attention. That problem must be interesting. Like relative to their like. Whatever they are studying.

So. You must start with the problem that that should encourage me.

Alright, Dr., let's shift to institutional 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?

Dr., imagine this scenario: a student files a formal complaint, claiming your grading was biased, but at the same time your department head is pressuring you to raise pass rates. How would you handle the situation to maintain academic integrity while managing these competing pressures?

Mm-hmm.

If there is any complaint, we should like. Recheck those.

Okay, you said you'd recheck if there's a complaint. Let's say you review your grading and are confident it's fair, but your department head insists you adjust marks to meet a higher pass rate. If they disagree with your stance, how would you respond?

Maybe with some other faculty who is a little much more experienced when you we can. Out and. That will be difficult. You must create a healthy environment like if somebody is in trouble you you can. Use the other like. That should be a legitimate way to.

Maybe with some other faculty who is a little much more experienced when you we can. Out and. That will be difficult. You must create a healthy environment like if somebody is in trouble you you can. Use the other like. That should be a legitimate way to. Uh, solve problems in between? Already names.

Alright, let's talk about industry alignment for a moment. Given your expertise in supply chain management and advanced statistical methods, do you have connections with industry that could lead to internships or placement opportunities for students?

Okay, so you’d want to involve another experienced faculty member to help mediate, and you’re emphasizing a legitimate, healthy environment for resolving disagreements. Thinking about your industry connections, have you been involved in any consulting projects or collaborations with companies, especially in supply chain or applied statistics, that could directly benefit students—maybe with internships or real-world case studies?

I have never been part of any project or worked in any. Like multinational companies that I have a couple of friends who is working in like. Those areas where I used to contact with them like what is the work they are doing?

How old scenarios are there so? Have been like listening to all those their words and how can mathematics to be applied.

Okay, Dr., let's get specific on a few skills. Suppose you were guiding a student project that aimed to optimize inventory levels for a mid-sized manufacturing company.

So you’ve been listening to how math gets applied in those scenarios. Can you give me one concrete example of how you’d help a student connect a supply chain concept to a mathematical method they’ve learned in class?

So I have not. I don't have a. Any road experience in supply chain management? I just. Have a little bit details on that. So now I cannot answer this question. Hello. Hello.

Alright, thanks for being upfront about your experience level there. Let’s pivot—how do you approach evaluating students in mathematics courses so the grades actually reflect both their understanding and their problem-solving skills, not just rote memorization?

So I always prefer Guy continuous evaluation will be better to evaluate how far they have understood the concept. So like. Exams We should conduct vivos exams and. We should give some. Assignments individually like. Must be a little complicated so they can do it.

Alright, you emphasized continuous evaluation with vivas and more challenging individual assignments to really measure understanding. Can you give a concrete example of an assignment or assessment you've used that clearly separated students who just memorized from those who truly grasped the material?

By their own so this continuous evaluation like other than X1. If you give more.

You were saying that more than just exams, continuous evaluation helps, and you trailed off—can you finish your thought there?

OK if you take an example of like. The problem of linear regression. And you first teach the theory. Then you can give some. That does it to them. Like Windows or some regularization problem they they can like there are batters available online we can go to. GitHub or somewhere and you can get the data and you can file the regression or the regularization curve and we can give them a specific question.

Alright, so you’d have them grab real datasets—maybe from GitHub—and apply linear regression and regularization techniques,

And they might come the answer of that like. That kind of problems you can give us assignments like programming and everything. So struggle is nothing but they are like comes. How, uh, like. When they don't have interest, if you like. Like suggest a serious.

Question like. That is provocative thought, like there is no struggle. It is easy to learn mathematics, but you have to. Click a right question.

Okay, so you think if students are struggling, the issue is usually interest rather than ability, and you might suggest a more serious approach.

You feel the key is asking the right kind of question—if the question provokes thought, learning mathematics becomes much easier. Shifting to your research background, have you published any work in reputed journals, and if so, what was the main contribution of your most recent publication?

So recently I got a publication in Arabian Journal of Mathematics in the Mango. January. That was my last publication. The have other Republicans so that they are dealing with the iterative methods in banax places. Like we consider different different methods and study the like feasibility of the method and extend the methods to a general when express setting and like. This work is continuing like. The sense we are rich in integrity methods so we can go for. Is the reach method and we can publish papers on that area. The thing? We need to play this this this this idea to some some. Really interesting practical problem that is. What I'm looking for but it's. The difficult to find this.

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

OK, like what? What in What is?

Sounds like you’re asking what the role involves. One of the main expectations is that you’d be teaching both theory and lab courses, mentoring students through research projects, and continuing your own scholarly work—especially in areas that intersect with applied mathematics and industry needs.

Are you looking for a faculty? Pure mathematics or like. Yeah, what is the group? What is the? Group meeting on what? What area? Of like a played math like like uh. Machine learning and. Or something else or supply chain management or what? What what exactly which which area is falls under?