Neerja's Blog

Thanks for making your way to my blog! If you’re a first-time reader, or just want an overview of the contents of my blog, this is a great place to start.

As a quick intro, I graduated from Dartmouth in 2019 with a BA in Computer Science and Mathematics. From 2019-2020, I did computational photography research in Spain on a Fulbright research scholarship. This fall, I will be started my PhD in EECS at UC Berkeley, doing research in digital forensics, computational photography, and computer vision.

I started this blog so I could document and share my wonderful Fulbright experience, and also to answer questions I’ve gotten about applying to Fulbright/grad school, doing research, being a woman in CS, and other topics. I have been incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful mentors and access to resources at an elite institution, and I would love to share what I’ve learned with those who may not have as easy access to this information, especially women, first gen, and BIPOC students considering computer science or doing research. For more information about me and my blog, you can read this introductory post.

If you’re interested in the Fulbright program or reading my experience about Spain, I have documented my Fulbright experience in my Neerja en España series. I also wrote a series of posts on applying for a research Fulbright:

• Part one covers establishing a relationship with your host institution and deciding on a research project
• Part two covers the different components of a Fulbright application
• Part three goes over my recommended application timeline and some other advice I have.

I have also written several posts that could be helpful for anyone interested in doing research or applying to grad school. So far, these include my thoughts on:

• Why I chose to pursue a PhD
• Getting letters of recommendation
• Getting involved in research before your PhD
• The GRE
• How to spend a pre-PhD gap year

I’ve also recieved many questions on tech recruiting, so I wrote a series on my recruiting experience and advice on different parts of the process:

• How to have a strong resume and apply to jobs
• How to study for and nail the interview
• How to pick an internship

I will be writing more posts in this vein, and if there is a topic you want to hear about don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

I have also written some other posts about my life, and will be writing about my PhD once I start it. You can keep updated with my blog by subscribing, and the archive of all my posts can be viewed here.