Professor Nikil Dutt of UC Irvine on Serendipity, Bright Students and Good Relationships.

Episode summary introduction: Professor Dutt believes exciting research comes from a combination of serendipity, bright students and good, collaborative relationships. There is more. Professor Nikil Dutt is the Chancellor’s Professor of Computer Science, EECS and Cognitive Science at the University of California Irvine. In particular, we discuss the following with him: Pursuing Graduate Programs in the US Joining the Academia The Pursuit of Research UG Students at UC Irvine Advice for Applicants Topics discussed in this episode: Introducing Prof Nikil Dutt, UCI [1:08] Professional Journey so far [3:11] Grad Study at Penn State and UI Urbana-Champaign [6:59] Penn State versus UI Urbana-Champaign  [9:14] Research thru Serendipity [11:28] On Choosing Academia [13:24] UC Irvine: Rising thru the Ranks [15:46] On Staying Excited about Research  [18:24] UG Students at Irvine [21:32] Research to be Proud of [23:32] Computation Self Awareness Systems [25:25] Tips for Aspiring Students [27:51] UG Students and Research [31:00] Advice for Budding Researchers [34:27] Close: Follow your passion [37:04] Our Guest: Professor Nikil Dutt is the Chancellor’s Professor at University of California Irvine with appointments in Computer Science, EECS and Cognitive Science Departments. Professor Dutt is a graduate of Birla Institute of Technology Pilani with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He then received his MS in Computer Science from Penn State University and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Memorable Quote: Prof Dutt: “Academia is not for the faint of heart”. Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript. Calls-to-action: To Ask the Guest a question, or to comment on this episode, email [email protected]. Subscribe or Follow our podcasts at any of these locations:, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Breaker, Anchor. For Transcripts of all our podcasts, visit almamatters.io/podcasts.