by Srishti Batra – My thesis defense last year marked a milestone in my decade-long research studies. Wait, I didn’t spend 10 years doing a PhD! I spent only 5 and the other half was spent on a Bachelors and Masters of Science (BS- MS) from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research – IISER, Mohali. Today I am sharing my journey into the research world.

I was preparing for conventional engineering programs after school finished and everyone was shocked when I choose IISER-Mohali for pure sciences. To be honest, even I was doubting myself at the beginning. I had joined IISER-Mohali as that was the first admission offer I had, added to that was a scholarship from Department of Science and Technology (DST), which meant I would be financially independent for next five years.

First time exposure to research in chemistry labs during my first semester of undergraduate studies…