Hey this is Sukanya :) | W2 Introductions | Discussion

Hi everyone,

So I think most of you know that I’m from Mumbai, which is in India. It’s often compared to NYC and I agree that it literally never sleeps. I am not used to living in a very small place like EL, but I guess there’s a first time for everything!

My Bachelors is in Biotechnology. I did a LOT of wet lab work and I enjoyed it a lot. While I found it to be rewarding I felt like I wanted to do something where I can interact more with people and see the impact of my research visibly. I didn’t want my research to stew in a clinical trial somewhere for decades- Obviously, this step is very important, but I guess it wasn’t for me.

I was always interested in academia and education, so after my Bachelors I worked for a year as an RA for a project that helped develop tutorials for primary health care workers. This project was at the intersection of life-sciences and education. I had the chance to visit many underrepresented areas and speak with women there about cervical cancer, which is often considered a taboo topic in those regions. I felt happy about the work I was doing, I was especially happy to note that something as simple as a 10 min awareness educational video had the power to save lives. And so, I decided to switch my field.

I did my Masters in Learning Technologies at UT Austin. I started with doing a Masters because I wanted to be sure that switching fields was the right decision for me. I really enjoyed my time there. I felt that teaching and research would be suitable for the way I like to work, learn, and interact with people and what I want my long-term career goals to be. That’s why I decided to do a Ph.D.

Now, I am being mentored/advised by Matt and Aman. I am currently a TA for CEP 416 and an RA in the Design Studio. I am still figuring out what I want to focus on. But overall, problem-solving, collaborative and cooperative learning, and Social Media and PLNs (PLNs are Learning Networks basically, where you can- you guessed it- share ideas, collaborate, and communicate) for educators, strike me as important and I will mostly be trying to focus my work in those areas.

P.S. One interesting fact about me: I’m trying to learn and get better at this ancient script called “Grantha”. I first got introduced to it during my undergrad days. Read more about it here: http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm