Back To School • Swatee Kulkarni
(Co-founder at GDI Infotech, PhD student at Eastern Michigan University|| MI USA)
“I am 51 and doing a PhD in AI. Everyone asks me, why now? That’s a good question. Let me go back a few years.
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I grew up in India. I was one of four kids, and not unique by any perspective. When I was 10 saw my uncle build a gramophone as a gift for my parents — that’s when I realized as an engineer, you can build useful and beautiful things. So, I decided to be an engineer. But this was the early 80’s in India — neither my teachers nor my parents ever imagined that, as a girl, I would want to be an engineer. But I said, ‘Why not?’ I got a scholarship and studied electrical engineering. In India in the 80’s, it was all about electrification because many places did not yet have permanent electricity — we were focusing on power distribution systems. I met my husband, Bhushan, in the engineering college. He got a scholarship for a Master’s in the US, and motivated me to set my eyes on the same goal. This was another non-traditional route — very few girls left India for a Master’s — but I got a scholarship and arrived in the US.
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My studies in the US were not easy — it was so different! The US was 20 years ahead of India, and the field had moved into solid state electronics, it wasn’t about power distribution anymore. So, I switched to another field that was on the cusp of making big wave — Artificial Intelligence. My professor offered for me to stay on for a PhD, but my life was in full swing. Bhushan and I got married, had a son, started a business, had two more sons. Life just took me in a different direction. I was a full-time professional working on my own business while raising three sons, but I was also involved in several community activities — organizing a math olympiad, sitting on several committee boards, and founding a cultural and social group dedicated to instilling Indian culture in kids born in the US. Even though I had a full life and career, I always said there would be a point when I would go back to my PhD. I had the feeling I’d left it half-way. During my youngest son’s senior year, I thought, ‘Now is my time.’ ”
