The worst professor I ever studied from. He is seldom available for doubts and provides minimum advising on any doubts raised in the class. Always vague in his explanations and is always late (sometimes, the classes had to be shifted by an hour). 80% of the content was taught by his TAs (= new grad students).

He is the worse professor/adviser in the dept. His approach to advising is, "I give you a rope long enough to do what you need to, or you can hang yourself with it." Never defines in writing your thesis topic, rather switches it when you're done with the work. Forget about getting published...he uses YOUR work for his company & patents, w/o you.

I would strongly advise against choosing this professor as a mentor/adviser. His countless histrionics and complete lack of advising apart, he is a master of disinformation and self-aggrandizement. Most of the achievements he brags about while trying to trap potential students to join his group are completely false and unverifiable. Avoid him.

I was working on my masters with him. He kept pushing me to convert to PhD, with a promise of higher stipend. After I converted, he "couldn't recall any such promise". This was one of the many of his outrageously false academic and financial promises. I decided to quit after discovering he was publishing my research without my name on those papers.

Required 2 books, then said only 1 would be used. Did not come to class for 4 classes straight and posted "make up" lectures online without prior warning to the class that this would happen. Posted a massive HW assignment online on a Friday (when we did not have class) due in less than a week and did not send any e-mail notification of it. AVOID!!

His extremely nice demeanor prior to my admissions (he called me every other week to ask my well being!) came off very quickly after I became his graduate student. I was met with yawns and yelling whenever I went to his office. Was never available for a technical discussion or anything related to my thesis. Result: I graduated after 8 yrs.

Didn't show up for 80% of the lectures. For the rest, he wasted entire lecture cracking unlaughable jokes. Gave entire class "Incomplete" (I) grade (not sure how the university allowed this!). Ask'd us to complete MS-thesis level projects to get proper grade. It took one year to complete this class due to his unreliable and irresponsible conduct.

His role was least like a mentor or adviser and more like a manager (and a poor one at that). Research and publications are hardly a priority in the world of his grand claims of (often, imaginary) achievements. I figured my research had a bleak future if I continued with him any longer. Soon after, I changed my adviser and saved my career.

I was Chandra's student more than a decade ago. I still don't think that I have ever had a worse, uncaring, misleading mentor. The irony is he thinks that he's the best teacher and even makes grand claims how he helps students. I'm now a professor in a technical field, and to this day I consider him as an example of how NOT TO advise grad students!

Made me wast my fellowship by making me work on projects unrelated to my fellowship. Told me my thesis topic is something I should work during "2 AM to 4 AM". Irresponsible and misleading adviser. Stay away from him.

Well, there was neither any advising nor any thesis. So, he gets an F from me on his role as an adviser. Interestingly, he told me not to contact any of his former students who had quit his lab without completing their degrees. Now I know, why he 'advised' me to do so.

I had the most unpleasant experience working with him on my master's thesis. There are serious ethical issues working with this professor: complete lack of advising, persistent teasing on non-academic issues, and messed-up criteria on authorship of your own papers. Avoid him completely!

If Chandra is your adviser, then it is bad as it can get in a graduate program. Basically, take all kinds of bad adviser stories from other PhD programs, and then add some more. You will be on your own in your research and, if you get any good results by chance, he will become the first author on your most important papers!

Chandra really hates teaching and advising, and it shows in how he approaches students. When you would spend hours on a presentation, he would bang away on his email and ignore you. He simply abuses his tenure. He lectured just three classes out of the entire semester. I would not suggest him to worst enemy.

I did a graduate degree with him. In almost every meeting, he would yell at me, refuse to indulge in a technical discussion, disparage my contributions to the projects, threaten loss of funding, and prophesize that I will not get anywhere in my life and career. Finally, I decided to do only Masters with him and took another adviser for my PhD.

Chandra claims to know radar theory in and out, but you can easily disarm him after reading a good textbook. The moment he realizes students are insisting on detailed technical discussions, he goes bonkers and starts yelling and taking his insecurities out on the student. Per Shakespeare, 'more of his conversation would infect your brain'. AVOID!!

Chandra is a total micromanager and control freak. He wanted me to copy him on every email that went out of my inbox, including the ones which were not even related to my research. He would keep odd office hours to meet or not meet at all. He made zero technical contribution to my graduate research work or my thesis. Don't work with this professor.

