u/Beginning-Discount61

TLDR:

• Can contribute to research as a full time commitment
• Do not require stipend/pay
• Available for 2+ years (after which I am aiming to join IISc for my MTech Research)
• Ongoing bachelor's degree

I'm currently enrolled in the IITM BS Data Science program (ongoing, 9.23 CG) and have been doing independent ML research in world models and a slight bit in continual learning for a while (I am interested in ALL research that's being done in the 4 labs I listed, especially QUEST Lab's ALL areas): I don't have a formal publication yet but I have a reasonable technical portfolio. I have reproduced around 16 research papers, ran my own ablation studies and for some papers I've even changed a few methodologies and got better results.

The thing is, I want to embed myself in a research environment for the long term (for the next 2+ years) while I finish my degree in parallel (my degree is very lightweight, so I can commit almost full time to the lab). I know formal RA positions require a completed bachelor's, but I'm wondering if these labs at IISc ever take on people informally: basically showing up, contributing to ongoing work at my fullest capacity, attending reading groups, and co-authoring research papers, being genuinely useful without the formal designation or pay. I live in Bangalore within a 2km radius from IISc Bangalore. I can fully commit to the work as a usual Research Assistant/Project Assistant would. I do not want any stipend or pay.

I am not using the specific wording as 'Research Intern' because some labs do not want Research Interns as they feel that Interns come for a couple of months and leave. Hence, the Professors are hesitant utilizes their time and bandwidth to train someone who's going to leave in a couple of months anyway. But, due to my conditions, I can serve as a long-term research intern (24+ months) after which I am going to write GATE and aim to join IISc Bangalore in MTech (Research) anyway.

Specifically I've been looking at these labs in CDS and CSA labs:

1. QUEST Lab
2. ML Lab (Prof. Chiru)
3. IACV Lab
4. StatML Lab

My doubts are:

1. Has anyone done this or seen it done? Is it professor-dependent or is there a blanket norm against it?

2. What would a cold email to a professor actually need to demonstrate for this to be taken seriously?

• They've taken out the AN/FPS-132 Early Warning Radar we have in Qatar at a cost of $1.1billion
• They've taken out 4 AN/TPY-2 THAAD Radars in Jordan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia with cost estimates between $500 million and $1 billion
• They have taken out, and continue to take out, 24 U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones costing $720 million.
• They destroyed two AN/GSC-52B terminals SATCOM terminals costing nearly $150 million
• They've taken out an F-15E Strike Eagle costing roughly $90 million
• They've taken out an A-10 Thunderbolt II costing nearly $120 million
• 2 MC-130J Hercules transport planes costing $200 million
• 4 MH-6/AH-6 Little Bird special operations helicopters cost roughly $20 million
• Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS costing $1 billion
• Numerous US military bases have been hit with early conservative estimates for cost at over $5 billion
  • U.S. Navy 5th Fleet Headquarters (Bahrain)
  • Al Udeid Air Base (Qatar)
  • Al Dhafra & Al Ruwais Air Bases (UAE)
  • Prince Sultan Air Base (Saudi Arabia)
  • Camp Buehring (Kuwait)
  • Ali Al Salem Air Base (Kuwait)
  • Muwaffaq Salti Air Base (Jordan)
  • Erbil Air Base (Iraq)

>This is unprecedented in scope and cost. I can't stress this enough. The US hasn't seen losses like this since possibly WW2 or Korea. The sheer cost of the high tech equipment they've successfully targeted is breath taking. And I haven't even included the cost of the weaponry we've launched at them. I haven't even factored in how we've depleted our stockpiles to dangerous levels, leaving us with little options if another front were to open anywhere. Iran is still a powerful threat.

Found this on a few news websites and a subreddit.

I remember the way they were all trolling us during the sindoor losses on the credibledefense etc subreddits

For some specific purpose, I linkedin DM-ed a bunch (13-14) of people out of which 4 were bitsians. the only people who replied to me were bitsians (all 4 replied). we weren't from same campus we dont even know each other but still they were the ones who DMed and helped me.

i fucking swear i will only help bitsians in my life i love this intitute i love this tribe i will only help bitsians in future i will do everything to help only my insti people. no amount of philosophy will change my mind.