Abhishek is a postdoctoral research scientist at the Columbia World Projects & attached to the Environmental Health Sciences department at Columbia University. He was previously a Fellow at the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), an Indian think-tank. He is currently an ISEP (Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy) Fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International-Studies.
He has obtained his doctorate in Resources, Environment and Sustainability from the University of British Columbia. Over the last twelve years, his multi-disciplinary research experience (and published work) spans 3Ps: pollution (air quality assessment), people (behavior change), and policy (analysis) related to household air pollution in specific and energy access in general.
His research has appeared in scholarly journals such as Nature Energy (featured on the cover of September 2019 issue), Environmental Science and Technology, and Energy Research and Social Science. His opinion pieces have been published in different platforms such as Nature Human Behaviour, Global News Canada, Hindustan Times, etc. His research findings have been shared widely on social media, including by the Prime Minister of India, and covered at the front page of major Indian newspapers.
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM to this role?
Though you had asked me about the journey from IIFM onwards, let me take you a step back to answer the perennial favorite of panels: “Why IIFM?”
I was doing my master’s in physics at Presidency College in Kolkata when I got interested in the rural energy issues. The question which bothered me was “If solar power is free, why do we have vacant land without solar panels?”. In the cybercafe internet age, there was not many easy answers. I was advised by Physics & Engineering professors that it is not a technology problem, but a “management” problem involving policy, economics, finance etc. [Much later, I discovered an entire field of study called “Science, Technology & Society”.] So, I tried to find “management” + “Rural India”. Voila, Google suggested IRMA. I dutifully sat in their exam, got selected in interview but could not make it to their final merit list. I was disappointed but then my friends giving CAT exam, introduced the idea of “backup” options. My CAT score was not good enough to get a call from IIM’s but it did get me a call from IIFM. I had never heard of this college beyond some website hits; both my parents tried hard in their network to find out- they too couldn’t! The only solace for my Parents was it was a government college with a very low fee. So, they allowed me to go for the interview.
I was pleasantly surprised and kind of shocked that while I was not even waitlisted in IRMA (after a similar interview) for the 2nd consecutive year, I got Rank 1 in IIFM’s national merit list. The shock from relatives that I am quitting from Presidency (100% brand recognition in Kolkata middle class families) to go to a college they never heard about still brings smile to my face.
[Even my then-girlfriend, Trina, who is now my better half, was tensed about my decision.]
I did my IIFM summer internship at the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). I got a job offer soon after to join the division which works on rural energy issues. I would be a rarity in terms of never sitting in any of the IIFM competitive placement- be it the two summer internships as well as placement because I worked on my own to get what I wanted for myself with a clear plan for my career ahead. Notably, our batch under the spirited PKB Sir had a phenomenal placement season- that resulted me being the one with the lowest salary in the entire batch . But I have zero regrets- I got to work with some of the finest minds at TERI & international collaborators, in a sector which I deeply cared about- rural energy since college days.
At TERI, I slowly found a sub-sector (or, it found me!): cooking energy access. [2.8 billion don’t have access to clean cooking fuels like gas & electricity. Millions die every year from exposure to firewood & other solid fuel burning in poorly ventilated kitchens.] I led one of the largest non-governmental clean cooking initiatives- a multi-million-pound initiative by DFID (now UK-Aid) when at TERI to promote improved cookstoves. It was a monumental failure from my perspective. We cleared the access barriers via micro-finance, incentive to manufacturers, but in the end, people refused to use it regularly.
So, It made me think and look forward to study the behavioral aspects of clean cooking- it is still today an under-researched area. I had zero background in psychology (except few classes at IIFM) required for PhD level scholarship. There was also the issue of funding. I found my guide in Prof. Hisham Zerriffi, an amazing human being who was interested to explore this topic. The university of British Columbia & the amazing city of Vancouver were add-ons.
[Pro-tip for those aspiring for PhD: everyone in a decent university is smart enough so no point overanalyzing their CV, & even a basic university has enough facilities for a lifetime of knowledge. So only thing to worry about is whether your guide works in the field you work in & if his/ her students speak well about the professor in private. I have seen people frustrated for 4-5 years of your life due to the mismatch with supervisor. Just like you do not want to be in an abusive relationship perennially frustrated, same with your PhD guide. Choose carefully.]
I only applied to UBC [I will be a rarity from India who did a foreign PhD without ever giving GRE & TOEFL]. I got selected but without scholarship. I learnt of an opportunity that was paying. Collaborative Research and Training Experience- Atmospheric Aerosol Program (CREATE-AAP) fellowship was sponsored by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada. Nothing much to do with my PhD topic on behavior change, but good money (50,000 CAD tax free Fellowship for 2 years) so jumped at it (& got it!). So, in August 2014, after 7.5 years at TERI, I moved to Vancouver, Canada with only 2 years of guaranteed funding, with Trina & my 2-year-old daughter. Eventually, completed my Ph.D. in 5 years.
