Is There a Doctor in the House? Two, Suddenly.
Earning advanced degrees together probably isn’t at the top of most couples’ to-do list, but it was high among Ajay Bansal’s and Srividya Kona’s goals, and they succeeded on Dec. 8.
Ajay Bansal and Srividya Kona with Jonsson School Dean Bob Helms and Gopal Gupta, professor and associate head of computer science.
They entered the Jonsson School’s doctoral program in computer science in different semesters, with one of them working full-time and the other part-time. But they soon realized that it would be more productive if they worked together full-time on their degrees.
“The initial few months were challenging as we shared the same office and had to learn to spend the whole day together,” Srividya said. “Slowly we learned to do that by adjusting to our differences, and now we are ready to work and do research together for life.”
Indeed being married and working on their Ph.D.s together – albeit in different areas of computer science – was beneficial because they were able to use one another as sounding boards for their ideas, said Gopal Gupta, professor and associate head of computer science.
“These Ph.D. years were the best years of our life as we learned so much in both academic and non-academic areas,” Ajay added. “It strengthened our relationship and confidence in each other and prepared us for a life together in academia.”
Next stop for the two will be Georgetown University, where both will be teaching graduate-level courses and working as post-docs in the computer science department.
