ACM India
Grad Cohort 2023

JULY 7-8, 2023

CSA, IISc BANGALORE

Announcement!

The registrations are now closed!
All the selected applicants have been notified via email.
The organizers thank the applicants for their overwhelming response. Regrets have not been individually intimated, we will consider those applications for the next edition of the event.
Accommodation details for the selected applicants will be sent over email.

About The Event

Since 2004, the CRA-WP has been organizing the Grad Cohort Event in the USA for women in computing, to help them through their graduate years and beyond.
Starting 2018, Grad Cohort Event for Indian women are being conducted by ACM-W India. These events aim to reach out to Indian women graduate students in the field of computing; facilitating interactions between eminent female researchers in the field, from academia and industry, and current students. Here, through sharing some of their own experiences, women experts guide students towards a productive graduate tenure.

Some questions that are likely to be discussed are how to choose a mentor, choice of research areas and questions, challenges and perseverance, honing one’s skills, scientific writing and presentation, work-life balance, spirit of collaboration, applying for postdocs/jobs, career options, and much more.

In 2023, the ACM-W India Grad Cohort Event is being organized by IISc Bangalore. Applicants can look forward to presentations on a host of research areas, mentoring & brainstorming sessions, networking opportunities

Important Dates

Last date for Registration: 28th June, 2023
Event: 7th and 8th July, 2023

Eligibility

Female research scholars currently pursuing a Masters or PhD at any certified Indian University

Speakers

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ranjita Bhagwan

Title:
The Various Flavours of Computer Systems & Networking Research: A Personal Journey

Abstract: Systems research encompasses a vast variety of domains, problems, and solution approaches. While in some cases the research problem is well-defined, in other cases defining the problem itself can be a major task. Sometimes we arrive at a solution through a novel and elegant idea that strikes us suddenly, while at other times we solve the problem by putting together known ideas in interesting, counter-intuitive ways. While some solutions are designed, implemented, and evaluated in a matter of weeks, in other cases the whole process from conceptualization to realization can take multiple years from start to finish. In this talk, through problems she has worked on over the years, she will be describing these various styles of systems research and how each can be enjoyable and rewarding in its own way.

Ranjita Bhagwan currently works on improving Google’s wide area network. Until recently, she was Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research India. She has worked for more than a decade on applying machine learning to improve system reliability, security and performance. Recently, her work has focused on using data-driven approaches to improve cloud services and has led to several publications (including a best paper award at USENIX OSDI 2018), as well as several tools that are widely used by Microsoft's services. She is an ACM Distinguished Member and is the recipient of the 2020 ACM India Outstanding Contributions to Computing by a Woman Award. Ranjita has chaired multiple top conferences in the fields of systems and networking and is on several conference steering committees. She received her PhD and MS in Computer Engineering from University of California, San Diego and a BTech in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

Other Speakers:

Prajakta Nimbhorkar

Chennai Mathematical Institute

Choosing a research area: What matters--- passion and interest, trends or fundamental knowledge in the concerned area.

Arpita Patra

Indian Institute of Science

Attending events and other co-curricular activities--- how do they help in research and holistic growth.

Arati Dixit

Senior Scientist, ARA, USA

Career in India vs. career abroad

Sriparna Saha

IIT Patna

Careers in Indian academia

Chaya Ganesh

Indian Institute of Science

Post-doctoral research: To pursue or not, and what are the benefits

Vaanathi Sundaresan

Indian Institute of Science

Dos and Don’ts during research

Alpana Dubey

Accenture, Bangalore

Career in the industry post PhD

Sandhya Muddu

Dell, Bangalore

Career and career growth in the industry

Schedule

7th July

Note: Registration from 9:00 am to 9:30 am

Timing	Event	Speaker
9:30 AM to 10:00 AM	Inauguration	Prof. Chiranjib Bhattacharya, Chairman, Department of Computer Science and Automation, Indian Institute of Science, and Dr. Rutvi Shah, ACM India-W Chair
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM	Dos and Don’ts during research	Vaanathi Sundaresan, Indian Institute of Science
11:00 AM to 11:30 AM	Tea/Coffee Break
11:30 AM to 12:30 PM	Attending events and other co-curricular activities--- how do they help in research and holistic growth.	Arpita Patra, Indian Institute of Science
12:30 PM to 1:00 PM	Informal Networking: Visit to the CSA exhibition of paintings and photographs by Arpita Patra	Aripta Patra, Indian Institute of Science
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM	Lunch
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM	Post-doctoral research: To pursue or not, and what are the benefits	Chaya Ganesh, Indian Institute of Science
3:00 PM to 3:30 PM	Tea/Coffee Break
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM	Choosing a research area: What matters--- passion and interest, trends or fundamental knowledge in the concerned area.	Prajakta Nimbhorkar, Chennai Mathematical Institute
4:30 PM to 5:00 PM	Informal Networking Session

8th July

Timing	Event	Speaker
9:30 AM to 10:30 AM	Keynote talk: The Various Flavours of Computer Systems & Networking Research: A Personal Journey	Ranjita Bhagwan, Google
10:30 AM to 11:30 AM	Careers in Indian academia	Sriparna Saha, IIT Patna
11:30 AM to 12:00 noon	Tea/Coffee break
12:00 noon to 1:00 PM	Career in the industry post PhD	Alpana Dubey, Accenture, Bangalore
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM	Lunch
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM	Career in India vs. career abroad	Arati Dixit, Senior Scientist, ARA, USA
3:00 PM to 3:30 PM	Tea/Coffee Break
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM	Career and career growth in the industry	Sandhya Muddu, Dell, Bangalore
4:30 PM to 5:30 PM	Informal Networking Session

Travel and Accommodation

Partial travel support (a fixed amount amounting to Third A/C Sleeper fare) will be provided by ACM India.
Participants are expected to make their own travel reservations and they will be reimbursed during/soon after the event.
Accommodation for a limited number of research scholars will be provided in the IISc hostels from 6th July,2023 to 9th July, 2023.
Accommodation details for the selected applicants will be sent over email.