Research at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India Ben Sulman '06       The radio telescope at Raman Research Institute. A statue on the Hindu temple at Halebid. An Auto-rickshaw taxi, a convenient way to travel around Bangalore. The view from Shravana Belgola, a Jainist temple and pilgrimage site. The Raman Research Institute (RRI) is a physics research institute funded by the Indian government where grad students, post-docs, and professors research astrophysics, astronomy, liquid crystals, quantum gravity, and optics. Fellow physics student Phil Korngut and I stayed in the guesthouse on the RRI campus. My research involved writing software used to search for pulsars, stars that emit very regular pulses of radio waves. In addition to research, we explored Bangalore, the so-called "Silicon Valley of India," and the surrounding area of the country. We visited several incredible temples, gardens, and other tourist spots. Studying and living at a physics research institute is an amazing experience. Every day we were surrounded by the best researchers in the field, and influential physicists gave talks and seminars on a daily basis. The chance to do real research, even for a short time, is extremely valuable to any physics student, and working with people of the caliber found at RRI is a rare opportunity. For example, one of the visiting professors there during my stay was Claude Nicollier, a Swiss astronaut who flew three Space Shuttle missions, walked in space, and repaired the Hubble Space Telescope. I drank tea and chatted with him! That this research took place in India also added immensely to the experience. We participated in the global physics community and established ties that reach across national boundaries.