[Pro-tip for those aspiring for PhD: Don’t delay much- if you have kids, they will fall sick by the universal rule of parenthood: just around the time you have something important- committee meeting, conference etc. I had to pack bag at 5 pm to pick up kids from daycare, envious of my bachelor friend who were preparing for the evening stretch!]
By the time I was ending my PhD dissertation on India’s LPG program & associated behavioral challenges, thanks to Trump admin, there were not many opportunities in the consulting sector. In traditional academic faculty positions, I was in a tricky place- I knew enough psychology, economics, sociology to bring new insights to the problem of clean cooking, but did I know enough to teach full courses on the subject?
[Pro-tip for those aspiring for PhD: Have enough academic juice in an area that is taught in undergraduate courses- your chance of getting faculty positions will significantly increase].
It was a nervous period- what to do next. Hisham forwarded me one job description about a postdoc position at Columbia University & said, “it is written for you”. It was by Darby, a professor who taught at the school of public health– & as usual I had zero academic background (except reading few papers). Considering the job crisis that doctoral students face even in premier universities nowadays, it was an incredibly smooth process. In December 2019, I moved to the Columbia Medical Centre campus in upper Manhattan with Trina, my daughter who was now 7, & our new addition to the family- our born-in-Canada son who was then 2 years.
[Pro-tip for those aspiring for Ph.D.: The days of finishing Ph.D. & floating in offers were 2 decades old. Before postdoc was a stopgap till faculty position opens, nowadays getting a postdoc at a top-tier lab has become seriously challenging. So, network from now, it will be better return on (time) investment than reading paper number 104 on topic X].
Btw, I am nearing 40, & have no clue in which country/ continent/ sector I will be working after 5 years. Handling this uncertainty is not everyone’s cup of tea, so choose wisely.
Abhishek and Trina at Graduation
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
Learning beyond the classroom: I learnt more about project management as field trip & OT (summer internship) coordinator. So, engage actively in student activities. 10 hours per week on group extra-curriculars that involve coordination & management will be worth more than 10% increase in your GPA. If you are the academic nerdy kind, at least be on #AcadTwitter, see what experts in your interest areas are doing. Be active- studying hard to get more marks & watching Netflix is perhaps not the best use of your two years at IIFM– & I am saying this as a postdoctoral research scientist who studies for a living!
Communications: When I pitched about IIFM to invite recruiters via email or telephone, I not only did my job as OT coordinator, but improved my ability to pitch. Once you improve your ability to pitch about IIFM, you can pitch about yourself in interview, & your company products in a marketing job! Irrespective of which sector you end up working, your clarity of thought on any topic is worthless if not expressed through lucid writing & speaking. These skills take time to flourish, often decades for ordinary souls like me, so be conscious of it. IIFM is a true safe space- batchmates are unlikely to make judgement calls, at worst they will laugh about it in a booze party! Consequences of bad communications in front of colleagues & bosses in the professional world can be brutal, even fatal for your career. So, every opportunity you have, grab it.
Abhishek and Family
Q. What is the most satisfying part of your current role?
I have been appointed in a unique department- very unlike a traditional academic department- Columbia World Projects– with less than 50 members. Its stated aim is “mobilizes the university’s researchers and scholars to work with governments, organizations, businesses and communities to tackle global challenges”. It means in addition to academic outputs like papers, the leadership deeply care about & are hands-on involved with real-world issues. The inaugural Director of CWP was Nick Lemann, Pulitzer professor of Journalism while the second was Avril Haynes, & the current director is Wafaa El-Sadr (google them!). [Avril was deputy director at CWP, but before she could formally take over Directorship, she joined Biden’s team; She is now the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the intelligence czar of US govt.]
[Now that you have googled them, you can well imagine the global ambition of this nascent initiative! If you haven’t yet, do it now]
I am simultaneously leading research on three aspects of a project aimed at improving LPG access in Ghana, in partnership with Kintampo Health Research Centre (KHRC)– a Govt. of Ghana institution:
- Analysis of a national survey to assess the what (& more importantly) why of LPG use pattern variations- why some use more, some less & some don’t
[The answer is more complex than wealth/ income, & I use a bunch of descriptive & econometric methods ]
- Assessment to understand the opportunities & limitations of developing a clean fuels market in Ghana
[COVID has seriously hindered my travel plans- but this assignment is more of donning a journalist’s hat to conduct interviews with various stakeholders from govt. policy makers to venture capital managers to international donor agencies to take stock of the ground situation]
- Applying the Gaussian plume distribution model & eddy covariance to develop a novel approach to measure community scale (village level) pollution & estimate use of solid fuels.
