In my "Life without Penny" series the four male principal characters in TBBT split up. Only Sheldon stays at Caltech, Leonard returns home to Princeton, Howard moves to the Kennedy Space Centre and Raj returns to his alma mater of Cambridge University. What happened to Raj? Part 2 - Interview.
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One month later in Cambridge a female administration person took Raj into the interview room.
"Professors, here is the next candidate, Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali of Caltech."
Raj had a mental sigh of relief as she left the room, he then shook hands with his old Ph.D supervisor Professor Anderson.
"Hello Raj, welcome back."
"Good to see you again sir."
"May I introduce you to the other two members of the panel, this is Professor Hans Loch and Professor Antonio Silva."
Raj shook hands with the other Professors.
"When were you last here in Cambridge?"
"Not since I got my Ph.D, I went out 8 years ago to California to start my postdoc at Caltech, I haven't been back since then. It still looks like Hogwarts."
"Yes it still does look that way. OK Raj, I will explain the plan for today. We are interviewing for two new astrophysics lectureships. One of our colleagues, Dr. Susan Jones, has been on sabbatical this year at the University of Edinburgh. She has accepted a Professorship up there, she isn't coming back to Cambridge. I will be retiring and will become Emeritus Professor at the end of the next academic year, so we need some new lecturers. We are interviewing 4 candidates today and 4 more next week, we will be contacting candidates after next week's interviews. The interview format will be like this, after you have given your presentation on some of your recent research we will all ask you questions. Then at the end you can ask us all questions about the work involved in the lectureship. So if you are ready with your presentation…
Fifty minutes later Professor Anderson spoke.
"Well thank you Raj, I don't have any more questions to ask. Hans, Antonio, do you have any more questions?" Professors Loch and Silva had no more questions to ask.
"OK Raj, thank you for answering all of our questions, now its your turn."
"Thank you Professors. First question is about research, I am currently collaborating with some colleagues at Caltech and Stanford on my outer solar system research, we get a few days a year of remote observation on one of the telescopes on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Would I still be able to continue my collaboration?"
Professor Loch "No problem there, in due course we would want you to develop your own research program with your own Ph.D students but if that involves external collaboration that's fine. I am still collaborating with a colleague in Germany who studied for her Ph.D at the same time as me in Berlin 20 years ago."
"Thank you Professor Loch. Next question is about teaching, how much would I have to do if I became a lecturer?"
Professor Silva "We all usually do two undergraduate courses per academic year. We help out with first year Physics courses for Natural Science students and also teach some more advanced Astrophysics and Astronomy classes. How much teaching did you do at Caltech?"
"I did a bit of work as a Teaching Assistant."
Professor Anderson "We also like our staff to do some outreach work, help spread the word to the Great British Public."
"I did some narration of Planetarium shows."
"Excellent, that's what we like to hear. One more thing about teaching, if you get the job then you would be expected to become a college fellow. You would have to do tutorials for students from your college and help to run the college, I usually spend one day a week at Trinity. However, a fellow gets paid by their college for their efforts. Weren't you at Wolfson Raj?"
"That's right, I am staying in Wolfson college accommodation whilst I am here in Cambridge."
"Maybe they might invite you to become a fellow if you were to get the job. If you were to be offered the job when would you be able to start?"
"My current contract at Caltech finishes at the end of July, so I would be able to start when the new academic year commences."
"That's good to know. Any more questions Raj?"
"One more question, if I were to get the job when would I get to supervise graduate students?"
Professor Loch "You would probably start supervising in your first year but we wouldn't dump a new Ph.D student on you on your first day. It wouldn't be fair on you or the student. We would want you to find your feet before you have to deal with postgraduate students, you would have some input into the selection of any students you would end up supervising."
"Thank you Professor, I think that is the last of my questions."
Professor Anderson pressed the intercom button "Jane, we are finished with Dr. Koothrappali, if Dr. Binny is out there could you send him in."
A minute later a small bearded Indian man entered the room.
"Hello Arun, this is Dr. Raj Koothrappali, one of the interview candidates. Raj, this is Dr. Arun Binny, one of our postdocs, he will give you a tour of the department."
Raj shook hands with Dr. Binny "Hello Doctor, pleased to meet you, where is home?"
"I'm from Mumbai."
"Delhi".
Raj then shook hands with the interview panel "Thank you gentlemen" before leaving the interview room.
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That evening at Wolfson College Raj had a video chat.
"Hello Mummy and Daddy, I am in Cambridge, what a day I have had today…."
