Yugandhara Bhosale

Doctoral Student, IIT Bombay

Being a small-town girl with big dreams and aspirations, I came to “Pune-the Oxford of the east” and joined the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) for my undergrad in mechanical engineering.

Very soon, I felt overwhelmed by city vibes—how people carried themselves, how they communicated their ideas so confidently and started feeling like an imposter. That’s when I got introduced to the Katalyst program.

Katalyst gave me perspective and made me believe in myself again. It helped me discover myself, my strengths, and my weaknesses. Along the way, I became more self-aware. I can proudly say that Katalyst became the wind beneath my wings.

After graduation, I joined BOSCH in Bangalore. I always wanted to pursue higher education in the technical field, so now I am pursuing my Ph.D. at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in mechanical engineering. My topic for research is a heavy lift manned drone. Recently, I got awarded the Ph.D. Industrial Exposure Fellowship (PIEF) by Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC). IGSTC is a bilateral institution of the Government of India and the Federal Government of Germany. As a part of this fellowship, I have got the opportunity to work in Airbus, Munich, Germany, for six months, as an extension of my research work.

If life is giving you harder challenges along the way, believe me; it is preparing you for something bigger. Katalyst helped me a lot to be prepared.