**Second year engineering students are not encouraged to spend summer vacation doing a summer project (so please do not write to the faculty asking for internship). Those who are in their third year (sixth semester) can apply formally to the Institute's summer fellowship program which is usually announced Jan/Feb every year.

1. Internship applications for summer can be made via our institute's summer fellowship program website.

For internships during other terms (or a summer internship without a stipend), there are a couple of options:

a) You must be from an institution with whom we have a MoU. The list of such institutes can be found here: http://www.oir.iitm.ac.in/mou/ (If you are from such an institution, your internship must be approved by Dean (Academic courses). A fee may be applicable and must be paid if applicable (as decided by the Dean's office).

b) You must have an offer to work in one of my sponsored projects.

I may be willing to consider option (b) only if you demonstrate extraordinary motivation and promise since grant funding is limited. In both the above cases, a face-to-face interview is required before a decision

2. There will be no internship "certificate" at the end of the internship. Internships in my lab are not meant for students who collect internship certificates as if they are trophies. It is meant for learners who wish to transform themselves. In that sense, you are your certificate. If your performance is extraordinarily impressive (as decided by me), I will, at my discretion, choose to give a certificate or a reference letter. I will let you know if this is the case. To be clear, this is a privilege that has to be earned, not a right.

3. I expect substantial hard work from my interns - I expect them to impress with their work ethic, energy, and brilliance (The few students who were all that got glowing references from me and are doing quite well abroad). In particular, I expect the interns to work harder than my research scholars and MTech/Dual Degree students (and of course, me).

4. My time is my inventory. I selectively spend time only with students who are productive - ignoring the rest of the students. So, what you make out of an internship opportunity is in your own hands, not mine.

5. Important: Authorship: To start with, any data collected by you is owned by the lab, not you. All data and a report with absolute clarity on how data is organized are required of all internships, regardless of the length of the internship. We go by ICMJE guidelines for authorship. In particular, this means that if you do not contribute towards drafting the paper and revising it critically, you will not get authorship. Of course, you will be provided with an opportunity to author the article. If you refuse or if you keep delaying beyond 3 months (90 days), as the principal investigator, I will assert my right to take a final call on this. In such cases, at my discretion, I may (or may not) choose to collaborate with other students who may earn authorship by contributing towards data analysis, scientific interpretation and writing effort. Depending on your level of contribution you may get authorship or acknowledgement or nothing.

6.We value individual differences. We encourage diversity in all forms. We are committed to maintaining an environment conducive to creative thinking and doing high-quality science. We hope to achieve this by providing a harassment-free workplace that is filled with good human beings. We will continue to strive to keep our workplace lean, mean and clean at all times.

7.Our lab has a strict zero-tolerance policy for toxic people. No gossip. No politics. Only plain, high-quality science. No nonsense. While a little friendly banter is alright, engaging in deliberate negative behaviour that damages the lab culture will be viewed seriously. In such cases, I may choose to terminate the internship mid-term. No questions shall be entertained on this.

8. Some FAQ , Email writing tips have already been provided by my wonderful colleagues. So I won't bother with those. :)

Unless you share our values listed above, kindly avoid applying. Be assured: that is a better a choice, healthy and peaceful.