My inspiration for research

 

Perseverance in scientific research is the key that unveils various complex phenomena of nature. Posing a question, gathering facts to answer the question, and ultimately revealing an answer through logical analysis, constitutes the basic steps in research. While insightful knowledge is manifested through science, its application in technology serves society and inspires us to look forward. 

Hi! I am Devosmita Sen, entering into my fourth year of B. Tech. in the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Bombay.

MOTIVATION

My first experience with research was during the summer vacation after my freshie year, when I took up a project under the guidance of Prof. Kamendra Sharma, Chemistry department, where I worked on temperature dependence of phase transformation in liquid crystals. This experience helped me to get a good feel of experimental and theoretical research, and I was convinced enough that research is something that I would love to do. I made up my mind to delve deeper into research.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

As a naïve sophomore in my third semester, I started looking for a research field that suited my interests. I wanted to work on a problem in chemical engineering which would give a good flavour of experiments, simulations, as well as computer modelling. In this regard, an in-semester project would be a great opportunity and I contacted Prof. Rochish Thaokar for a project in fluid dynamics. My interaction with Rochish sir has been excellent right from day one. He suggested working on an interesting topic of fluid dynamics. I started by reading up literature related to the latest research in fluid mechanics, and electrohydrodynamics in particular. You may be wondering what ‘electrohydrodynamics’ is, and I was also in a similar situation when I started. I was new to this field but it seemed to be exciting. Electrohydrodynamics, commonly known as EHD, is the study of dynamics of electrically charged particles, and their interaction with electric fields and the surrounding fluid. I was introduced to COMSOL Multiphysics, a simulation software for scientific and engineering problems, where I simulated the dynamics of a liquid droplet under an electric field. It took me quite some time to get conversant with COMSOL, and I got better at it as the work progressed. 

Continuing my project in the summer vacation, I simulated the electric field induced dynamics of anchored droplets. I also modelled the deformation of droplets using non-linear coupled oscillator models, solving them in COMSOL and later writing codes in Python. This part of my work took quite a lot of time, with the models and simulations being improved at each stage. It was often challenging when simulations ran for two to three days at a stretch, only to yield an erroneous result, and it demanded a lot of patience to cope up with the situation. Then, as the summer vacation was coming to an end, sir was more than happy to recommend me for Undergraduate Research Awards (URA 01). The project became so interesting that I wanted to explore more into this field. In the meantime, several experiments on electric field driven droplet dynamics were carried out in the lab which corroborated the simulations well. Thus, I continued working on this project throughout my fifth and sixth semesters as well. Just a few weeks after the midsems of my sixth semester, all of a sudden, the unprecedented lockdown was implemented owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. It disrupted the academic schedule, which also affected my plans for the already scheduled internship at the University of Michigan under the guidance of Prof. H. Scott Fogler. The chances of international travel seemed bleak. However, Prof. Fogler was kind enough to reschedule and allow me to work remotely for the internship. It was a great opportunity for me, amidst the prevailing situation. I mainly worked on the applications of chemical reaction engineering in industrial safety. Apart from academics, I could learn various vital qualities, including teamwork, patience, and perseverance. This internship was indeed a great experience which I can describe in detail some other time.

I could take out some time to work on my project too. The lockdown enabled me to catch up on several aspects of my project, which couldn’t be completed during the semester. This helped me gain a more comprehensive picture of the field of electro hydrodynamics. This project has taught me endurance, critical thinking and, to take up responsibility. It has greatly inspired me to enter the field of research in future. 

WORD OF ADVICE

My advice to my juniors is that having dedication towards one’s work is of utmost importance. Even if you are not sure whether research suits you, our institute always provides ample opportunities to try out different things. It is never too late to explore one’s interests in this direction.