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Academic Links

Fundae for Academics/Research

• You and Your research: A famous speech by Richard Hamming on why some reseachers do well and some not. I think the ideas are applicable to other areas of life as well.
• Ten Simple Rules for Choosing between Industry and Academia : Nice article to help you get started with the confusion about your career.
• Video Lectures : A large collection of video lectures on various topics.
• Grad School Talk : A guide to applying to Ph.D. programs in USA.
• Advice for Undergraduates Considering Graduate School: Confused if you want to attend a graduate school? This is the right article for you. An article by Prof. Philip Agre.
• How to Be a Leader in Your Field: A Guide for Students in Professional Schools : A nice article on the steps to becoming a leader by Prof. Philip Agre.
• Networking on the Network: A Guide to Professional Skills for PhD Students.
• Ten Simple Rules for Mathematical Writing: An approach to mathematical writing, based on a set of simple composition rules.
• WARNING!: Warning Signs of Bogus Progress in Research in an Age of Rich Computation and Information.
• Ten Reasons to abandon Conferences: Why conferences should be abolished.
• The Elements of Style : The Elements of Style is a classic on the art of composition.
• The idea of a good PhD: .
• Career Advice: by Terence Tao.
• Cheap Colleges: The webpage contains a good collection of colleges that provide good education at not-so-high rates. It is a valuable resource for students graduating from high school.
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Tutorials for Scientific Reporting

• Beamer Theme Matrix: Use \usetheme{row name} \usecolortheme{column name} to apply the template you want.
• The Not So Short Introduction to LATEX2&epsilon: Famous guidebook to start with Latex.
• MATLAB Cheat Sheet: Comprehensive list of basic commands of MATLAB.
• MATLAB Cheat Sheet: A Matlab cheat sheet which I picked up from internet and added a few more commands.
• To write Mathematical Articles: A guide book to help you write mathematical articles which conveys precise arguments. It is 118 pages long.
• Math Writing: Same as above, but a smaller article (12 pages long).
• Elements of Style: A very good classical book on the usage of English while writing articles.
• The grammar according to West: Common mistakes while writing mathematical papers.
• Advice on Writing papers: by Terence Tao.
• Ten Simple Rules for Mathematical Writing: By Prof. Bertsekas. A good guide to start with. I recommend this to every student irrespective of their field and academic level.
• Writing Guide for Undergraduates: A nice essay and a collection of resources to guide beginners with scientific writing.
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Video Resources

• MIT OCW: Open course ware of MIT of Aerospace Department.
• Video Lectures of IIX where X=T or Sc : Contains major video lectures on various subjects.
• UC, Berkeley Video lectures: Video lectures of a few courses of UCB.
• Academic Earth: Free online video courses from leading universities.
• Free University lectures : As the description suggests, a listing of many lecture videos.
• Yale Open Course: Lectures from Yale University.
• Princeton Webmedia resources : Seminars on various topics ranging from Philosophy to Biology and Engineering.
• MIT World: A collection of popular video lectures at MIT. They are on various topics ranging from political to socio economical by experts.
• Real Analysis: Video lectures of an undergraduate course in Real analysis.
• Video Lectures from Siebel Center, UIUC: .
• Yale Courses: Video courses at Yale University.

Research Resources

• Sustainable Student Projects: at UIUC.
• The Two Cultures of Mathematics: The two ways by which one can work and contribute to research. Also see this link.
• Game Theory and Ethics: An article from Stanford encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Quantum Computation: An article by Prof. Schulman from Caltech.
• Delhi Economics Conclave: A conference dedicated to policy making in emerging/developing economics.
• Dynamic Game Reading group: Nice collection of papers in Game theory.
• PS Notes: A list of important ps-pdf related commands in Linux.
• Two Cultures: A speech.
• TIFR Lectures Notes: TIFR has hosted several big shots in Mathematics from 1950s. This page has all the lecture notes of those lectures.
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Course Materials

