Collaborating with professors after graduation

Question

As I mentioned in the title, I was wondering if it's possible to collaborate with professors on any research paper if I have graduated and now working in the industry?

Here are a bit more details on why am I asking this and maybe you can provide alternatives too: While in college, I wasn't very active in academics and I also changed my stream (From Chemical Engineering to Data Science) after graduation. So needless to say that I never existed as far as the professors were concerned. But now I have done a lot more work and currently aiming for an MS/Ph.D. in the Data Science field. But one thing that keeps coming back is a recommendation letter from Professors.

I believe that if I have a few publications in my name, it'll make my profile much stronger but it'll add even more value if it's in collaboration with college professors. Not only will I get a research paper, but I'll also have a good recommendation. So I was wondering if it's even possible to collaborate with them since now I'm not a student anymore? If yes, then in what capacity, do I approach the professors?

P.S. I know that I can reach out to college professors for a recommendation without collaboration but those letters will be very generic. I have much higher aspirations and I need to have a very strong recommendation letter, and the only way to do that is to work with a professor.

Edit: I'm from India

Answer 1

It is absolutely possible in principle. What I wonder in your case is what do you have to make it attractive for the professor? I as the professor surely wouldn't be interested in collaborating with somebody in order to make their profile stronger or give them a better recommendation. What do you have to offer that is attractive for the professor? An idea? Access to industry money? Interesting data or an interesting problem?

I am a statistician and have been involved in projects where I was contacted by people from industry who wanted my statistical help dealing with their data, in some cases with potential to publish together, and/or pay. When I liked the problem and had some spare time for this, I did it. Actually in many places industry collaboration also can make the professor's CV stronger or give them a relevant recommendation letter applying for grant money and the like.

Edit, replying to the first comment: The situation is somewhat different if rather than having something to offer that the professor doesn't have (like data, money, or some relevant expertise in a different field or of the background of an industry project) you want to work in the professor's area on their problems. Personally I'd be rather skeptical of such a thing, because it is somewhat risky to have somebody working for me whom I don't know and who has no contractual obligation to do that, so I may invest some time but finally results/a publication may not materialise.

Note that "the professor's projects" can have various shapes. They may have money, a group and a work plan to which they may be committed (including contractual obligations), which doesn't give anybody from outside the chance to just jump in. On the other hand, they also may have some flexibility to do spontaneous projects (as I can do working on industry projects). I can imagine positive responses particularly in case that you propose something interesting enough that the professor can see your competence and expertise. The prospect of having a collaborative publication with just giving occasional input in quite limited time may be attractive for some. Also there are young researchers who need to build up a better list of publications themselves, without already having research students or a team, who may grab such an opportunity. My subjective probability for getting a positive response would be far lower than 50%, but getting one out of ten attempts or so doesn't seem unrealistic. The best way is maybe to propose something specific related to their interests, and if your letter/email looks good and competent enough for them, you may have a chance.