Internship at NNMCB – Sanchari from Jadavpur University
Well, yes there are people who love maths, not only studying it but can go to any extent for their sacred love for it. Sanchari who researched in West Bengal during her internship shares the moment where she was so burdened with work that she could not pursue but there was something that kept her going. Read on to know more.
It was a lazy sunday afternoon and I was idling around till my mother being a frequent web surfer pointed out this internship opportunity organised by National Network for Mathematical and Computational Biology, a national network for promoting research opportunities in Computational Biology, co-hosted by IISc Bangalore and IISER Pune. Both institutions have a strong vibe about themselves and hence the ad caught my attention. I decided to go forward and apply. I had almost forgotten that I applied when 5 months later, one day my friend intimated me that I was among the selected interns and I needed to contact them immediately. I did and formalities followed, as did a considerable amount of time. My joining letter arrived from IISc and frankly I was exhilarated that the coordinator himself had congratulated me. Well, here I must mention that I am a mathematics student and currently pursuing my Masters’ and I intend to pursue research in the near future. The subject has got me hooked ever since I was introduced to it and I am still in awe of it.
Anyway, the joining date arrived eventually and I began my internship which was basically a research opportunity for a Masters’ student like me. My work included pursuing research in the field of choice of my mentor, a scientist from the host institute, IISER-K. I was thrilled since it was the first internship I was getting into and also because the stipend promised was great! My work began and the first few days were about getting acquainted with the amazing environment of the institution which is a mini city in itself and getting to know my mentor. The topic I researched in for a month was “Hopfield Networks” which is a recurrent artificial neural network and is related to the memory characteristics of the human brain. I was to C-code the program related to the dynamics of these networks. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Well, it sounded brilliant to me. I being a Masters’ student in Applied Mathematics am a proud programmer and computationally skilled, hence this opportunity was a cherry on the cake for me. However, eventually the workload doubled, tripled, and there were a lot of times when I felt my brain was about to burst. Frankly my mentor was great in many ways but assisted me a little less than expected hence I was initially struggling. The later stages were more stable for me and I began to enjoy the experience (keeping in mind the great stipend too that was coming!), and all of this led to a nice project report which was submitted to the organisation.
Here, I would love to mention that the location I interned in, IISER-K, was an absolute aesthetic beauty and extremely well-equipped. My temporary nest, the hostel room was clean and nice to reside in. Plus, I got amazing roommates who were so friendly that we still communicate. I got to learn a lot about this biological side of Applied Mathematics and can now boast that I am a complete gainer. It was a hard day for me and my roommates when I had to return and the only thing that cheered me up on returning home was the stipend in my bank account! All over, it was truly a beneficial experience for both me and my CV and I would love to relive each one of the moments spent at my host institute both academically and socially. Thank you for being so patient to read through my story. Keeping my fingers crossed for the next one!
If Sanchari’s internship experience motivates you, you can view the latest internships in West Bengal and latest Mathematics internships.
Editor’s note– Have you got an internship story to share? A chance to win cool Internshala T and other cash prizes by sharing your internship story here.
