Prof. Ajit Kumar
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad · Former underground-mine engineer
Speaks English and Hindi
Is this the right person for you?
Who should talk to Ajit?
Every question below is one Ajit has lived through — you can trace each of them to the record further down this page. If one or more of them is your question, this call is for you. If none of them is, Ajit is probably not the right person, and it is better to know that now.
- ?What should an engineering CV contain, and what do projects and internships actually count for?
- ?How should I prepare for an M.Tech, PhD or research-position interview?
- ?How do I write to a professor or a hiring manager without the email being ignored?
- ?Job, M.Tech or PhD — which one actually gets me the work I want to do?
- ?How do I pick a specialisation in Mechanical that will still matter in ten years?
- ?What makes a statement of purpose or a research proposal actually work?
- ?What does an academic career in engineering actually pay and involve, day to day?
- ?I work in industry. What is the realistic route from here into an M.Tech, PhD or a faculty role?
- ?What are careers in hydraulics, pneumatics and industrial automation like?
- ?What is working on mining and heavy equipment maintenance really like?
- ?How do patents and papers actually help an engineering career outside academia?
- ?How do I choose lab skills and projects that prove real engineering ability?
Ajit worked as an Assistant Manager at the Milupara underground coal mine before moving into academics, and has now spent over thirteen years teaching and researching mechanical engineering at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, where he runs the Power Hydraulics and Pneumatics Laboratory and teaches Industrial Hydraulics and Automation on SWAYAM-NPTEL. He has more than seventy research papers and four patents in fluid power and machine design. He has been on both sides of the industry-academia line and can say plainly what each one is like to work in.
Why Ajit
- Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad · 13+ years in academics and research
- Lab In-charge, Power Hydraulics and Pneumatics Laboratory · IIT (ISM) Dhanbad
- Course instructor, SWAYAM-NPTEL · Industrial Hydraulics and Automation
- PhD, Mechanical Engineering, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad · 2020
- Former Assistant Manager, Milupara Underground Coal Mine, MIEL · Mining equipment operations and maintenance
- 70+ research papers · 4 patents, Fluid power and machine design · One design patent and three utility patents
Verification: official institutional profile .
For engineers in industry considering research
Discuss the move with someone who made it — from underground mine equipment to a faculty position and a hydraulics research lab at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad.
- Understand what you give up and what you gain moving from a plant role into academia or R&D
- Turn industrial problems you have actually solved into a credible research direction
- Prepare for M.Tech and PhD conversations with prospective supervisors
- Judge whether a part-time or externally registered route fits your situation
Technical careers in machine design and automation
Where the work is, what it demands, and which skills genuinely separate candidates.
- Explore roles in hydraulics, pneumatics, construction equipment and mining machinery
- Choose lab skills, tools and projects that demonstrate real engineering ability
- Understand where experiments, simulation, papers and patents each carry weight
- Plan a specialisation around the work you want rather than around placement headlines
What a 20-minute call covers
- Whether an academic career is worth aiming at, and what the path from where you are actually looks like
- Moving from mining, plant or mechanical industry work into higher studies or research
- Choosing between a core engineering job, an M.Tech and a PhD based on the work you want to be doing
- Careers in hydraulics, industrial automation, construction and mining equipment
- What faculty look for in a prospective research scholar, and how to approach one without being ignored
- Building technical credibility through projects, lab skills, papers and patents rather than course counts
One focused conversation, not a programme. If what you need is ongoing mentoring, say so on the call and Ajit will tell you honestly whether Ajit is the right person for it.
Other things you can bring
- Engineering CV
- PhD/M.Tech interviews
- SOP & proposals
- Academia as a career
- Industry to academia
- Job, M.Tech or PhD?
- Fluid power & automation
- Mining equipment careers
- Approaching a supervisor
- Papers and patents
- Mechanical specialisation
- R&D roles
- Research topic selection
Advises on
- Professor
- R&D engineer
- Equipment / maintenance engineer
- Academia
- Mining & heavy equipment
- Industrial automation
- Fluid power
- Machine design
- Research supervision
- Patents
How it works
- Pay ₹1499 — the whole fee, with nothing charged later.
- Choose phone or WhatsApp video and confirm the number to use.
- We confirm a time within 48 hours or automatically refund the payment.
- 20 focused minutes to work through the decision you bring.
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