Yes, please.

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia

I'm Doctor Sampath Kumar. I I'm I have completed my. In Baghdad University there is a center named. DRD. Gov Barter University Centre for Life Sciences. Which initiated in collaboration with Badar University and UH Defense Research and Development Organization.

So you were part of the DRD Center for Life Sciences, which was a collaboration between Badar University and the Defense Research and Development Organization. Go on.

And in that I have, uh, what? In a project near. Yes. Yes. So in in that sense that was there is a multidisciplinary Research Center where people do research in physics, chemistry. Uh, mathematics and biology. And in that center I have worked in a project. Based on the crystal growth. Which we grow single crystals for the. Fabrication of IR detectors. So what I have done in my PhD research is. I have grown single crystals of. Sizes averaging about centimetre to 10 centimetres like that.

We have grown the single crystals of triglycerine sulfate. Which is a pyroelectric material which has the property of. Directed. Yes.

You mentioned working in a multidisciplinary research center and growing crystals for IR detectors. What aspect of teaching physics excites you most when you’re in front of a classroom?

We have grown the single crystals of triglycerine sulfate. Which is a pyroelectric material which has the property of. Directed. Yes. Yes Yes.

Okay, so you worked with triglycerine sulfate, a pyroelectric material, and you mentioned its properties but didn’t quite finish your thought.

Alright, in your thesis you focused on "Crystal Growth and Investigation of Triglycine Sulphate Family Single Crystals for the Fabrication of Pyroelectric Infrared Detectors." Can you describe a moment when you had to explain this research to students or colleagues from outside your field? What strategy did you use to make your work understandable to them?

OK, I'll explain simply as simple as possible. For example. Pyroelectricity is a phenomenon. In certain materials where crystal centrosy. Lakhs for example. There will be a. Presence of three glycine molecules and a sulfate molecules in the same. Crystal structure.

OK, if a material. Changes its orientation with temperature.

You started to explain pyroelectricity by referencing the crystal structure, but trailed off.

OK, if a material. Changes its orientation with temperature. For a. Yeah, OK.

OK, if a material. Changes its orientation with temperature. For a. Yeah, OK. OK.

We all know about piezoelectricity. That is a well known phenomenon from school.

Right, so you’re saying if a material changes its orientation with temperature, that’s tied to pyroelectricity. How would you connect that idea to something in a standard undergraduate physics curriculum—what’s your go-to analogy or experiment?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Justice Organization.

Alright.

Yes.

Alright.

Given your experience working with single crystal growth for IR detectors and your background in multidisciplinary research, where do you see the most promising opportunities for external research funding over the next few years? Which specific grants or funding sources would you target to support a research group at VIT?

OK, I. OK, I'll explain.

Okay, you started to explain but didn’t get into specifics. For the type of IR detector research you’ve done, which funding bodies—national or international—would you actually approach first, and why those over others?

OK, I'll explain. Pyroelectricity is from your first question. Like how I will explain that to undergraduate students.

Which I'll explain. Taking analogy first to the piezoelectric material, where. Air pressure changes induce the. Yes.

Okay, so you want to loop back to your approach for undergraduates, but earlier I’d asked about research funding and external grants for your IR detector work. Let's focus on that for now—specifically,

Which I'll explain. Taking analogy first to the piezoelectric material, where. Air pressure changes induce the. Yes. Yes.

Alright, switching gears. Professor, you've worked with single crystals and pyroelectric detectors—a pretty advanced topic. Let's say you're teaching a large undergraduate physics class and you can't use slides. How would you run a session on this material to keep 200 students genuinely engaged and participating?

OK, I'll explain. OK.

Okay, you started an analogy with piezoelectric materials, where air pressure changes cause a response. Can you tie this analogy back to how you'd actually structure a hands-on classroom experiment for undergraduates to help them understand pyroelectricity—not just in theory, but in a way that's memorable and interactive?

So you're drawing an analogy between piezoelectric and pyroelectric effects, but I'm curious—if you couldn't use slides, how would you actually structure a classroom session so that 200 undergraduates are actively participating and not just listening passively?

OK.

You’ve been building up the analogy, but I still need to hear how you’d actually run the session in a way that gets 200 students participating—not just listening. Would you break them into groups, use demonstrations, or something else to get them actively involved?

Like piezoelectric for example from a gas lighter which ignites the. Gas in every home.

Like. For example, it when a pressure applied to that material electricity generate that spark ignites the. Gas, OK, same, yes.

Like. For example, it when a pressure applied to that material electricity generate that spark ignites the. Gas, OK, same, yes. Yes OK.

Okay, Professor, let's switch topics. 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?

Right, so you’re using the gas lighter as an analogy for piezoelectricity—pressure leads to a voltage spike, igniting the gas. But on the accreditation side, if you discovered that assessment data for student outcomes was inconsistent across the department’s physics courses, what concrete steps would you take to standardize and improve the process day-to-day?

Okay, you’re still extending the analogy, but I need you to actually answer the accreditation question. If, as a faculty member, you found that outcome assessment data was inconsistent across different physics courses, what would you do—step by step—to address and standardize that process?

OK.

Let's talk about academic integrity. Imagine a colleague approaches you to co-author a research paper, but while reviewing the data, you notice some irregularities that make you question its validity. How would you handle that situation?