• Aerodynamic Slides: A nice collection of tutorials on aerodynamics at NASA webpage.
• Orbital Mechanics: A very short introduction to orbital mechanics.
• MIT OCW: Open course ware of MIT of Aerospace Department.
• National Committee for Fluid Mechanics Films: A series of 39 visualizations of fluid flow exhibiting various properties.
• Energy Storage Systems: A course on Energy storage devices.
• What is Game theory?: By Robert Aumann.
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E-Books

• Planning Algorithms: Planning algorithms for Robotic applications, a book by Prof. Steven LaValle.
• Random Processes : A book by Prof. Hajek, UIUC.
• Probability, Random Processes, and Ergodic Properties: A book by Prof. R.M. Gray, Stanford University.
• Introduction to Statistical Signal Processing: A book by Prof. R.M. Gray, Stanford University.
• Gossip Algorithm: A gossip protocol is a style of computer-to-computer communication protocol inspired by the form of gossip seen in social networks. Modern distributed systems often use gossip protocols to solve problems that might be difficult to solve in other ways, either because the underlying network has an inconvenient structure, is extremely large, or because gossip solutions are sometimes the most efficient ones available. This is a book by Prof. Devarat Shah, MIT.
• Mathematical Control Theory: A mathematical introduction on control theory by Prof. Sontag. Recommended to advance readers (graduate students and above) only.
• A Mathematical Theory of Communication: The first book on communication theory, written in 1948 at Bell Labs by Claude E. Shannon.
• Mathematical Theory of Controls: .
• Feedback Systems: An Introduction for Scientists and Engineers: By Richard Murray and Karl Astrom.
• Feedback Control Theory: By Doyle, Francis, and Tannenbaum .
• Feedback for physicists: A tutorial essay on control: By John Bechhoefer.
• Measure Theory: By Terence Tao.
• Urban Operations Research: A book on OR.
• Ordinary Differential Equations: This book also introduces dynamical systems and Chaos.
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Policy Making

Education

• Research at IIT-B: .
• Yashpal Committee Report, 2009: The Committee to Advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education.
• Kakodkar Committee Report, 2011: Taking IITs to excellence and greater relevance.
• Education: The PhD factory: The world is producing more PhDs than ever before. Is it time to stop?. A similar article is here
• IIT Review Reports: All reports on IIT education system and vision for the future at one place.
• An Outward Focused Research Culture: An article which discusses the tension between research and policy making.
• Good School, Good Graduate: An article in The Hindu.
• Science and Culture (1880): An article on the role of science and literature in human life.
• Threat to our Universities: An article in The Guardian, a news agency in UK.
• The Higher Learning In America: A Memorandum On the Conduct of Universities By Business Men.
• Bold Strategies for Indian Science: .
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Others

• Focus On Children Under Six: A report on Right of Food in India.
• Public Report on Basic Education in India: .
• Sustaining the IITB Experience: .
• Sachar Committee Report: Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India.
• Amartya Sen: The limits of economic freedom: A video talk by Amartya Sen.
• Documentary: The Corporation: The idea of corporation.
• Justice Katju’s Blog: The blog of Justice Katju, a judge in the Supreme Court of India.
• Learning From The West: An excellent speech by Narayana Murthy.
• Great Speeches: A list of great speeches. Some speeches are available in audio format too.
• Centre for the Study of Developing Societies: The Centre provides a unique institutional space which seeks to nurture intellectual interests outside the entrenched boundaries of academic disciplines.

