MTech RA/RAP Admissions 2025

(Last updated on 22/05/2025)

Please follow this page for updates on MTech RA/RAP Admissions to IEOR Department for the 2025 July Semester. Links to the online-registration form for the test, interview meeting links, and other information etc will be posted here. 

Information for RA/RAP Applicants

Several positions are available for 3-Year MTech for Research Assistants through Projects (RAP) candidates. These positions are supported through sponsored projects being undertaken in the department. These projects are in the domains of logistics, supply-chains, operations, digitalization, applications of data-analytics and AI/ML in IEOR and related topics. Two positions are also available for 3-Year MTech Research Assistants (RA). These positions support the functioning of the department labs and other systems. More specific details about the projects are included below. 

Minimum Criteria for candidates to be considered for RA/RAP Admissions: 

Applicants should have applied for M.Tech Program at IEOR, IIT Bombay under RA category. All candidates who meet the above criteria can register for the interview process. You will be required to fill in a few personal and academic details. The candidates will also attempt an aptitude test and submit their solutions. Interview registration and attempting the test is a strict requirement. Please see the schedule below for the link to the form. Out of all candidates who register and submit their aptitude test solutions, at most 40 (or less) will be shortlisted for interview based on their GATE score only. Final shortlisting for admission will be based on interview score which will consider the aptitude test performance also. 

Aptitude Test

We test both APTITUDE and QUANTITATIVE skills. Besides these general skills, we also test knowledge in the topics from (but not limited to) the list below. 

• Basic mathematics at the level of B.E./B.Tech.
  • Elementary probability and statistics, conditional probability,  random variables, expectation and variance
  • Differential calculus, maxima & minima, differential equations
  • Basic linear algebra
  • Permutations, combinations and counting
• Notion of algorithms and flowcharts
• Topics in  Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, for example
  • Optimization, linear programming
  • Network flows and related models
  • Basics of queueing theory

Some questions may require reading and understanding a provided reading material concerning a specific project and modeling/coding/developing a simple solution approach. 

Schedule

Please check below the rules and regulations for RA/RAP position.

• RA and RAP are fulltime MTech for duration of 3 years.

• Candidates admitted under RA/RAP category shall not accept or hold any appointment (paid or otherwise) or  receive any emoluments, salary, stipend from any other source during RAP tenure.

• The continuation of RA/RAP assistantship  will be subject to monthly attendance and satisfactory academic performance

• Candidates admitted under RAP category, against a sponsored R&D project, will be required to work for the same project for 20 hours per week and undertake the M.Tech. dissertation work under the same project investigator(s), and will be considered for a financial assistantships from the sponsored project as per the norms for a period of 36 months.

• Candidates admitted as RA will be considered for financial assistantships of Rs.13,400 (per month), along with annual increments as prescribed by Institute rules, for a maximum period of 36 months subject to serving as a research assistant in a course/laboratory for 20 hours per week as assigned by the concerned academic unit.

• The assistantship will be paid on the basis of monthly attendance.  Assistantships supported through certain projects for RAPs may be higher than the above stipend.

• Employees on the rolls (with or without pay) of any organization are not eligible for admission under RA/RAP category.

• A valid GATE score is mandatory; the interview (and aptitude test) are mandatory for admission in IEOR. Candidates with a bachelor's degree in an undergraduate programme from an IIT with CPI at least 8.0 out 10 are exempt from this requirement.

• See also detailed rules and information about admissions to MTech Programmes in IIT Bombay.

Contact

Please send an e-mail to admissions@ieor.iitb.ac.in or office.ieor@iitb.ac.in regarding any specific queries on M.Tech. RAP/RA Admissions.

