PhD Application Form Submitted

I submitted my PhD application form on 23rd (Tuesday). I felt a strange sense of happiness when that happened. Now, have to look forward to orientation meeting on August 1st, and later the written tests on 4th Aug. Interviews are scheduled for 9th and 10th August.

Now, I can peacefully step into 4th year of my professional service tomorrow. :) Well, it would be most challenging one so far as I have to manage work, research and course work (week end classes) all at the same time. I hope God gives me strength for the same.

I have started making list of journals, in which I can publish my first few papers. I have not yet set any target to myself on publishing literature survey papers. But I know that with guidance of MKN, I will soon get started on the same. First one year, I need to strictly focus on understanding every aspect of cloud security. I found http://www.wikicfp.com/cfp/ very useful in managing call for papers in a single place. Hail Crowd Sourcing! 

I purchased couple of books on amazon today, "How to publish Your PhD" from Sarah Caro and "Research Methodology" to get a feel of research and what it takes to pursue it. Waiting for its delivery.

July 21

And its done! It feels great!! Almost an year's effort presented in half an hour...

Now I need to shift focus on preparing the Research synopsis for PhD application. Also, I need to fill up the application form tonight itself.. No time to look back. Will reserve celebrations for later. Presently, its time to work! :) 

July 20

I could not submit Ph.D application form today as I did not have all the necessary documents yet. Hope to submit the same by Tuesday. I am currently making final preparations for BIG  day! Tomorrow is my final viva exam for M.S project. Hope is goes well..

Manipal has unique academic calendar of first 2 semesters theory (6 subjects and 1 mini project) and 2 semester full time project work. So, I have been spending time since October / November last year till now on my Master's project. It truly takes a lot out of you! I had taken a topic of my interest in cloud computing, Customer driven SLA management. It has been a long, exciting and memorable journey which I embarked along with my guide/guru, Balaji. I couldn't have come so far without his support and mentor-ship. I am truly grateful to him. In a way, it was a great exercise for the next 3 Years of my life :) I know that I have to work lot harder with dedication to even come close to writing Ph.D thesis.

Tomorrow is going to be a small step in Master's Degree, but a huge milestone in my education life.

-With Hope.

July 18

On July 26th, this year, I would be completing 3 Years of my service at McAfee and staring the 4th one. Although I am super exited about that day, a lot of work has to be still completed before that. 

My Master's Viva is due on 21st. Need to update the slide deck I have prepared for it. Also need to submit PhD application form. Plan is to submit it on 20th itself. 

Its heart warming to look back and enjoy this moment today. Completion of Master's, Applying for Ph.D. , 3 Years of service.. all packed within a week. :)  Feels Nice. 

Jul 10th 2013

It's been 2 and half years since last post.  My pursuit of Mission Dr VMD has taken twists and turns in this  The route which I had planned in Dec 2010 to pursue masters degree from BITs Pilani and then pursue PhD from iisc did not get realized...  instead I pursued MS at Manipal University from July 2011 and is expected to conclude later this month.

I would be applying for PhD from Jain University on this weekend and if I am able to clear the entrance tests and interview, course would start from August 3rd week on wards.

I am really excited to take the leap into research and even more motivated as my mentor, Dr Mydhili Nair has agreed to guide me during this journey. I cant express how great full I am to her for this! I remember promising myself after B.E that I would return back to work with her for pursuing research. I am thrilled that I am getting an opportunity to fulfill this promise I made to myself.

Now the real work starts... beginning from choosing my research topic, then to preparing a 4 page synopsis for research proposal. Aim is to complete all this by Friday so that I would be able to submit my application on Saturday.

I always wanted to work on "Security Issues in Cloud Computing" since I joined industry 3 years ago. I had started reading materials and getting prepared to work on literature survey. During my 2nd year of Master's degree, I took "Customer Driven SLA in Cloud Based Systems" as my project topic and concentrated my focus there. As I already have background on this topic, it is tempting to take this itself as my research topic for my PhD. I am currently evaluating my options and would come up with a decision today.