Hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe.

I am writing this to put forward my story since I have been in US as an international student.

I came to US to do my masters in Systems Engineering in Fall 2016. Having always had an interest in Robotics, Machine Learning & Computer Vision - I moved to M.E degree in Robotics at the end of Fall 2016. 1-1/2 years later, I graduated with my M.E in Robotics. That is when, it seems my life took a turn to the worse. I did not have any work experience and most companies felt my profile did not suit their needs. I have struggled for 1 year during my OPT to find a permanent position before I ended up getting an opportunity to do my PhD in Robotics & Machine Learning.

Joined PhD in Summer 2019. Another year of struggle again because of the differences in research interests which is perfectly understandable and as far as I read happens sometimes in PhD. So, I moved to another Professor who is working in BO, ML and RL. After 9 months of enjoying my work, loving what I did - my current advisor tells me he is moving to another University and he cannot take me along(because I lack rigorous mathematical background). We submitted 2 papers in this years time(1 rejected & 1 in review) and now this happens. I finished all my coursework and also preliminary exam.

Now, I have another 45 days and these are my options: 1. Find another advisor: Seems like the best option. Doesn’t it? Unfortunately, 2 professors did not want to work with me. What are the chances that another professor will take me? Next to none. I just want someone to trust me to do things right and get stuff working. Every year - I have had to struggle and constantly worry about these insecurities. 2. Find an employer who is willing to sponsor me H1-B visa on cap-exempt. Not so easy considering the pandemic. 3. Go back to India.

I certainly do not have any grudges on any advisors but makes you wonder if I am the bad person in this case. Everything happens for a reason. All I wanted was to work hard, do stuff right and most important, keep my family happy.

At this point of time, the only choice I can honestly see is going back to India(because advisors are getting most of their students back and do not intend to recruit at this time).

I am putting my story out on HackerNews because of 2 reasons: 1. I wanted to just write it out and post the struggles of an international student. I completely understand mine is a unique situation and not everyone faces what I do. 2. I was hoping someone notices me, hopefully extend a lending hand and actually believe in me.

I need some help guys.

Regards, Harshvardhan Uppaluru Link to my Resume: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t912aa6P8tWhMYLj7JO2AQcpzZZu7l4_/view?usp=sharing

Any comments/suggestions are helpful. Thank you.

Please wear a mask! :)