Sample Statement of Purpose for MS in Electrical Engineering

At a very young age, when wave transmission and guided antennas were words unheard of for me, I wondered about the working of Television and Radio sets and I can very well say that a mystification at such an insignificant age has led to a passion for research thirteen years later. Now, I have actualized that awareness of the aspects of antenna design and identification systems with a strong EMW background would help me innovate and contribute to the active research in my chosen area of specialization Radio Frequency Identification Systems. Ever since my school years I have been the recipient of Proficiency prizes for consistent performance, be it topping my class in academics and completing my schooling with full scholarship or fetching accolades to my school by winning various academic competitions all over TamilNadu state. My hard work and perseverance paid off when I was assured a seat in Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, one of the top 5 engineering colleges in India, by securing 13th rank in the whole of TamilNadu State. My undergraduate years in BITS, Pilani most definitely contributed to my shaping into an individual with a compounded attitude for excellence. The Electronics Engineering curriculum comprising of courses like Microprocessor Design and Computer Architecture and Micro-Electronics and Computer Organization impressed upon me the significance of creatively maneuvering elementary concepts. A natural inclination towards electronics made me compete with the best of brains from all over India and perform exceedingly well in the compulsory discipline courses and my Junior-Senior GPA bears testimony to the fact. My unique interest in RF Electronics and my passion for the subject helped me to be chosen for the Lab oriented project on Design Considerations and Trade-offs for RFID Antenna design and Study on Fractal RFID antennas in my junior year. This project enkindled me to grasp the fundamental concepts in RF using tools like HFSS which steered me to informally attend Electro Magnetic Fields and Waves course which few students in my class embarked to do. Accordingly, I opted for an Internship in Honeywell Technology Solutions Laboratory, Bangalore, India (Subsidiary of Honeywell Inc. NJ, USA) which fostered excellent research work in RF Design and development. I had the rare opportunity to associate myself with two very significant projects. Design and implementation of a Short Range RFID system with Passive HITAG transponders for Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., gave me the necessary exposure on developing RFID systems and allied applications and helped me venture into research work on EPC Compliant RFID Devices. Design and deployment of firmware and software for Long Range RFID systems using Active ELPAS Tags over Eiris server

operating on LON Protocol aided me to pursue research on RFID Technology for Distributed systems. My outstanding contribution and hard work made me an indispensable member of RFID research Team in Honeywell. These recognitions have instilled deep confidence in me and motivated me to explore the field more and delve further into research. The comfort that I found in working on RF Devices and Design and the experience I had gathered gave me more than the required confidence to take up the ambitious project on Smart Irrigation Systems, funded by Microsoft Corp, USA. As a part of the wireless Communication Module group I was involved in the design of Microcontroller (Motorola HC series) based control system which involved data transmission/receiving to the RF sensors (pH, Moisture etc.) embedded in the field.

I believe that academic credentials only when complemented with team work and leadership qualities, shape an individuals frame of mind. I had the privilege of being nominated as the President of the Paper Evaluation and Presentation Team during the All India Academic Festival (APOGEE) held annually in BITS, Pilani. This served as an enlightening phase in which I had the rare opportunity to interact with top notch students from all over India. I also take pride in describing myself as an athlete having shown my sportsman skills leading teams through school, under graduate years and in Honeywell. Now, as an Engineer in the Innovation Research and Development Team in Honeywell, I have associated myself with the challenging project based on a novel innovation on Generic Modem Design with Bluetooth Capability for industrial communication protocols (HART/FF/Profibus etc.). I have also been closely associated with real time research in projects like Design of low cost RFID Systems where I directed my focus in Antenna & Tag Design and also coding the Devices Drivers and Software APIs for interaction with the RFID readers in the process of which I finally decided on RF Antenna, Devices Design as my research platform. Having done an inspiring four year course work in electronics I would like to waste no time in putting this knowledge garnered to pursue Masters in Electrical Engineering (With Thesis) and contribute to the research in RF and allied fields. I have observed that the research work at your university is akin to my interests. I am fully confident that my research experience combined with my unbounded enthusiasm would enable me to contribute productively to the active research work in your University. I am completely assured that ---University will definitely help me in my pursuit for technical expertise and it is my desire that, when I am sixty years old, I may look back at -------University as my dear alma mater that helped me achieve my dreams.