AKSHAY AGRAWAL

It was 14th August 2023 when I officially started my PhD journey at Purdue. Today, I am happy to share that I have completed 1 year of this journey. It has been a humbling, enlightening, rewarding, and emotional experience so far. Joining a PhD is truly the best decision I have ever taken regarding my career. PhD is an overall development training because research inevitably gets intertwined with life outside of the lab and therefore, you must excel not just in academics but in every aspect of life. I would like to share my experience so far and some lessons I learned navigating my way through PhD, sometimes seeking help from others while sometimes trying to find my way.

It was the first week of my PhD and I wanted to meet with my advisor to discuss the research project I would be working on. So, I sent him an email to set up a meeting, but he said he was out of station and would not be able to meet. Instinctively I became happy thinking that I would get some more time to relax. But then, I paused for a bit and asked myself- “Is this something that I should feel happy about? I thought I loved research but then why am I trying to avoid it?” It was just the start of my PhD, and I was already showing signs of lethargy and sluggishness. I instantly resolved that I need to change my attitude if I am to do good in PhD. Often, we become afraid of doing the things that we like the most. The human mind is a jungle of emotions, desires, morals, ideas, and whatnot. When you don’t have a clear vision, you will get lost in this jungle. You will want to run away from work and will become happy instinctively when your advisor is away like me. Defining your goals clearly and having a purpose helps to navigate through the jungle of mind. It is important to differentiate between things that will help you achieve your goals and things that will stop you from achieving your goals.

An important lesson that I learned in my PhD is that “creating” is as important as “consuming”, if not more. By “creating”, I mean expressing your ideas, thoughts, and emotions through talking, writing, drawing, singing, dancing, etc. By “consuming”, I mean absorbing information by reading, listening, watching, etc. When you “create” you give a shape, a form to your learnings which makes it more concrete. This way you transfer the learnings from your conscious mind to your subconscious mind and they start becoming natural. Our brain is more active when it is creating than when it is consuming. During the initial days of my PhD, I was “consuming” a lot of information without “creating” much. I didn’t like making PowerPoint slides for group meetings because they consume a lot of time and require some tough mental exercise. I was more focused on reading research papers hoping to gain more and more knowledge. However, soon I realized that I was overloading myself with information that was of little use. Moreover, not all that I read stuck in my mind. Then I started to devote more time to “creating”, which meant summarizing the research papers I read in my own words, making good PowerPoint slides, and documenting my research work. Spending time making PowerPoint slides is worth it because while making slides, you must present your work in a logical sequence so it can be understood easily. This helps you gain a better perspective of the project as you must answer the whys, hows, and whats of the project. Additionally, this is a chance to make an impact by teaching others what you learned.

The most rewarding part of my PhD so far has been that I am learning to do research independently. It is easy to rely on your advisor for instructions and directions, but when you do so, you restrict your creativity and do not utilize your full potential. It is important to realize that “you” are the owner of your PhD, and “you” must take all responsibility for it. “You” must find the solution to the research problem because this is “your” PhD. Everyone has got their problems, and each one must deal with them themselves. This does not mean you should not discuss it with your advisor, senior, or peers. Also, research is much more fun and rewarding when one tries to find their way. Always remember that you are not doing it because somebody asked you to, but because you want to do it.

Lastly, I would like to mention a few names from whom I have learned during my PhD. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor Prof. Yong P Chen for placing his trust in me. It would never have been possible without his support. I am indebted to Nithin Abraham for teaching me so many things about research and helping in the lab. Also, thanks to Andres Allcca for selflessly fixing the broken tools in the lab, for PhD guidance, and discussions. Thanks to Kinjol Barua for teaching me difficult concepts about Rydberg excitons in layman’s terms and for helping in research. Thanks to Ahmad Azizimanesh for helping in the lab. I am also grateful to all my friends for their support and advice. I specifically want to thank Shubham Khandare, Sumukh Vaidya, Sheng-Wen (Wendy) Huang, Kaustubh Bawankule, and Saumitra Phatak.  

I happily look forward to more learnings, meetings, collaborations, poster sessions, conferences, and whatnot. On a funny note, I heard someone call PhD “Permanent head Damage”. I like this as a joke, but I hope I was able to convince you that PhD is more about fixing your head instead of damaging it. If not, I will try again on another blog so stay tuned. Feel free to follow me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/akshay-agrawal-/ as I will update there whenever I write another blog.