Research Fellows Program at Microsoft Research India
Region: Asia-Pacific
Naman Jain
Research Fellow: 2020-2022
Journey: MSR India RF › PhD, University of California, Berkeley
“The Research Fellow Program at MSR India provides an incredible opportunity to work on cutting-edge and impactful research problems with mentorship and guidance from world-class researchers. In addition, the supportive and nurturing environment with a fellow cohort of like-minded and curious young researchers provides a lot of learning opportunities while still being a lot of fun. I grew immensely during my tenure, from learning how to tackle challenging research problems with the right mindset to improving communication and presentation of research ideas, and highly recommend the program to others interested in research.”
Sriram Balasubramanian
Research Fellow: 2020-2021
Journey: MSR India RF › PhD student, University of Maryland
“I recommend the Research Fellow program at MSR to any student who wants to get a taste of real research before going for graduate studies. The mentorship you receive here is one of the best, and you get a chance to work with India’s top CS researchers on really exciting and challenging problems. You have the opportunity to be a key contributor in high quality research published in top conferences. No matter what you do after, a stint at MSR can only be an asset to your career.”
Deevashwer Rathee
Research Fellow: 2020-2021
Journey: IIT (BHU) Varanasi › MSR India RD › PhD, University of California, Berkeley
“I joined MSR India on my sibling’s recommendation and that speaks for itself. Before joining MSR, I had worked on various research projects, but I had never witnessed such tremendous growth over such a short period. I got invaluable guidance on streamlining and expressing ideas, and I highly appreciated that my mentors always had the answers. It was easy to see that my mentors did every bit to help me succeed, and they even helped immensely with my PhD application. tl;dr: MSR RF program is an excellent pre-doc for anyone planning to pursue a PhD in CS.”
Ajaykrishna Karthikeyan
Research Fellow: 2019-2021
Journey: MSR India RF › Masters, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
“My RF journey was full of experiences that I’m not sure I could have gotten in other places so early in my professional career — the level of ownership and responsibility, seeing all stages of a research project (from inception to production) and getting to work with multiple product teams to see through the impact of our research. It also pushed me to improve myself on various professional and personal fronts. The social environment of the lab has also been very inviting and energetic, and I’ve been fortunate to meet many like-minded folks here.”
Mayank Rathee
Research Fellow: 2018-2020
Journey: MSR India RF › PhD, University of California, Berkeley
“I would strongly recommend the RF program at MSR for anyone who is thinking of a PhD in CS, and CS-adjacent areas. My time at MSR gave me firsthand experience at cutting-edge research. Research in CS can seem quite daunting to a newcomer. You have to know a decent breadth and depth of literature, you have to identify gaps in existing work, then formulate a worthwhile problem to solve and find a solution, then build a prototype to evaluate your solution, then beautifully bundle all of this in a research paper, and finally present your research at conferences. MSR provides the right environment to hone all of these skills; we even had RF talks to practice our presentation skills. This not only gives you a good idea of how research is done, but also a significant head start when you actually start your PhD. Top universities in the US recognize this advantage and that’s why, many RFs end up getting offers from the best schools in CS. To conclude, I loved every bit of my time at MSR; especially, before COVID when everything was in person. If given the opportunity again, I would love to go back to those RF days.”
Divya Siddarth
Research Fellow: 2018-2020
Journey: Stanford University › MSR India Fellow › Microsoft Redmond
“The MSR India RF program is the best! The freedom, resources, and talent at MSR are unparalleled (not to mention the kindness and generosity of everyone at the lab). Being able to create and lead research projects to fruition through the program – in a few short years – truly taught me more than any class I’ve ever taken. Overall, I can’t overemphasize how ideal the RF program was for me, and wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone trying to find a path to genuine impact through technology (particularly those who are currently underrepresented and underresourced in the space!).”
Vidhi Jain
Research Fellow: 2018-2019
Journey: BITS Pilani › MSR India Fellow › PhD, Carnegie Mellon University
“I am grateful to my advisors for mentoring me and having detailed discussions in one-on-one meetings. Thanks to Microsoft Research for supporting young aspirants to strengthen their core skills, receive guidance from the experts and belong to a community of the next generation researchers.”
Sudheesh Singanamalla
Research Fellow: 2017-2019
Journey: NIT Warangal › MSR India Fellow › PhD, University of Washington
“The Research Fellow program at MSR India has been an incredible experience for me and introduced me to the world of research. The time I spent at MSR India working with world class researchers helped me enhance my engineering skills and shaped my research skills. What stood out for me throughout my time there was the transparent collaborative efforts between different research groups and the strong encouragement to voice my opinion, think independently and take ownership. The fellowship program helped me make new friends, convinced me to pursue a research career and is an incredible launchpad.”
Tapan Chugh
Research Fellow: 2017-2019
Journey: IIT Madras › MSR India Fellow › PhD, University of Washington
“Joining MSR India as a Research Fellow was one the best decisions I ever made. The program is an unique opportunity to work on high quality research projects with awesome mentors. As an RF, I learnt a lot about working on challenging problems, along with relevant technical skills. The experience was invaluable in my decision to pursue a PhD.”
