IIT Gandhinagar Shapes Students into Confident Engineers

Manushree Sonawane, a 21‑year‑old chemical engineering student at IIT Gandhinagar, says the institute helped her move from a hesitant student to a confident engineer. She recalls being cautious about speaking up in class at 15, but notes that four years at IIT changed that pattern. The campus’s foundation programme, a four‑week period of activities and sports, allowed her to meet classmates before academic pressure began, forming friendships that lasted throughout her college years. During her first year she joined student‑led initiatives such as the cultural fest, TEDx, and the Student Leadership Conclave, and in her second year she became a core member of the Finance and Curation team for TEDxIITGandhinagar, coordinating with speakers like Dutee Chand and Gaurav Juyal. These experiences, she says, helped her develop confidence in professional conversations. Faculty at IIT Gandhinagar maintain an open‑door culture, encouraging students to ask fundamental questions rather than just project updates. This approach helped Sonawane pursue a summer internship at Cornell University in semiconductor research, where she used computer simulations to study electron behavior at material interfaces. The internship deepened her understanding of how atomic arrangements affect device performance, linking microscopic physics to tangible technology. Outside academics, she balances research with gym workouts, guitar playing, and campus recreation spots like the Tea Post and Laal Minar. She notes that the campus environment has taught her to keep goals fixed while allowing plans to adapt, a mindset she believes is valuable for future engineers.