The professor gave exams with poorly worded and vague questions, refused to discuss why he took off points and didn't post solutions to exams after it was handed back. He treated the class very condescendingly and kept shuttling us around his schedule. Very reluctant to help. Often yells at students during one-one-one meetings just to show he can.

Chandra's behavior is not appropriate for an academic environment. He is inconsistent and unethical. Didn't allow me to publish my papers and used it for his company and patents. Later, I found he presented my work without me. I was unable to complete my degree due to the toxic work environment he created thru repeated threats to spoil my career.

Chandra has an unusual talent in creating the most boring lecture. He simply reads off the slides, and sometimes just murmurs to himself. The only deviation from this script is when he starts picking on his grad students and insulting them in front of other students. I dropped the class after 4 weeks. Colossal waste of time.

Prepare to memorize all equations and formulae. He doesn't care if the equation had nineteen variables or was full margin long. He will simply throw that in the exam and expect you to solve it in 5-10 minutes. You can't get the question unless you cram it all up. His grading favors only those students whom he intends to draft in his research group.

I did my MS, PhD and postdoc with Chandra. Not because I really liked him. But because he would not give write me any recommendation letters if I wanted to study in one of the top schools. This compulsion of working with him was very humiliating, and the 15 years experience took a toll on my physical and mental health. Avoid him if you can.

You want an easy A in this class, take Chandra. But honestly, the class is a joke. It will waste your time and you will have to patiently tolerate his whims. Take Jade or Notaros if you want to actually learn electromagnetics.

Chandra's textbook for the class is terrible with poorly defined notations. The inconsistent notation of his textbook mirrors his own inconsistent temperament. He bursts into yelling at the class if a student asks him a question or probes him further on technical issues.

Slide-based approach. Unclear diction and fake accent. No feedback or discussion on homeworks. An unnecessary tour of his radar, completely unrelated to this theoretical course. Segmented grading - only As, Bs and Cs. No intermediate grades.

I cannot believe a decently respected school could have a professor this terrible. He tries best to give an impression he cares for u. But he just can't help himself. Few months in his lab and the mask comes off when he starts yelling at u, omitting YOUR name 4m YOUR papers and delaying ur thesis exams. Go 2 other professors, do ANYTHING to avoid.

I asked for an appointment, and he shows up thirty minutes late. Venkat does not come on time for class and meetings. I could not ask question about course because then he had to show up somewhere else. Office hours are unusable. The class is hard and his non-teaching makes it more unbearable. Avoid !!

Ginormous waste of talent of students who have the misfortune of working with this guy. His students, if at all, become successful, it is not because of him, but in spite of him. Just pushes students to do clErical and Random work instead of Keeping them focused on research (now form a word with uppercase letters in this sentence).

This is supposed to be a first-level class on radar. There is no textbook that is being followed, even though the prof lists many in the syllabus. So many lectures are skipped because he is on travel or has some meetings magically at the same time. This guy taught only 5 lectures in the entire semester, and left everything else to the class. Avoid!

Chandra rarely meets for thesis discussions. Rarely any of my meeting went by w/o him threatening loss of funding, delay in thesis exam and prophesying that I will not get anywhere in my life. I switched advisers after 3 yrs, was able to complete MS in 6 months and even got admission to a top PhD school. All without any help from him.

Chandra always comes up with an excuse not to have research discussions. Complete waste of your precious time if you are working with him. He is not hands on latest research and would prefer you do some run-of-the-mill work for him.

I do not, under any circumstances, recommend Venkatachalam. He is downright professional; hardly saw him in lectures, his TA did most of the teaching. I wanted to take dsp because I thought it's pretty interesting. But he ruined it for me. Constantly mentions his own achievements that it becomes nauseating to hear after a point.

Chandra is technically always on thin ice. His best shot out of a difficult question in the class is to shout at the student who asked the question. I really prayed that the semester come to an end asap and I would not have to hear his nonsensical lectures.

Chandra is a prof that should be avoided at all costs. He rarely helps students.

I was enrolled for MS degree with Chandra. I spent 3 yrs in the program and completed many research projects. But he would not let me publish my research citing one reason or the other. I had no papers during my entire three years. I changed my adviser and then had 4 high-impact papers in one year. Lesson: Avoid Chandra, unless you are desperate.

Weird guy. Mumbles stuff to himself. He can't teach but nevertheless tries his hand at all important classes. Result is fundamentals of all aspiring EE undergrads are completely destroyed.