Government of India websites

• Government of India: Main webpage.
• Constitution of India: .
• Center for Policy Research: .
• Planning Commission of India: .
• National Knowledge Commission: The National Knowledge Commission has been given a mandate to guide policy and direct reforms, focusing on certain key areas such as education, science and technology, agriculture, industry, e-governance etc.
• Department of Science and Technology: .
• Ministry of Minority Affairs: .
• Department of Agriculture and Cooperation: .
• Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: .
• Ministry of Rural Development: .
• PRS Legislative Research: PRS Legislative Research seeks to strengthen the legislative process by making it better informed, more transparent and participatory. .
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World Policy/Project Websites

• The academy of sciences for the developing world: TWAS represents the best of science in developing countries. Its main mission is to promote scientific excellence and capacity in the South for science-based sustainable development.Founded in 1983 in Trieste, Italy, by a distinguished group of scientists from the South Asia under the leadership of the late Nobel laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan. It was officially launched by the secretary-general of the United Nations in 1985.
• Just Vision: A Israel based documentary movie company which covers non-violent movements in Israel and Ghaza strip.
• United Nations Publication: Publications of UNO.
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Not-So-Famous Jobs/Internships/Opportunities

• Careers in UNO: Check out openings in UNO.
• UNO Office at Geneva, Switzerland: Find out about Programmes at Geneva office.
• Examinations by UNO: See question papers of UNO. See also UNO Young Professional Programme and the question papers for this programme.
• E-Farms: .
• Gurukul Scholarship: By British Council. A 12 week intensive programme on leadership and excellence.
• Dr. Manmohan Singh Scholarship: .
• PM’s Rural Development Fellow: The Government of India has launched a special programme in 78 backward districts called Integrated Action Plan (IAP).
• Internship in PCI: For graduate students.
• Ashoka Fellow: Targeting rural development.
• Indian Institute of Advanced Study: in Shimla, India.
• New India Foundation Fellowship: Fellowship holders may choose to write a memoir, or a work of reportage, or a thickly footnoted academic study. Their books could be oriented towards economics, or politics, or culture. They could be highly specific-an account of a single decade or a single region-or wide-ranging, such as a countrywide overview.
• Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund Fellowship: A two-year fellowship for people in all disciplines to work on current problems faced in India.
• Homi Bhabha Fellowship: A one-two year fellowship for visionary people of India in any field of study.
• Young Global Leader: A fellowship by World Economic Forum.

Articles

Handy Tutorials

• VIM Keyboard Shortcuts : Shortcuts for Vim, the terminal editor in linux.
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Technical Articles

• IEEE Spectrum Magazine: It has a collection of a lot of good articles about the research going around in the world.
• 300 Years of Optimal Control: From the Brachystochrone to the Maximum Principle: A very good article on how the optimal control started and developed.
• History of feedback control: A loooong history of feedback controls starting from Greek civilization until today.
• History of Aerospace Engineering: The development of Aerospace Engineering.
• History of Engineering Sciences: Some papers which discusses history of Information Theory, Control Theory and Computational Complexity.
• Relativity in GPS: .
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History Articles

• Stunts at Niagara Falls: People who attempted crazy stunts at Niagara Falls.
• A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations: Ancient wisdom!
• Source Documents and Texts in South Asian Studies: Some ancient Indian scriptures available here.

Wars

• The United Kingdom in the Second World War: Offical history of second world war (British).
• The German War Files: A collection of a few documentaries of World War II.
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Others

Documentaries and Videos

• Emergency Mine Rescue: A rescue mission for 33 miners who were trapped in an accident in Chile (2010).
• Nero’s Guest: A heart-touching speech by P. Sainath.
• GSLV launch Vehicle: A documentary on GSLV launch vehicle by ISRO.
• Ted Talk by Prof. Anil Gupta: India’s Hidden Hotbeds of Invention.
• Something From Nothing: A conversation with Richard Dawkins & Lawrence Krauss.
• Top Guns over Russia: .
• A Speech by Narendra Modi: .
• Best Graduation Speeches of all time: .
• Playing God: A documentary by BBC.