List of Projects / Positions Available

[SILO] Smart Indoor Logistics – Enhancing Efficiency, Safety, and Well-Being (RAP): Warehouses and indoor logistics operations rely on real-time, data-driven decision-making to improve efficiency, safety, and workflow management. However, traditional systems often lack intuitive visualization and operator guidance, making tasks like material handling, forklift navigation, and order picking more challenging. This project explores how Mixed Reality (MR) technology, combined with AI and simulation-based analytics, can enhance warehouse operations. The goal is to develop MR-based navigation and task assignment tools, improve decision-making for operators using wearable headsets, and track proficiency and safety through motion analytics. Beyond boosting efficiency and accuracy, this system also considers operator well-being by reducing cognitive overload, simplifying workflows, and minimizing stress and fatigue. By integrating real-time guidance and automation, this solution will not only optimize warehouse performance but also creates a healthier and more focused work environment. Project Supervisor: Saurabh Jain. This project is supported by FedEx ALFA.

[QAQA] Logistics Optimisation Using Quantum Approximate Optimisation Algorithms (RAP): Quantum approximate optimisation algorithms (QAOA) can efficiently find approximate solutions to binary optimisation problems and can outperform classical stochastic search based algorithms in certain situations. Since QAOA type algorithms are particularly well-suited for near-term noisy and small-sized quantum computers and can be further incorporated into hybrid classical-quantum workflows their use for certain classes of logistics optimisation problems merits a careful investigation. This work will apply QAOA approaches in the Gate-model and annealing paradigms of quantum computation to specific scenarios of logistics optimisation to identify potential quantum advantage in this approach. Project Supervisors: Avinash Bhardwaj and Siddhartha Santra. This project is supported by FedEx ALFA.

[CYBER] AI/ML algorithms for Cyber and Network Security (RAP): The Internet has made it convenient to move facilities and operations online so that they can be controlled and accessed remotely. However, this has also made it easy for malicious actors to launch attacks remotely. Especially, critical infrastructure like power grids, nuclear plants, and telecom infrastructure are targets of cyberattacks. Often, attackers try to seek the most vulnerable elements in a network and escalate privileges to move towards the most critical node in the network. Thus, it is important to systematically monitor the entire network for threats proactively. However, the process of monitoring and analysing the logs of elements in the network can be laborious due to their huge volume. Also, malicious actors often deploy evasive strategies and find new ways to exploit the vulnerabilities, making rule-based detection strategies fail. Hence, there is an urgent need to automate the detection and response process that works in real-time and offers high accuracy. The project will aim to develop new threat detection and prevention mechanisms using AI/ML techniques. Project Supervisor: Manjesh Hanawal

[CACO] Computational Approaches for Combinatorial Problems in logistics (RAP): Several planning problems like vehicle routing, network design, crew pairings, rostering and others arise naturally in logistics and related domains. The MTech RA will explore state of the art algorithms for these problems and devise novel methods to solve them. Exploiting multiple cores and possibly GPUs for these approaches can be tried. Practical variants of the approaches depending on problem size and specialized requirements will be developed. Algorithms for both heuristic and exact approaches will be implemented and tested on benchmark instances. Open source Minotaur  toolkit that is developed at IIT Bombay will be used as a base for implementing these methods. Existing routines in the toolkit for solving relaxations, automatic reformulation, branching, presolving etc will be enhanced for these specific problem classes. Project Supervisor: Ashutosh Mahajan. This project is supported by FedEx ALFA.

[LABS] RA for IEOR labs: Responsibilities include assisting IEOR Faculty with developing, updating and supporting UG and PG program labs, curriculum for Digital Enterprise Systems and other labs. Familiarity with digital, electrical and mechanical systems will be preferable. This is an institute RA position, not supported through any other project.

[SYSAD] RA for IEOR system administration: Responsibilities include maintaining IEOR computational and web servers, upgrading hardware, installing & updating software, maintaining the department website, supporting students, staff and faculty in using these systems, assisting in maintaining other systems including printers, wifi, scanners and switches etc. The candidate should be comfortable using and managing computers and other hardware. Familiarity with Linux, good communication skills, analytical and debugging abilities, basic knowledge of networking are desirable. This is an institute RA position, not supported through any other project.