Chidvilas Reddy Vavilala from IIT Bombay, India spent two months at the Institute of Internal Combustion Engines and Fuel Cells
Personal & Academic Background
My name is Chidvilas Reddy Vavilala. I am from IIT Bombay Computer Science and Engineering department.
I like geometrical and combinatorial problems and graph theory. I got to know about the internship opportunity in algorithms at TU Braunschweig through my placement cell. I looked into Professor Sandor’s previous projects and they were interesting, so I applied for the internship to improve my knowledge in the field by working under professor’s guidance.
Project & Research Experience
Q: Which group or institute at TU are you associated with, and what is the title or focus of your project?
A: I am associated with Informatik Institute, Algorithms group. My project title was Course Project Allocation, and it was an optimisation problem that uses constraint programming.
Our task is to build a full scale model which when given list of students and our requirements will output the best possible allocation. It used Google’s CP-SAT solver.
I have learnt how to encode optimisation problems in python and how to translate real world constraints and objectives into stuff that solver can understand and learnt lot of good programming practises, and got the experience of how a full scale project looks like.
Support & Collaboration
The application process was smooth (although we had some visa issues, but professor Sandor helped us resolve them). Jorge Rivera picked us from the station and helped us with the accommodation on our first day. The housing is very nice and also its right in the city centre, and a 5 minute walk from my institute. The registration process was also very smooth, thanks to Ms. Ute and Ms. Anne Kathrin.
Braunschweig is a wonderful city. It exceeded my expectations. The parks are very beautiful here. People are kind, and what ever you need is available. There was never a problem for food, all kinds of food are available in Braunschweig. Mensa food is good and we can find Indian food in REWE supermarket and also there’s an Indian store in Hagenmarkt, or can also cook in the dorm room.
Living in Braunschweig
Q: Where are you living, and what do you like about your accommodation/neighborhood?
A: I am living in APM Rebenring. We have an asian supermarket in front of us and REWE supermarket to the left and two tram stations just beside the building, so its very easy to travel anywhere, and its a 5 minute walk from Informatik building and the Mensa (food place for students).
Challenges & Learning
My biggest challenge was in finding the right things that I am interested in. I tried many things in my first 2 weeks under different PhD students and professor, and I found that my interest lied in practical projects like optimisation problems for real issues.
Q: What surprised you most about working in a German research environment?
A: People are very self-motivated and also enjoy their work very much. The culture is very chill.
Q: Have you picked up any German? How has the language barrier affected your stay?
A: Some of the locals do not understand English, but that’s not a problem, we can type in the phone in google translate app and show them. Language barrier was not a problem at all. I have learnt a few German words like Hallo and Cho (for hello and bye), Danke Schon(Thank you), Drucken(push), Eingang and Ausgang (entry and exit)
Impact & Future Plans
I’m not sure about the answer to this question yet
Tips & Shout-Outs
Pick one common date for the visa appointment after the professor informs you, and irrespective of any exams or whatever try to attend the appointment, and do not elongate the visa process. It gets very hectic otherwise. And try to explore the projects which are currently running under the professor as much as you can before you come here.
Thank you Professor Sandor Fekete, Professor Dominik, Ms. Ute Marchot, Ms. Anne Kathrin, Jorge Rivera for this wonderful internship experience.
Fun Fact
I stayed two days by drinking only Fanta softdrinks