[The motivation behind this is that if LPG is successfully scaled up, it will lead to decrease in biomass burning. This in turn should reduce household air pollution, & subsequently ambient air pollution level, in the pilot project area. If successful, the centralized sensors should be able to broadly detect the signal (of decrease) & back-calculate the reduction in traditional fuel use. This would be a vastly superior method compared to the current practice of using household surveys that suffer from social desirability bias, or application of sensors in sample households, which though is an improved method, have serious logistical and management challenges.]
As you can see, my research career has always been a mishmash of natural sciences (air pollution), social sciences (behavior change) & its application for real-world policy issues.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
It is not the courses per say, but the lived experience at IIFM, which taught me to be curious, to keep doing what you enjoy. I made friends for life & got a job as a bonus.
When you volunteer for a job that has no takers, you get a chance to mold it. There are no supervisors to guide, but it means there is none to micromanage. You do, you learn. At worst you will fail, who cares if a club you started closed. It will still give you invaluable life lessons. At best, you will truly be a shining star of your batch along with adding an impressive extracurricular on your CV.
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers? What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.
Let me briefly speak about 3 IIFM professors who have knowingly (or, unknowingly) taught me the core skills.
Research: Prof. Debashish Debnath (now retired) coached me into writing my first research case study which was published when I was a student at IIFM. I got a princely sum of Rs. 17,000 for publishing it.
[That was the first & last time anyone gave me money to publish an academic article!]
Communications & Networking: Prof. PK Biswas (now Dean- Research at IMT Ghaziabad) taught me hands-on on how to network & speak in professional circles. [As someone who did not sit in placement interviews, I was managing recruiters & hence was privy to some negotiations. How PKB Sir pushed recruiters to pick up border line cases was a life-long lesson in genuine care for students, and on-the-feet thinking.]
[I vividly recall how a recruiter said that X (my batchmate) was generally likeable but has issues with ABC. PKB Sir immediately gave 2 examples of how this batchmate did great in those aspects but had a bad day in interview.]
Life lessons: Prof. CS Rathore is still for me the epitome of the perfect professor. While there are (arguably legitimate complaints) that his courses were too basic, he was extraordinary in the way he planned and delivered lectures. I have attended classes/ training courses in some great universities & research institutions, & he is still the model teacher I looked up to.
[Pro-tip for all who want to survive in an increasingly digital world: CSR Sir gave the most valuable advice I ever received from any professor. In 2005, he cautioned us that “If you think what you are writing (email, chat, paper) is something that will be uncomfortable for you if it becomes public, don’t write it. Assume whatever you write, can become public.” Whenever I read about people losing their jobs for a tweet written 10 years back, I am reminded of him.]
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
I loved the chitchats we had in the outside lawn on any random topic which somehow ended in realizing we have a pending task. Also, Friday night, Satyajit Das would get me food from the local Dhaba like the popular Sakshi Dhaba and others- the whole week I used to wait for Friday night & Sunday morning (mutton biriyani in mess).
Once the star recruiter (Olam) was coming to campus. I overslept- thankfully my roomie Rishi (Student President of the 18th Batch & one of the most committed alumni) woke me up to reach at the nick of time. When I stepped out of room to brush, half the batch was getting their tie fixed. There was utter shock about why I was not at the airport. I would have been lynched if I went late that day & offended the recruiter. Lesson learnt for life- never ever be late for meetings.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
IIFM provides opportunities, often not explicitly. You have-to find it, sometimes demand it. But you will get it, guaranteed, to be a better manager.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
Rishi, Satyajit, Trayee, Kunal, Shreekant, Binay, Rahul, Bigsna, Debu, Chinu…the list is pretty big. I was always impressed by immediate seniors like Santosh Sir, Param da, Swapan Sir etc. They all carved out unique careers for themselves.
Q. As an alumnus, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
I can’t stress this enough- do something beyond studying for marks. If your only takeaway after 2 years at IIFM is good GPA, you have really wasted 2 years of your life.
Q. What is your typical day at the office?
I typically work 9 am to 5:30 pm. It involves reading, meeting with colleagues, writing, coding (in R platform), & sometimes networking with govt. officials etc.
Q. And how about weekends, Hobbies, Family and anything else you want to add…
I rarely work weekends- a great tradition that Hisham inculcated in me. I love playing Chess, though I am pretty novice at it. Play at least 2 games/day on average at LiChess.com as a stressbuster. I also love to watch action/ espionage thrillers.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors
Bengali Books: Ami Subhas Bolchi, Feluda series
Bengali Movies: Hirok Raja r Deshe, Byomkesh series
Hindi Movies: Golmaal, Anand, Welcome & 3 Idiots
English Books: Poor Economics, Tintin, A Brief History of Time
Movies/ web series: Grey’s Anatomy (first few seasons), Goodwill Hunting, The Pursuit of Happiness
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students?
Interact with students when presented with opportunity. Was invited last year.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there? What do you think is a positive change and what is not?
Can’t comment much without knowing the ground situation first hand.