The class was horribly managed, like the prof didn't care at all. He taught 512 like a joke; honestly, would have been more prepared not coming to class. In case anyone is wondering, no, he is not any better at other courses (549) too. Don't take classes with him unless you have to. Better off avoiding him even if you wait for another semester.

Uninterested and dismissive of student requirements and requests. Very lousy teaching, mostly he talks to himself. NEVER helpful, teaches from his own book, which sucks. The only person who laughs at his jokes is him. You won't learn anything from him and will have to help yourself.

Not recommended either as a course teacher or a thesis adviser. Forced me into servitude and running his errands and chores in the name of advising. Once done with the project, he was of no help, provided no reference letter and had zero suggestions for future career steps. He relishes only insulting, yelling and messing with students' career.

I took two of Chandra's courses. He was also my graduate program adviser. I am definitive that I have never come across someone so hands-off, unhelpful, inconsistent and spiteful. My discussions with him were pretty much he sarcastically putting me down. We never had any technical conversations.

People are not exaggerating when they say he is bad. You have to be really dumb to not figure it out after spending a semester with him. He would win Olympic medals in a game of bragging about past laurels. Just hot air and no substance. But when it comes to helping students out and shaping their career positively, his record is awful.

Chandra doesn't care about students or teaching. Throughout my graduate program, he met me only 4-5 times for any meaningful discussion. He acts like a playground bully to his students and doesn't take responsibility for anything in the projects. Avoid him if you want to do serious research in a good work environment.

Extremely unorganized prof. His notes are all over the place. More than 1000 slides to remember and focus is on rote learning rather than the concept. Barely does any examples and the ones he does make no sense at all whatsoever! Pray your TA is good if you get this guy.

This prof doesn't know how to write even emails. Puts punctuation randomly. Double quotes around random words are his favorite. So what exactly will you learn from him? Zilch!

Useless class and unhelpful professor. He is never - no kidding, - NEVER available for technical discussions.

Worst class ever. You can complete your education in engineering, if and only if you avoid Chandra's classes completely. He is super-nosy, and will pitch you against somebody to settle his score. Be smart not to buy his talks. Everybody urged me to to completely avoid Chandra's class and research; there is every reason to do so.

He was my thesis adviser. Kept changing my thesis topics and was never available for discussion. Instead of academically motivating me toward research, he would simply shout and humiliate me to get tasks done. Throughout my degree program, he consistently displayed highly parasitic behavior by trying to take credit for all things that I did.

Possibly the biggest flaw among many with this professor is his inability to communicate with his students. He almost seems resistant to help you, refuses to listen to virtually anything you say, because he is constantly interrupting you. I also believe that "caring" isn't a word in his vocabulary. Failing? He won't care.

A very difficult person to work with. He does not provide any "real" help. Only makes promises to lure students into the lab. Once they are in, he treats them like trash and wastes their years, without any tangible output to show while applying for a job in industry or academia. Avoid him.

Avoid. Regardless of grades, he just gives a hard time with no clear goals.

When he is not insulting, ridiculing, or harassing you, he is a bad professor. I had a 10-minute meeting with him on an assignment. He went off on tangents and wasting the whole time to discuss non-academic aspects. Later, he used that same discussion to insult me every time I asked him a question in the class.

Chandra doesn't give two hoots about teaching. has no clue about recent DSP resrch esp. math details. He is good only in politics and projecting his insecurities on students. Be rdy for a lot of yelling, meaningless projcts, 10yrs in grad prgm, authorship issues on papers, zero mentring, gaslighting (google this term), lot of drama, and propaganda.

As adviser, he is unhelpful. When you probe him on this, he sells it as being "hands-off", giving "freedom" to students, etc. The reality is beyond some old/broad concepts, he lacks technical depth. He cannot teach without the aid of slides. He knows this and avoids technical discussions. Any technical discussion with him will reveal this. Avoid!

Spends more time on gossip and shaming students. Yells at students for not answering a question in front of the whole class. Even if you answer all the questions, he would still find a way to shout at you. Shaming students for not producing, not working, not doing is his way of rationalizing his behavior toward students.

Most disorganized, dysfunctional class. Chandra asked us to come up with research projects and did not give any input on those projects. When projects were done, he asked us to set up demos and leave the classroom. Then, he calls other profs in the dept, shows them demos on his own, and desperately hogs the limelight out of the students' hard work!

