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We are pleased to publish interview with Ashish Ranjan, Electronics 2009, who had outstanding academic achievement during the undergraduate study.
Ashish had strong academic record with consistently high GPA in all the semesters in Electronics Engineering. He obtained overall 1st rank in final year and also received BHU medal for academic excellence. Overall, he is recipient of 13 prizes in all in IT-BHU and BHU convocation this year. He has also carried out several research projects in the department.
Yogesh K. Upadhyaya from Chronicle talks to Ashish about his academic achievement.
(Ashish Ranjan)
Click here to view bio-data of Ashish. (PDF file)
Ashish_Ranjan.pdfQ-1: Welcome, Ashish. Please tell us about yourself
I was born in Daltonganj in Jharkhand in a joint family of 8 members. I did my 10th and 12th from St. Joseph’s Convent School and St. Atulanand Convent School in Varanasi. My family is settled in Varanasi. My father was an Assistant Engineer in Gujarat Irrigation department and now he is venturing into his own business. My mother is a housewife. I am the youngest among the four siblings. I have an eldest sister and two elder brothers. I had a pleasant childhood and I was never pulled up for the mistakes that I made while I was a child. My grandfather, father and my elder brother are engineers, so being in a family of Engineers, my priorities were obvious and I cleared JEE in my second attempt.
IT-BHU is a memorable reminiscence. I enjoyed every moment at the institute. Besides getting knowledge from such admirable gurus like PKM sir (as he is popularly known) and Jit Sir, the informal learning at IT-BHU outside the classroom were fantastic and it was a remarkable four year journey at IT. After completion of my B. Tech, I joined Mentor Graphics, Noida and I am currently working with the same as Senior Member Technical staff.
Q-2: You had an excellent track record of academic achievement?
I had been first rank holder since my 1st semester at ITBHU and have achieved a GPA of 9.36 on an absolute scale. The best highlight is the GPA in 7th semester, 9.91. I still regret I could have been a potential 10 pointer.
Being an Institute topper, I was awarded the following medals and prizes:
· B.H.U. Medal for standing First at the B. Tech. Part-IV in Electronics Engineering Examination, 2009.
· Lala Balak Ramji Kohinoor Memorial Gold Medal for securing highest marks at the B. Tech. Part-IV Examination, 2009 among the branches of Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
· Late Shri Shyam Sunder Lal Razdan Memorial Gold Medal for securing highest percentage of marks in B. Tech. Part-IV Examination, 2009.
· Late Prof. Nagesh Chandra Vaidya Gold Medal for standing First at the B. Tech. Part-IV in Electronics Engineering Examination, 2009.
· Prof. Gopal Tripathi Memorial Gold Medal for securing highest marks at the B. Tech./ B. Pharm. Examination, 2009.
· Dr. (Late) Nandita Saha Roy Memorial Gold Medal for securing First position in B. Tech. Electronics Engineering Final Year Examination, 2009.
· Smt. Arati Paul and Prof. Binod Bihari Paul Gold Medal for securing highest marks in IV Year Examination among all the students of B. Tech./ B. Pharm. Examination, 2009.
· Shri Raj Kishore Kapoor Silver Medal for securing highest marks at the B. Tech./ B. Pharm. Examination, 2009.
· B.H.U. Prize Rs. 500/- ash for securing highest marks in B. Tech. Part-IV (VIII semester) Electronics Engineering Examination, 2009.
· Dr. Annie Besant Prize (in the forms of books by Dr. Annie Besant including copy of the ‘Bhagavadgita’) for standing First position among all the branches of B. Tech. Examination, 2009.
· Dr. Ayyagari Sambasiva Rao Prize Rs. 1000/- cash for standing First at the B. Tech. Part-IV in Electronics Engineering Examination, 2009.
· Late Prof. Manoranjan Sengupta Platinum Jubilee Merit Award Rs. 1000/- cash for securing highest marks in B. Tech. Part-IV in Electronics Engineering Examination, 2009.
Q-3: You were also involved in research activities of your department and cultural activities at the institute.
I did a project on designing a Speech Synthesizer for Indian languages based on formant synthesis method specifically Hindi under the guidance of Dr S. K. Kak (Professor, IT BHU). I also worked on a Perceptron (a neural network based model) based Dynamic Branch Prediction under Mr. P. K. Mukherjee (Associate Professor, IT BHU).I used a SimpleScalar tool set to validate the proposed predictor against commonly used predictors using a free embedded benchmark suite Mibench. Also I worked on Low-Power VLSI Design using DTMOS under Mr. P. K. Mukherjee involving usage of Virtuoso from Cadence.
