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(Nishant Kumar is final year student of Computer Science and Engineering. He can be reached at: nishant.cse07@gmail.com).
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(Nishant Kumar)
I pursued my Summer Internship at ARLES Project-Team, INRIA, France
for duration of 8 weeks (May-July 2010). I worked under the direct supervision of
Dr. Alessandra Toninelli [1] and Dr. Animesh Pathak [2].
Dr. Animesh Pathak is an alumnus of ITBHU. He is a graduate of CSE 2003 batch and received a PhD in Computer Engineering at the University of Southern California [3], LA in 2008. He is currently a researcher at project-team ARLES at INRIA.
He along with his colleague (Dr. Alessandra Toninelli) notified all students of
CSE Part III in March 2010 of an opening for a summer internship at their research group to work on “Middleware for Managing Mobile Social Ecosystem”. I followed up the notification and had an online interview taken by them. Finally, I was selected for the internship.
INRIA and the ARLES Project Group
INRIA [4] ( Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique,
in English: National Institute for Research in Computer and Control Sciences)
was established in 1967 at Rocquencourt near Paris. Under the supervision of
French Ministry of National Education, Advanced Instruction and Research and
the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry, INRIA does research in theoretical
and Applied Computer Science. It has produced a number of widely used products
like Scilab, TOM etc. Based on areas of research, INRIA is organized into several autonomous project teams. I was a part of the ARLES Project-Team [5] with around
15 members lead by Valérie Issarny [6]. ARLES investigates solutions to
architecture-based development of distributed systems
The atmosphere at INRIA is tailor made for research and development. One gets to interact with the most eminent of the researchers. Visitors, frequently invited from diverse fields, give enlightening talks on their areas of research. The office infrastructure equipped with seminar rooms, review rooms, white-boards form an excellent and ideal atmosphere for research.
Specifics about my work and experience
My work during the internship was entitled as Data Extraction in Mobile Social Ecosystem. It was carried out under the guidance of Alessandra Toninelli and Animesh Pathak. I designed a Data Extraction Manager (DEM) for Android phone.
It was a part of the ongoing work at ARLES projet-team to develop a middleware for managing Mobile Social Ecosystem. My work also includes assessment of existing techniques to process graph based data (e.g. RDF) on Android phone. I analyzed different framework and finally implemented Androjena library on Android phone.
I got a first-hand experience on Web semantics, Jena, Sesame, JRDF, Piglet, Ontology, Android. I got full support and guidance from my mentors at every required stage of the project. Moreover, I got exposure to talks and seminars on various topics by eminent researchers from different places e.g. Florida, London. I also got interaction with researchers from Greece, Tehran, China, Italy, France, Algeria, Tunisia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India who were working in numerable fields at INRIA. In a nutshell, the work experience was a perfect sample of a research life.
Compensation Received/Monetary arrangements
I was given free air tickets by INRIA for onward and return journey. Moreover,
I used to receive a stipend of 900 euros/month from EGIDE (Égide is an organization managing international exchange programs for foreign grant-holder students and interns on courses in France or abroad), during my stay in Paris. This was enough not only for a decent living in Paris but also for touring the entire city. Without having any visa related restrictions in Europe, some of my friends had also toured nearby countries - Switzerland, Italy, Netherland.
Accommodation and Living
I was accommodated at La Clairere (A hostel sort of a residential building) near INRIA where people from diverse backgrounds and regions used to live. The rent for my room was 14 euros per day. I shared the dining hall, kitchen, TV room etc with them and even played a number of games like Table Tennis, Lawn Tennis and Badminton. For non-vegetarians, Europe is a paradise as far as food is concerned. Living a vegetarian in Europe is a bit hard according to many, but fruits, salad, pizza, pasta, boiled vegetable soups, rice, hot French fries, eggs etc makes a balanced diet. I even used to cook occasionally whenever I missed Indian food. I got completely used to a living in a foreign land.
Ending Notes
To recapitulate, my internship gave me a perfect sample of research and development life and a complete exposure to a foreign life. A judiciously selected foreign internship should, give an individual, a strong exposure to new areas, broaden his perspectives and enrich his knowledge. The skills gained will certainly prove very beneficial in one's pursuit for opting research as a future career.
References
[1]https://www-roc.inria.fr/arles/index.php/members/102-alessandra-toninelli.html
[2] http://www-rocq.inria.fr/who/Animesh.Pathak/
[3]http://www.usc.edu/
[4] www.inria.fr
[5] http://www-roc.inria.fr/arles/
[6] http://www-roc.inria.fr/arles/members/issarny.html
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Additional links:
About Animesh Pathak
(Dr. Animesh Pathak)
Animesh Pathak (CSE 2003) is currently working as a Research Scientist (Chargé de Recherche) at INRIA, Paris. He can be reached at animesh[AT]gmail.com.
Education
* PostDoc at INRIA, Paris, France (July 2008 - August 2009)
* Ph. D in Computer Engineering, Ming Hsieh Department of EE-Systems, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (2008)
* MS in Electrical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles (2005)
* B. Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University (2003)
Achievements :
* Best Teaching Assistant Award, Department of EE-Systems, USC, 2005.
*President Shankar Dayal Sharma Award for Outstanding Overall Achievement, Banaras Hindu University, 2003
*Outstanding Student Award, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, 2003
*Late Shyam Sunder Lal Razdan Memorial Gold Medal for securing highest percentage of marks in B. Tech. Part-IV Examination, 2003
*Institute Gold Medal for securing highest grades, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003.
* Scored 10 pointers for 4 consecutive semesters (Semester III, IV, V and VI).
* Best Student Award of ITBHU and BHU.
* Awarded IT Color in Theatre, 2002.
* Joint Secretary, Theatre Club, Cultural Wing, IT-Gymkhana for the session 2001-02.
* General Secretary, Cultural Wing, IT-Gymkhana for the session 2002-03
Web-links
Animesh’s blog: http://animeshpathak.blogspot.com/
Animesh’s home page: http://www.animeshpathak.in/
Website of IT-BHU, Varanasi: www.itbhu.ac.in
Website of USC: http://www.usc.edu/
Website of INRIA, France: http://www.inria.fr/rocquencourt/
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About INRIA, France
http://www.inria.fr/inria/enbref.en.html
INRIA's ambition is to be a world player, a research institute at the heart of the information society.
INRIA, the French national institute for research in computer science and control, operating under the dual authority of the Ministry of Research and the Ministry of Industry, is dedicated to fundamental and applied research in information and communication science and technology (ICST). The Institute also plays a major role in technology transfer by fostering training through research, diffusion of scientific and technical information, development, as well as providing expert advice and participating in international programs.
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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