SPSU, Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology: Dr. Radhika Chandankere Interview

Dr. Radhika Chandankere is currently serving as Assistant Professor, Department of Biotechnology at SPSU, Udaipur. With a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Science from the University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China, she has extensive experience in Industrial Biotechnology. Also, she has published 12 research articles in various SCI/EI indexed journals, and has major research areas in Microbial Biosurfactant and its perspectives in crude-oil biodegradation and its role in inhibiting biofilm formation in food-borne pathogens; microbial fermentation production and characterization, and all associated up and downstream processes, etc.

What are your roles and responsibilities towards the students?

“Training of theory and practical aspects of the subject”

As a faculty member, my prime role is teaching and imparting the understanding of the fundamental and the applied aspects of the subjects to the students in a way to make them translate the same through applying it to solve the problems. The subject knowledge, the teaching-learning plan etc. need to be well defined before delivering the class. And thus, my role and responsibility towards the students involves teaching theoretical concepts and guiding them to perform the practical experiments and develop their practical skills, and establishing the understanding within students to help in their learning and development. I evaluate students’ performance and monitor the progress of the students to work upon their improvement in the subject and keep them motivated. Also, I identify the strengths and weaknesses of students to help them improve in the respective parameters.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

“Healthy communication with an interactive environment”

Establishing a healthy relationship with students is essential to know them better and advise or guide them in the right direction. To make the students think, speak, generate questions, deliver answers and overall make each one of them feel important, a welcoming and interactive classroom environment is created. Communicating with students on a one-on-one basis as well as in groups is done to understand their problems and requirements of skill enhancements of the students. Greeting the fellow faculties, communicating with them on a regular basis, appreciating their works and efforts, sharing creative ideas or thoughts, developing the bond of trust, respecting them, etc. helps me in keeping a healthy relationship with the fellow faculty. 

How do you try to bring in a practical approach towards subjects?

“Experiential learning and research activities”

Providing the information on the application of the subject and its relevance to industry, and making students solve problems related to the subject are our approaches to a well-defined practical development of students. We have discussion sessions in the classroom to build up the answers step by step and provide the skills to the students to handle and operate the lab instruments to perform the experiment on their own and develop laboratory skills. We help them design the experiment to achieve the objective, critically think over the real-life problems and how the subject knowledge can provide the solutions. Also, discussing and designing the industry-based projects, case studies and research are carried out. 

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How do you strategize the curriculum to make it befitting for the students?

“Taking feedback and relevance from industry perspectives”

A complete understanding of the course curriculum is important and the faculty should be aware of it. Before the beginning of the semester, I go through the curriculum and the details, thereby looking for the inclusions needed in the syllabus as per the present-day requirements. Also, the feedback from the students and industries is looked into to make the relevant changes. On the basis of these evaluations, the curriculum is updated. It is ensured that the syllabus of the subject is achieving the objective and generating the outcomes. The students have to undergo an industrial internship for 45 days which is a compulsory component of the curriculum. 

Any insights on career opportunities for the students from your department?

“Multiple academic, research and industrial areas”

The students of Biotechnology get opportunities on campus as well as off-campus. Our Alumni are pursuing their careers in Agricultural companies, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare companies, Research labs, Biotech consultancy companies, Government jobs, etc. Many of the students have opted for higher studies from India and abroad like M. Tech, MS, MBA, etc. The graduates of Biotechnology have the option of applying in chemical industries, bioprocessing industries, and other related organizations. In the area of Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals, Genetic Engineering, Biological Sciences, Healthcare, Food Processing Industry, Food and Chemical Industries seek Biotechnology professionals for handling positions of Production Engineers, Quality Control Analysts, Food inspectors and Quality Control Officer, Research Scientist, etc.

How do you help your student to cope up with the high competition outside?

“Guiding and inculcating potential capabilities”

Mentoring the students is very important to help them deal with the outside world competition. Through interactive classroom sessions, teamwork and collaborative learning-based approaches we boost their knowledge and confidence. Also, argument and counter argument-based approaches, the update on the latest development, etc. are used for this purpose. We help supervise the student’s projects and motivate students to get the outside world (professional) experience through training and internships as well. 

What approaches do you bring in apart from curriculum to train the students?

“Various co-curricular and extracurricular activities fro growth”

I involve students in reading the research articles, develop their own creative ideas, regularly supervising them to improvise on their writing, reporting, communicating skills, etc. I also motivate them to participate or attend subject-related workshops, training programs, seminars, webinars, etc. We have more than 10 clubs in our University dedicated to various extracurricular activities such as sports, drama, music, etc. These clubs are student-driven, where students learn to organize and manage the events. We also offer an “Anandam” course which enhances the skills of being a responsible citizen in the students. The students also participate in the Intercollege sports events and other competitions organized by our University as well as other universities which help them to acquire competitive spirits. 

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What are the different types of industries and areas where students work?

“Agriculture, Pharmaceutical, Healthcare & Diagnostics industries”

Biotechnology is a fast-growing field. There are multiple options available for students aspiring to make a career in biotechnology, one can choose options in Agriculture, Microbiology, Genetic Engineering, Clinical Research, Biomedical Engineering, Immunology, Food Technology out of various options available in the Biotechnology field. More areas where students can make their career are Agriculture, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, Diagnostics, Environment, Food & Nutrition, Textile, Paper Pulp industry, Biochemical production industry, Marine Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, etc.