Supercomputer Education and Research Centre

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

http://www.serc.iisc.ernet.in/

M.Tech Admissions - 2012 Brochure

M.Tech Computational Science in SERC
Computational Science is an inter-disciplinary area that brings together the domain-specific
knowledge of science and engineering with relevant areas of computing and mathematics.

It

educates and trains students to 'model' problems or 'simulate' processes varying across many
disciplines in science and engineering.
The M.Tech program in Computational Science starts in August and spans 2 years (4
semesters). In the first semester, the student is exposed to fundamental concepts of Computational
Science such as data structures and programming, modeling and simulation, mathematical and
computational tools. The second semester takes the students towards their fields of specialization
through specialized courses.

The course culminates with a computational science dissertation

project.

M.Tech Admission process

Candidates short-listed for the interview process of the M.Tech program of SERC will be
informed well in advance. The M.Tech (Computational Science) interview process will begin with a
short Written Test on the morning of the first day of appearing (April 16, 2012). Applicants who
clear the written test will be called for an oral interview, which will be held in the next day (April 17,
2012). The written test has questions on basic mathematics and programming. The mathematics
part includes topics from undergraduate and high school mathematics such as algebra, geometry,
trigonometry, coordinate geometry, linear algebra, calculus, probability and statistics, and
elementary discrete mathematics. The

programming part includes topics such as basic data

structures, simple concepts on algorithms, and programming languages with a working knowledge of
the C programming language. The duration of the written test will be in the range of 45 to 60
minutes.
In general, the duration of the interview will be 20 minutes. The candidate will be asked to
choose two areas, one in background area and another in mathematical preliminaries, and their
proficiency in these areas will be tested. Further, questions related to their previous project(s) and
academic background will be asked. The necessary programming background will also be tested.

Basic areas:
Background areas:, Data structures, Numerical methods, discrete mathematics, signal processing,
physics, chemistry, electrical circuits, heat/mass transfer, fluid mechanics and electromagnetism.
Mathematical Preliminaries: Discrete mathematics, linear algebra (including matrix algebra),
functional analysis, probability, statistics, differential equations and numerical methods.
Example: For a candidate with a mechanical engineering background, choices for basic areas can
be fluid mechanics and differential equations. A candidate with degrees in mathematics is allowed to
choose both areas from mathematical preliminaries if so desired.

Preference sheet
Important Note: Read the SERC M.Tech admissions brochure before filling up this sheet.

Name:
Application No:

Subject Areas (to be tested)

Basic: ________________

Math Preliminary:_________________

Signature: ------------------------------

Date: