‘The fact that my patients needed me kept me motivated’

Healthcare professionals across the world have been working relentlessly during the pandemic. With dozens of cases reported from IISc, Connect spoke to doctors at the Institute’s Health Centre about their experiences during these challenging times.   What changes did the Health Centre have to make, in order to deal with the pandemic? Dr R Nirmala: […]

Meet NSF’s New Director

  An IISc alumnus, Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, was appointed as the 15th Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), USA. Before being chosen to head NSF, he was at Arizona State University (ASU), where he founded the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC) which is focused on designing technologies and devices for assisting individuals with […]

Thirty Years of Guarding IISc

MR Chandrashekhar was IISc’s Security Chief for nearly 30 years from May 1989 until his retirement in May 2018. Before joining the Institute, he had been in the Karnataka State Vigilance Commission as a Class II Gazette Officer posted to the Sericulture Department, and had been deputed as an Intelligence Officer to the HMT Watch […]

How Can We Prioritise Mental Health on Campus?

“Do people in highly competitive spaces lack empathy?” That was a question a student had for a panel of mental health professionals at an event on 9 November 2019 called Shades of Blue: Understanding Depression. With increased concerns about students’ mental health on campus (two students took their lives this year), this was a student-organised […]

The Campus as a Classroom

Using IISc’s biodiversity for undergraduate education “How many of you noticed the beautiful, white-coloured, fragrant tree just outside the stairs that lead us here to the lecture hall?” I asked the first year UG students in my first class of organismal biology at IISc. Barely two or three uncertain hands were raised out of 120. […]

The Postdoc Predicament

Why do some find life as a postdoctoral fellow in India so challenging? Ask any PhD student about their next endeavour and the most common answer you would receive is a postdoctoral stint, preferably abroad. Postdoctoral positions allow one to pursue independent research in one’s field of interest, paving the way for a future academic […]