Business

• McKinsey Quarterly: Articles about latest trends, general advice and worldwide growth of businesses.
• McKinsey Global Institute : A collection of nice research articles/books on various aspects of business.
• Paul Krugman’s Column: in The NY times.
• Pluggd: A website dedicated to startups in India.
• An Indian Inventor Disrupts The Period Industry: A good article about a great innovator.
• Fast Co-exist : A website about world-changing ideas and innovation.
• HOW TO MAKE IT IN THE ED TECH STARTUP SECTOR: If you think you want to start a company in education sector, then this is one of the articles you must read!
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Society

• Ted – Ideas worth spreading: Inspiring videos of < 20 mins which has a potential to change the world.
• Globalizing Inequality: A talk by Dr. P. Sainath.
• M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation: M S Swaminathan Research Foundation is carrying out research and development in six major thematic areas such as: Coastal Systems Research, Biodiversity, Biotechnology, Ecotechnology, Food Security, Information, Education and Communication.
• Farms n Farmers: Aims at providing end to end solutions (right from field to market) to farmers.
• RTI Nation: An online portal to help you file and submit an RTI application.
• Corporate Disaster Resource Network: A web based supply chain management system that helps Relief agencies, Response agencies and Local governments access and feed in real time information on products and services required for emergency humanitarian relief.
• Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media: Excerpt from a book by Chomsky and Herman.
• The Responsibility of Intellectuals: A column essay by Noam Chomsky.
• Salt Mining: A news article about Salt mining in Gujarat.
• e-Agriculture: e-Agriculture is a global Community of Practice, where people from all over the world exchange information, ideas, and resources related to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for sustainable agriculture and rural development.
• Information and communication technologies for development: .
• Distant from Prosperity: The rural Indian economy, 1993-2005: A blog article claiming that the per capita income of the poorest people in India is going down as the economy progresses.
• Issues in Food and Security: by Dr. Anil Rajwanshi.
• Spark the Rise: An initiative by Mahindra to promote ideas that can change the society.
• Service Space: .
• PSBT: .
• Ten Stories that the world should know: .
• National Innovation Foundation: For promoting grassroot innovation.
• Frugal Digital: A research group at CIID that focuses on researching methods and practices around creating digital solutions in low resource settings like that of developing economies.
• Akshara Foundation: Akshara Foundation works to universalize equitable access to quality pre-school and elementary education for all children through multiple innovative models.
• eGovernments Foundation: Technology for municipalities.
• Vodafone Foundation: A foundation aimed at improving various sectors in the country.
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Scientists

• Karl Astrom : Famous person in automatic control.
• Eduardo Sontag: Famous for mathematical treatment of control theory.
• M. S. Swaminathan: One Man’s Quest for a Hunger-Free World: The father of Green Revolution in India.
• Work of Euler: .

Humour

• Annals of improbable research : The (in)famous Ig-Nobel prize.
• Dead Grandmother Problem: A student’s grandmother is far more likely to die suddenly just before the student takes an exam, than at any other time of year.
• Faking News from India: Amazing newspaper for reading and laughing. It has a lot of satire in its news articles.
• The Onion : Fake news from USA: As the name suggests.
• Annals of Improbable Research: I can only say he he he.
• Local Tea Party: A humorous blog by someone.
• XKCD webcomics: The famous comic-strip.
• Classic Lateral Thinking Exercise: Good puzzles.
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Literature

• In a Grove: A famous story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
• Critiquing Literature: A good tutorial on how one should critique a literary piece.
• Project Gutenberg: Here, you will find all the literary books published before 1940s. A collection of e-novels on which none owns the copyright now.
• The Great Books: of English language. Books authored by famous scholars/writers since Renaissance and later years.
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Sports

• IIT Bombay Swimming Club: The great team, which I was part of.
• FINA: The governing international organization of aquatics events.
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Interesting ones

• IMDB Top 250: A database of amazing, mind blowing, inspirational movies – .
• Interview Preparations: Interview experience of various students of IIT in their final year.
• Video Lectures in Physics : Some video lectures in basic physics.
• Susan Boyle singing “I dreamed a dream”: Incredible performance, which made her world famous.
• Collection of Links: by Aditya Ramdas.
• Nomadic Samuel: Homepage of a nomad.
• Real Men dont write Blogs: .
• The Flight from Conversations : .
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