I had only one meeting with him. I could see all telltale signs of how my PhD could turn out. I thank my stars that I read the reviews here and decided not to work with this prof ever. Thank you all the students for spreading the word about this guy. You are better off without him and his 'fans'.

Chandra has zero appreciation for your hard work. You remain fearful when again he will snap and publicly humiliate you. I workd 80-100 hrs/week bt he pushed me as last author on my own papers. He never provided any tech advice but became 1st author. If you counter him, he spreads rumors abt u and gets other toxic guys in the lab to go after you.

I am surprised why other students complain how to deal with Chandra. It is actually very simple: DO NOT WORK WITH HIM. Look around him for a sec. He admits new students and over-praises them. But those students disappear from the lab and we never hear about them again. Is that not a red flag enough that no one wants to keep in touch with him?

I could go on and on about one of my most awful academic/research experiences ever but I'll just say AVOID ;-)

This prof is NEVER in his office or class. If he shows up at all, he is NEVER on time. Shows total disregard of other people's time and efforts.

Tries to get a lifetime mileage out of one minor nice thing he does for you. He will give you a laptop and then expect you to not oppose when he removes you as a first author on your own paper. He will pay you $200 more per month and expect you to not complain when your PhD goes beyond 8-9 years.

Very obvious that this prof has only superficial knowledge about technical subjects. He is not in touch with the current research advances. He spends all the time talking about people's personal lives than anything about research. He can't even write an email properly but spends a lot of energy and PR to fool people to believe otherwise.

In my meetings with Chandra, I noticed that he consistently tries to gather information about other lab members. He often asks questions like, "What is this student like?" or "What does that student do on weekends?" It's really just petty, time-wasting gossip. There is hardly any discussion about research or my thesis.

Chandra's tendency to harass his (mainly international) grad students has been an open secret for many years. His cruelty contributes nothing to project's progress or motivates the lab. Rather, it leads to student departures, stalled projects, dysfunctional lab, and no impactful publications. It's as if he takes pleasure in sabotaging his own lab.

Steer clear of this guy; he's ruined many lives.

His promises are hollow; he backpedals at the first chance. He lures students with talk of fancy opportunities, then reneges once their work is done, demanding even more.

Was my postdoc "non-advisor". Never replied to any email, contributed nothing to my research, and never acknowledged the acceptance of our papers with a simple "congrats." His lack of engagement and questionable knowledge raise serious concerns about his credibility. Frankly, he relies on taking credit for others' work. Absolute dogsh-ite human.

Desi students should especially avoid Chandra. He has a track record of throwing desi students, desi community, and their interests under the bus to fulfill his narrows interests.

Chandra boasts about graduating 200 MS and 75 PhD students. But CSU ETD database shows ~20 PhD dissertations, many with him as co-advisor. It's no mystery why. In the past 5 years, I've seen a steady exodus with PhD students abandoning their degrees, downgrading to MS, switching advisors/universities, anything to escape the toxic chaos of his lab.

Chandra is like that smooth-talking con artist who lures you in with grand promises. Once you're hooked, he disappears, no calls, no messages, just gone. By the time you realize you've been duped, he's already onto the next unsuspecting victim. In the end, you find out he was never the expert he claimed to be. He is just a sales guy w/o conscience.

He frequently claims to be seeking medical help to 'control' his behavior, yet nothing ever changes. It's baffling why the CoE and department continue to keep him on the payroll despite the numerous student complaints.

Stay away. Be wise enough not to fall for his lies. He has never done a single day of honest research. Speak to students and collaborators from his past, right from the 1980s, esp. those he demonizes. Every one of them carries a story of betrayal, stolen ideas, and academic sabotage.

Worked with him on my thesis for years. Like many others, left with no journal papers. He has severe anger management issues, often overreacts to minor issues, sending harsh emails or calling late at night. More time went into managing his moods than advancing research. Never seen a lab, where the advisor just wastes students' labor and talent.

Be cautious of trusting Chandra. His promises are just tactics to trap you. If your career falters or your PhD drags on, he won't care. Rather, he will make every effort that your problems only exacerbate, giving you 'advice' that is bound to generate additional problems. Don't waste years on someone who views you as disposable.

