Sample Statement of Purpose for CS and EE
Statement by a student from India (12/2002)
The Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Student
“Conceiving ideas and developing
systems that deliver that promise” is a personal goal that I have
set for myself. When translated into actions this goal has
reinforced my belief in leadership through creativity.
As a student in high school I had the idea of a drip irrigation
system by a windmill. Using some old hose pipes, plastic tubes and a
pulley arrangement I developed the model. This model won the gold
medal at the prestigious Indian National science congress. While
still in the third year of undergraduate program in Engineering I
became the Technical consultant for a start up company. My technical
idea won the first prize at Eureka 50K, India’s first Business Plan
competition. For the past two and a half years I have been working
in XXX corporation. The will to learn and the ability to spend long
hours of cerebration on trouble shooting have made me a dependable
team player.
Today as a 24-year-old individual I perceive that life for me has
been a process of conscious evolution. The most integral part of
this growth is the value system imbibed in me by my parents,
teachers and my mentors and an intrigued liking for science. This
played a vital role in my decision making for the future. As I
finished high school I was selected for the Indian Naval Academy
with merit ranking in the Top 25 in the country. However my liking
for science guided me into pursuing a Bachelor degree in Electrical
Electronics and Power (EEP) Engineering. This decision gave me ample
opportunity to consolidate my creative energies and harness my
technical aptitude.
In college, I always enjoyed long hours in the labs. It gave me the
opportunity to correlate theory to practical phenomena. This in turn
gave me a better understanding of the subject and newer lines of
thinking. The course in EEP covered a wide panorama of subjects.
Besides the core Electrical Engineering subjects I also studied
major electronics subjects like electronic devices and circuits,
Linear Integrated Circuits and Pulse and Digital switching circuits.
I learnt programming in ANSI C and by the time I was in final year I
developed a fair amount of expertise writing complex pieces of code.
In the third year of my engineering studies I was introduced to the
subject of Control Systems. The first session in the labs was
devoted to developing simple programs for a Simatic PLC. A
combination of AND, OR blocks generating a complete control circuit
for a motor fascinated me. I took up an internship in the Controls
Lab and got to interact with Prof. A, a professor of great repute in
the field of Automation and Controls. He introduced me to the
synergies of Information technology and Automation systems. Under
his guidance I completed the thesis in PC based Load Flow Analysis
and also worked with the Mechanical Dept for PC based control of
Robotic Arm.
Working on the projects gave me a sound technical base. But the
greatest advantage of involving myself in these activities was that
I developed the ability to multi-task effectively. Besides the
college academics I was actively involved in the extra-curricular
activities. I represented my college at state level Table Tennis and
Debate competitions. I wanted to self-finance my education and
worked part-time. I was also an active amateur environmentalist. The
driving force behind all this was my aim to develop all the facets
of my personality. In this process I could not achieve the grades I
wanted to in the first and second year. But soon I garnered the
skill of judicious allocation of time and energy. I did well in the
third year and final year of Engineering. Moreover I do not feel
that the marks I scored are the sole indicators of my understanding
of the subject. A cogent reason to augment my belief is the final
year of my engineering.
XX ( my present employer) visited the college campus and offered me
a job in the area of Process Automation and MES. I was among the
twenty candidates selected from the best institutes across the
country. I passed the six rounds of technical and personal
interviews and I was the only student to be selected from the
college. I decided to take up the job. For me it meant a chance to
apply the knowledge gained so far in Controls and Automation systems
and gain some industrial exposure. Besides this the job can help
finance some part of my future education.
Unlike the milieu of the college, the corporate environment was very
much different. The concept of learning on the job, accountability
for the work at hand, conformance to in- housework flow standards
gave me a greater focus. The most challenging aspect however was the
rate of the learning, which was immense. In one year I developed
competence in Real - time Energy management solutions. As part of my
first project I developed software for Energy Management in a Cement
Plant. The concept was based on the collection of Real-time Data
from the DCS (Digital Control System) and populating a Database.
With a certain degree of intelligence built into the software energy
saving in the Cement unit was as high as 5%. This was a solution
implemented for the first time by XX corporation in a Cement Plant.
In recognition of my work I was selected as a team member for the
deployment of the XX Industrial IT platform solutions.
I deployed solutions in the field of Statistical Process control and
Asset Optimization in Metals and Cement Industries. During these
projects I got to interact with the R&D teams in XX and I also went
through some research papers in my leisure time. The experience
gained in the deployment of solutions and interaction with the
technical teams of customers gave me a new insight. I realized that
the business process decision making and the technical processes are
not integrated in Real time. Although solutions like ERP aim to
achieve this goal, information still exists in islands. In order to
seamlessly integrate these areas a new architecture that links
Automation systems and MES solutions needs to be developed. However
this calls for comprehensive research. I cannot pursue this idea
while still in a job. Besides an academic program under the guidance
of able professors would help me identify my specific research
interests. Hence I have decided to pursue my Master degree in a
research-focused environment.
The Center for Intelligent Machines Industrial Automation Lab at YY
offers the best courses in this domain. The application driven
research and development carried out in this lab coheres to my
liking. I would like to carry out my research under the guidance of
Prof. B. I believe that under his supervision I can proactively
contribute to the work done in the Lab. His areas of work are of
great interest to me and I believe that I can prove to be an
effective and reliable team member in carrying out cutting edge
research in this domain.
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