I did my Summer Internship under Mr. Soumya Mukherjee (Senior Project Manager, Precision Synthesis, Mentor Graphics, Noida). My work involved optimization of run time for different Algorithms used for synthesis of RTL and hence measure the Quality of results for the Standard FPGA Vendors like Altera, Xilinx.
I am majorly inclined towards VLSI Design and Automation. As semiconductor industry aggressively marches towards 45nm CMOS technology and resorts to new materials-device structures in sight for 32nm and 22nm nodes, the challenges posed by these potential technology changes are immense. Hence, It will impact everything starting from front end of line (devices) to the back end of line (interconnects) and finally on the computer aided design (CAD) as well and that’s the reason which drives me to dive deeper into this field.
To enumerate among the extracurricular activities, I was a Coordinator for ‘Electronica’, a circuit design event under Technex. I also represented the Institute for a Campus Conclave organized by AMDOCS in Pune. In addition to above, I was also a member of the Student Council of ITBHU. Still these achievements make me regret that I was never a good dancer or singer.
Q-4: Please tell us about your current job at Mentor Graphics, NOIDA
Mentor Graphics is a US based multinational company dealing in Electronic design automation (EDA) and currently ranked 2nd parallel to Cadence after Synopsys. It has approximately 4000 employees worldwide. Mentor NOIDA is a Corporate R&D centre of Mentor Graphics Corporation with almost 200 employees. The focus area for research and development in NOIDA is Scalable Functional Verification, advanced FPGA synthesis, Debug Tools with advanced Graphical User interface and HDL Language compilers for various EDA tools. EDA is an emerging field to start, with lots of opportunities, especially for the people of Electrical and Electronics background as it not only tests your digital/analog skills but also give you a whole new perspective of data structures and judicious use of them.
Work at Mentor gives an excellent platform for edifice career growth and opportunities. I work in the front end team for Synthesis known as RTLC (RTL Compiler) focussed more into a tool called Design Checker used in the early stage of design creation. Reduction of design cycle is an important task and also cost effective for the big design houses like Intel, Nokia etc and so early checking of severe issues in RTL like (Clock domain crossing, Unsafe state machines etc) reduces the number of iterations resulting into a better quality code at the time of creation.
Q-5: What advise will you give to fellow students to excel in academics at undergraduate level?
I think we must have a proper planning at the onset of every semester as to how we should go about with the subjects. But of course all work and no play makes jack a dull boy! So the fun, the enjoyment and the never ending experience of the stay at IT should also be lived up. Besides all your academic work, you will also be asked to get involved in all sort of clubs and organizations while in college but do not overextend yourself; learn to say NO. It does not mean one should refrain from extracurricular activities, but a balance is needed. Also I think our college does promote a harmonious academic schedule and thus if we balance ourselves, we can enjoy the fun and the studies as well.
A very naive advice could be "Pay attention to the lectures rather than dosing off in classes". Even if the professor follows the textbook pretty closely, sitting in the classroom and listening to the lectures/discussions will help you to comprehend better.
Even if you are struggling in some professor's course approach him/her explaining yourself and they will surely help you out. Ask questions...Howsoever stupid it might be, ask it...not only from your professors, your mentors at Technex or any one. Remember a curious mind is the mother of all inventions. Try to work on some good projects as it not only makes your resume impressive but also gives you new ideas to work with. And last but not the least hard work has no other alternative.
Q-6: Please tell us about your personal life.
I live in a joint family which is still blessed with the presence of grandparents. My eldest sister is a Post Doctoral fellow in Economics from BHU. One of my elder brothers is working in iGATE Global Solutions, Hyderabad as a Sr. Software Engineer and another is pursuing MBA. We have always been encouraged to chase our dreams. It’s the support of our elders and their wisdom which has always helped us to shape our paths through all thick and thin.
I am an ardent follower of cricket. I just love playing and watching cricket and treat Sachin Tendulkar next to God! I like to unwind with soft music. I am moved with the diversity of people around me and so I love to interact with them and share thoughts.
My philosophy of life is “I CAN is 100 times more important than IQ”. Faith in oneself despite of all odds, dedicated and focused hard work coupled with proper strategy is vital for one’s success.
My father has a great influence in my life, as I saw him work diligently and help people without expectation of any favour in return. He always advised me that we must forgive and forget because it will always do us good. I have always tried to follow his belief and would continue trying to think and act like him.
Ashish, it was nice talking to you.
Thanks a lot for this opportunity to share my experiences with the IT Junta. It was a pleasure talking to you.
Ashish can be contacted at: ashish.tronics@gmail.com
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http://www.mentor.com/india/
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(if you having troubles, try posting your comment on this page or send an email to chronicle @ itbhuglobal.org)Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi 221005, UP