Chandra's management style is a predictable cycle: he yells, never truly apologizes, then compensates with gestures like conference trips or a few hundred bucks of raise, none of which addresses the core issue. Eventually, it feels like an abusive pattern, where the 'rewards' only add to the stress of anticipating the next outburst.

The standard operating procedure of Chandra (and also of his acolytes) is to make scurrilous accusations and then let you defend it. He is not interested in a meaningful discussion. I'm genuinely baffled by how much of his own time he wastes, despite constantly claiming he's busy, not to mention how much of other people's time he drains too.

He keeps mistreating students, thinking he is above them all. He only stops (but never improves) when you complain against him to Deans, Office of Conflict Resolution, Department Head, etc.

Working with Chandra can be incredibly disheartening. His lab is completely dysfunctional mainly because he does not take responsibility for anything. He frequently redirects blame to others. His typical response is to claim he has no recollection of previous discussions. When you press him further, he throws tantrums and starts shouting.

Wasted both his time and mine during 8 yrs of my PhD with endless detours and mis-advising. Every time I pushed for a serious thesis discussion, he'd deflect by calling unrelated lab meetings, pushing random collaborators to my thesis, only to later criticize me based on their feedback! Created confusion and undermined any sense of direction.

Chandra exerts control by prying into your personal life, relationships, family, background, and later weaponizes that information. Disagree with him, and he resorts to intimidation, delays graduation, and blocks progress. It's no coincidence PhD students in his lab routinely take 10 years to finish, even when they have a prior MS degree.

Chandra has deliberately created a very hostile and dysfunctional lab culture, where senior students frequently mistreat newcomers. They withhold help, pretend to collaborate, and undermine peers by speaking negatively about them to Chandra, all behavior that he implicitly encourages.

Considers everyone inferior to himself. And regularly and constantly tries to put you in your place via exerting power in your daily routine, back-handed compliments, offensive remarks, belittlement, negative projection, and outrightly harming your academic career. Sooner or later, most of his students catch on to his games and leave the lab.

Chandra does not take responsibility for anything. He is always looking to deflect the blame on students. Esp. if you are an international desi student, then he will discriminate against you and use you as his errand boy. In the end, there will be no rewards and he will mock and insult you after he has delayed your PhD by 10 years.

Blatantly disregards others' time. Chronically late and dismissive, especially toward international students. Derails lectures with irrelevant rants and off-color jokes. Cold, rigid, and apathetic. Shows no interest in teaching or supporting students but makes claims otherwise. Avoid if you value fairness, empathy, or even basic professionalism.

Regularly gaslights you with talk of trust, respect, and how he'll “guide you to success”, all while demanding unquestioning compliance. But his hypocrisy is obvious when you learn how he treated his own PhD advisor, Prof. Bringi: appropriated his research and book, then smeared him publicly.

This professor is impossible to work with. If you send updates and push for research discussions, you're labeled “difficult.” When you start figuring out solutions on your own, then you're “passive-aggressive.” But if you wait for his guidance, he goes silent and wastes your time. You can't win.

Crude, volatile, and technically mediocre. Contributes little to academic discourse beyond bluster and condescension. Mistakes hostility for rigor and status for merit. Unless you enjoy time and energy draining conflicts, there is no point in engaging with him. If you're already his student, get out while you still can.

Spends more time in arguing, scheming, plotting against his own students than any real scholarly work, thesis discussions, and research. He writes emails like a middle school grader but wants you to believe he wrote books, papers, and proposals himself.

I wish CSU and ECE had confronted Chandra by giving him a harder-to-digest but necessary reckoning all these years, especially after numerous student complaints and repeated reports of harassment. It's shameful that silence prevailed, driving many bright and aspiring weather radar researchers out of the field simply for daring to speak up.

That CSU bestowed "distinguished professor" on him is a cruel joke on students he harassed, bullied, and silenced through threats. Everybody knows that he contributes nothing of substance himself. His "work" thrives on exploiting international students, whose efforts he shamelessly claims as his own. If anything, he's a "distinguished pretender".

Working with Chandra follows the usual cycle of cruelty and abuse with brief intervening periods when he is nice to you. This confuses his students into thinking that perhaps they are asking for too much and that he is such a nice person. But, in effect, it is just emotional abuse designed to ensure you don't quit his lab.

He writes all the equations on board without explaining them. Exam question are not application oriented. I didnt get inspired by his lectures. If you love this subject and you can read a book then do it yourself.