ICME Indo-US workshop

It’s always an edifying experience to be a part of something which you know is way above your level. The same was the case with the Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) Indo-US conference cum workshop organized by TCS in Pune. The professors and delegates from the US and India are the gurus of their respective fields and to see them give their presentations and seminars about their work in their field activates and improves your gray matter like the eclectic combinations of metals forming enhanced alloys. Although mostly esoteric, I tried my level best to keep up with the seminars. Topics ranging from ICME protocols to material properties and discussions about durability and sustainability to databases and computational design, it was an intriguing and exciting experience. Being the only undergraduate present there with most of the people at least double my age, I was just trying not be stupid. I am not sure if I am supposed to reveal the details of the conference so I shall stay shut about the discussions.

The interesting part was I did not fail to live up to the stereotypical expectations from an undergraduate student. There was free and fast Wi-Fi which helped me update my windows 8 to 8.1 after clearing my proxy settings with help from some smart juniors [“netsh winhttp reset proxy” in cmd prompt in case if anyone is as stupid as me]. There were 20 varieties of dishes for lunch ending with fruit pudding, ice cream and chocolate mousse [which I did not pronounce as mouse like I usually do]. The buffet table was endless and there was no line at all. Delegates were more interested in the research discussions and I had to take the responsibility of keeping the buffet alive. I did not disappoint the Hyatt hotel butlers. 

I was completely at sea as to how to begin discussions with such awesome people and realizing my vacant expressions my professor was kind enough to introduce me to everyone and that too very grandly. I sheepishly just asked them about their current research because there was nothing else that I could have contributed. I hate being stupid.

I have taken all the brochures and schedules with the list of the delegates who had attended the conference for my reference and now I shall get back to reading papers of some interesting people I met there. Au revoir!