To start off, say a little about yourself, your interests, undergraduate degree and what you are doing now.  “I am from Chennai, which is a city in the southern part of India. I did my undergraduate degree in Instrumentation and Control engineering from the National Institute of Technology in Trichy, also in India. During my third year, I got a chance to work on a research internship here at IBME through the Mitacs program. I loved the research, the work culture and the people, so I decided to come back here to pursue my graduate degree.  In general, my interests are very broad. I enjoy controls, instrumentation, electronics, embedded systems and robotics. With my research, I am trying to improve the control algorithm used in upper limb prostheses and make it more customizable to the user’s needs.  I really enjoy learning new things and trying out new activities. I am always on the lookout for interesting books, recipes, hiking spots and music.”

What are you most excited about doing your PhD at the IBME?  “The best part about working in IBME is that I get to directly interact with clinicians and patients who can clearly tell me what is wrong with my ideas. As an engineer, I tend to get excited by concepts that might not directly help patients with their every-day problems when using a prosthesis. It is very helpful to get their perspective on things and to understand the issues that are important to them. I am very excited to see if my research can improve the ease of using a prosthetic device and maybe promote the acceptance rate among prosthesis users.”

What was the most difficult aspect of applying to your PhD and doing your entry exam?  “It was very difficult for me to decide if I wanted to pursue graduate studies or if I wanted to take a job after my undergraduate degree. That was definitely the most challenging aspect for me.  The other demanding task is to find labs that match your research interest. I didn’t have to give any technical entrance exams when I applied for graduate school. I only had to give the GRE and a language proficiency exam.”

Was it always your goal to pursue a PhD at the IBME or was there an event or organization that helped determine this for you?  “No, I never thought that I will pursue a PhD in the first place, let alone have a plan to pursue it specifically in IBME. I came to IBME to pursue my Master’s as I was very impressed by the research that I was exposed to during my summer internship here. Midway through my Masters, I transitioned into a PhD program as I realized that I enjoyed my work too much. I attended a 2-week summer school program called CoSMo, during my first year here as a graduate student. This was a neuroscience and motor-control program that was pretty intense, and I loved every single minute of it, though it was exhausting. The summer school program showed me how much I enjoyed my research and helped me make the big decision to transition into a PhD program.”

What recommendations do you have for undergraduate students pursuing graduate studies?  “I will highly recommend that students contact their potential supervisors well ahead of the school term and interact with the research group to understand the work culture of the universities that they are interested in. It is essential that the students understand if the graduate research lab is a good match for their interests and work style.”

Anjana can be reached at aarunach@unb.ca for further questions.