Dr. Birbal Singh (Oct 10, 2003 07:38 a.m.):
Dear Balraj,
Your desire to pursue a Ph.D. is commendable and I am sure you will accomplish it soon. The best strategy I can suggest is that you email me your biodata including all details of your courses and marks. As Anuj wrote, it is important to match one's credentials to a university, and I can assist you in doing just that.
In the meantime you prepare for and write GRE. The material for preparing for GRE is easily available in India. It is very important for non-IIT students to do well on GRE. Further, I would strongly recommend writing Advanced GRE as many unversities insist on it for Ph.D. admission. You will also need to write TOEFL, but that is really trivial. I have not known any Indian student doing poorly on TOEFL.
The usual time frame for completing applications is January-February, so you have lot to do in the next 3-4 months. Of course, you will need at least 3 good reference letters, but I feel you will not have any problems in that area.
I have a reliable lab technologist who can do internet search for professors who have research grants in the area of your interest. In Canada, the professors get grants from NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) and in the USA from NSF (National Science Foundation) and several other funding agencies.
Finally, I appreciate your desire to do Ph.D., but some universities may want you to do M.S. before you are admitted to Ph.D., and it may not be a bad idea, because if you do very well, they will just convert your status to a Ph.D. student after the first year.
Good luck.
Birbal Singh