Shishir Patil
Research Fellow: 2017-2019
Journey: RV College of Engineering › MSR India Fellow › PhD, University of California, Berkeley
“The RF program is unparalleled in terms of the research experience, and the phenomenal mentoring. I got great guidance and support throughout, both professionally and personally. I learned how to pick the right research problems, how to break down complex problems into smaller tasks, how to systematically approach a problem, how to communicate my research effectively, and many other skills that shaped me towards being a better researcher. My time at MSR was an enriching experience where I grew academically, socially, and personally.”
Raghav Somani
Research Fellow: 2017-2019
Journey: IIT Guwahati › MSR India Fellow › PhD, University of Washington
“My time as a Research Fellow at MSR India provided me the steepest learning curves in my academic life. My mentors played a key role in polishing my abilities to understand the right research questions, with the steps needed for a finer understanding and solving them. My research career post-fellowship can be attributed to the 2 remarkable years spent around the brilliant research minds.”
Adithya Phillip
Research Fellow: 2017-2019
Journey: PESIT › MSR India Fellow › PhD, Carnegie Mellon University
“The Research Fellow program is the opportunity to do research with some of the best minds in the country and decide if it’s your cup of tea, a huge boost to your college applications if you want to take it further with a PhD or Master’s, and a chance to learn and grow with smart people all around you. Getting to work on research that has real impact as an RF is what helped me decide I wanted a PhD, and I completely attribute my getting to pursue the Computer Science PhD program at Carnegie Mellon University to my time here as an RF.”
Apurv Mehra
Research Fellow: 2016-2018
Journey: IIIT Delhi › MSR India Fellow › Microsoft Research India
“The MSRI-RF program gave me a chance to work on some really hard problems with an amazing set of colleagues coming from inter-disciplinary backgrounds. I was guided throughout by wonderful mentors who gave me enough flexibility and support to explore my interests, take ownership and decisions which helped me reflect, evaluate and choose between various career paths. Being part of TEM group was additionally enriching where I learnt how to think about complex socio-technical problems and understand the role technology plays from holistic perspective.”
Marylin George
Research Fellow: 2016-2017
Journey: IISc › MSR India Fellow › PhD, Brown University
“When I joined the RF program at MSR, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to graduate school. The RF program gave me a space to try out my research skills, and hone them with a supportive community of mentors and peers. Most notably, the program was an avenue to create connections with my peers, most of whom went on to Masters or PhD programs. I would highly recommend the program to graduating students; it is a great opportunity to experience research in a professional atmosphere, and connect with people who will be your mentors and colleagues for years to come.”
Shruti Rijhwani
Research Fellow: 2015-2016
Journey: BITS Pilani › MSR India Fellow › Masters and PhD, Carnegie Mellon University
“I joined the RF program because I wanted to get a taste of what a career in CS research might be like. Apart from the challenging research problems themselves, the best feature about the program is the focus on building a community of budding researchers in different fields of CS. With seasoned academics to guide RFs every step of the way, including future graduate school and career decisions, the program is perfect for people with a strong interest in exploring what working on interesting and exciting ideas might be like. It was my first such experience and has shaped my view of research, perhaps for years to come.”
Abhijnan Chakraborty
Research Fellow: 2012-2014
Journey: Jadavpur University › MSR India Fellow › PhD, IIT Kharagpur › Asst. Prof, IIT Delhi
“The time I spent as RA at MSR India was very memorable and enriching experience for me. It exposed a young graduate like me, who was fresh out of college, to the world of research. I worked under close mentorship of world class researchers for two years, where I learned how to design solutions for real-world problems, which have the potential to impact millions of people. I was encouraged to publish papers and attend top tier conferences, which helped me to choose research as the long-term career option.”
Aditya Vashistha
Research Fellow: 2011-2013
Journey: Jaypee Institute of Information Technology › MSR India Fellow › PhD, University of Washington › Asst. Prof, Cornell University
“The MSR RA program was a remarkable two year journey that gave me tremendous opportunities to find technological solutions for the world’s biggest problems in the domain of healthcare, information access and civic engagement.”
Bhavish Aggarwal
Research Fellow: 2008-2010
Journey: IIT Delhi › MSR India Fellow › CEO, OLA
“Great program. Helped me build an analytical rigour beyond college and a curiosity for all things tech that helped in my future as an entrepreneur.”
Rikin Gandhi
Research Fellow: 2006-2008
Journey: Carnegie Mellon University › MSR India Fellow › CEO, Digital Green
“I got to research how technology could help me be the change in rural India and launch Microsoft’s first nonprofit spin-off, Digital Green.”
Ganesh Ananthanarayanan
Research Fellow: 2005-2007
Journey: BITS Pilani › MSR India Fellow › PhD, University of California Berkeley › Microsoft Research Redmond
“Awesome ‘pre-doc’ program that convinced me about a research career. Great launch pad after undergrad to hit the ground running during my PhD!”