OK, first I'll try to explain him what I have done and what the literature says and what. What I have done? As a new thing in my research and which came. The data he came with. Me to analyse the validity. OK, first I'll try to explain the concept and basics behind that and what is the literature behind?

Their research and the. I'll try to. Uh, pro Prove him. Yes.

So you’d start by discussing the literature and explaining your methodology to your colleague, especially if you see irregularities in their data. What if, after that conversation,

Their research and the. I'll try to. Uh, pro Prove him. Yes. Yes, yes.

Let's shift to industry alignment, Professor. Given your expertise in semiconductor device physics and pyroelectric materials, do you have any connections with industry or research labs that could open up internship or project opportunities for students here at VIT?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

OK. I have a plan to acquire funds from the central bodies like DRDO because I have done that most of the research. Related to that, DDO. A center and that was one of the funded project which I have worked. Not by me, but. Under my proposal's guidance. So now. Now I try to open eyes.

OK. I have a plan to acquire funds from the central bodies like DRDO because I have done that most of the research. Related to that, DDO.

You mentioned work related to DRDO and central funding—can you tell me about a specific project where you applied semiconductor device physics concepts in a real-world setting, and what your direct role was?

You mentioned guiding a proposal for a DRDO-funded project but not being the primary investigator yourself. Can you walk me through a technical challenge you personally solved on that project, specifically involving semiconductor device physics?

No, but. OK.

Since you haven't been the primary investigator but have been involved with DRDO-funded work, let's try a different angle. If you were designing a machine learning-driven experiment to characterize a new semiconductor material,

OK, I I have done.

Alright, you said you've done that. Can you walk me through a concrete example of how you applied machine learning to analyze or characterize semiconductor materials—what methods did you use and what was the outcome?

OK. I'll try to focus on what they other institutions like foreign institutions and latest research what they have done before concluding. Our current Before starting my research in vit, for example, I'll try to. Find out. The real world problems and I'll apply for the funding and I'll try to get most of them.

You referenced looking at recent research and benchmarking against other institutions before starting your own projects, but I’m still missing specifics. Can you give me a concrete example of a machine learning method you actually used to analyze experimental data—like which algorithm, what features, and what result you got?

To establish a research laboratory in Vit. From that I can uh. I explained. Weekends, yes.

Alright, it sounds like you're focused on setting up infrastructure and looking at examples from top institutions, but I still haven't heard how you actually applied machine learning to your data. Can you give me the name of one algorithm you used, the kind of data you fed it, and what insight or outcome you got? If that's not something you've done directly, just let me know.

Yes, I have not directly done the. Machine learning programs, but I'll do the. Research based on what the outcome of that field like pyroelectrics or crystal growth directly?

Thanks for clarifying that, so your experience with machine learning is more indirect at this stage.

And I'll find out. Where the people are doing research and from various. Platforms like Google or any other. Leading research journals which produces the. Crystal growth data. 1st I'll try to teach them the basics. And what what is the importance of quantum computing? Which is the? Almost what we can say.

The topmost research What? Uh, currently going on I would say.

Okay, so you'd start with basics and highlight the importance of quantum computing,

You're pointing out the significance of top-tier research in quantum computing. When introducing quantum algorithms, what's one hands-on activity or demonstration you'd use to help students grasp how a quantum gate actually manipulates a qubit?

OK, I. I'll try to focus on the data which we can. Like slides and all, we can make them more interest. Interesting and I will make them focus on the what I'm giving the day. Presenting the data.

What I. Uh, taking a in in that class and I'll make sure that every. Most of them, yes.

Okay, so you'd use engaging slides and focus on presenting the data in ways that hold their attention. Shifting gears,

You mentioned making sure most students are engaged during your class. When it comes to incorporating your own research publications into teaching, how do you use them to enhance student understanding or inspire new research directions?

OK, I have. Recently I would say like I'm taking the class for the master of physics students like physics of crystal growth and thin film. In that. Taught them how to make grow a single crystals from sodium chloride.

Which is a. Everyday move up we are using as stable salt. But in that. UH-11 yes I have.

Alright, so in your master’s class you taught students to grow single crystals from sodium chloride—sounds hands-on. When you ran that experiment, what was one mistake or unexpected result your students encountered, and how did you guide them through it?

So sodium chloride is something they're familiar with as table salt. You were saying—can you recall a specific issue or surprise your students hit during the crystal growth experiment, and how you helped them troubleshoot or learn from it?

I asked them to grow I. Taught them to grow them in by slow evaporation technique what they have done. Almost. I would say most of them what they have done is like. They are allowed. They are. Liquid to evaporate so quickly, which may. Which resulted in multiple multip. Crystals. We can call it in. This will go that as a heterogeneous nucleation which resulted in the. Agglomeration of that. Crystals, whereas we need. If we need to grow single crystals. We need to overcome that method and we need to control the evaporation that I taught them how to control the evaporation and. To make them as a single crystal to grow and then as a single crystal, which we can say. With controlled nucleation.

The techniques with the minimum. Facilities they can get for We have grown single crystals from the. Single question of sodium chloride from. Tables are which we have bought from a grocery store and also from the water which we have. Used as not a double distilled water, we have used the. Drinking water from a man. Purifier that says.

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

So you guided students to grow single crystals using table salt and even regular drinking water, showing how minimal facilities can still yield solid results. Before we finish up, is there anything else you'd like to know about the Assistant Professor role or the department?

No, I would like to know that. Is there any other thing? I. Tell from this interview or anything?