Vamshi Konduri & Kalyani Nirmal

How and when did you meet (in relation to your time as an MRSD student)?

We met for the first time on the day we were creating our teams for MRSD! 

Was it love at first sight, or were you too busy with homework to realize until later?

It was definitely NOT love at first sight! Kalyani’s team needed a Mech-E and Vamshi was listed as one, so she asked him if he’d like to join the team – and he promptly said ‘nope’ and just walked away!! She later realized it was because he wanted to focus more on software but it was still a terrible first impression 😀

Did you get a chance for any off-campus dates, or was studying the main activity?

During MRSD we didn’t really interact much. There wasn’t time for much beyond coursework at the time! However, when the 7-month internship began, we suddenly had free time (which we weren’t used to at all)  and ended up exploring a lot of the area in and around campus and Pittsburgh together. Acquaintance turned into friendship and then more 🙂

How has life together been since MRSD?

Life together has been wonderful! Kalyani was in Pittsburgh working for a few years after MRSD while Vamshi had already moved to the Bay Area so there was a lot of traveling back and forth initially. Then we moved to the same state, got married, hiked a lot together, decided we were ready for our next big adventure as a family and became parents!

What did the program teach you about each other that you wouldn’t have known otherwise (or at least not as clearly or early)?

Kalyani: MRSD helped me understand his responses under stress very early – it’s wonderful to have a partner who can stay level headed and think through things under pressure! 

Vamshi: I saw first hand how empathetic and good with people Kalyani was. Definitely something that showed me a glimpse of our future 😀