SVNIT student's trajectory of success: IIST to Nasa

Vijay Garg, a third-year student of electronics department in Sardar Vallabh National Institute of Technology’s (SVNIT), has done his alma mater proud by getting selected to join the prestigious US-based space research agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) as a junior scientist.

Vijay will have to first finish his graduation after which he will undergo 10-month training at New Delhi in 2014 before he charts his path to Nasa’s research center in Florida. Armed with an initial package of Rs10 lakh PA, Vijay will look at a fatter pay cheque once he joins the space centre as a trained employee.

Explaining his trajectory to success, Vijay, who hails from Jaipur in Rajasthan, said that it all began with his summer training at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Thiruvananthapuram. At IIST, which is direct under the control of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), Vijay worked as a researcher in laser guided missile system.

“My topic of research was control and navigation of laser guided missile system. I prepared my research paper under guidance of Isro’s Rajesh Abraham, who had suggested my name to Nasa,” Vijay said.

With a week following Abraham’s recommendation, Vijay received an interview call from Nasa. After grilling Vijay for two days at New Delhi, Nasa officials selected him for the post of junior research scientist.
“It was dream come true for me. For days, I could not believe that I was selected for Nasa,” exclaimed an elated Vijay who explained that in Nasa too, his work will include research in control and navigation of laser-guided missile system.

As for the institute, Vijay is the first student to get such a prestigious job in Nasa. “It is matter of immense pride for SVNIT that one of its students has been selected for Nasa. Vijay’s achievement is inspiration for the other students too,” said PD Porey, director of SVNIT.

 @rishidna