To Princeton University - Personal Statement Example

Required: Personal ment Please write a ment of your academic and future career plans as they relate to the Princeton department to which you are applying. In doing so, please cite relevant academic, personal, and professional experiences that motivate you to apply for a graduate degree here. Your statement should not exceed 1,000 words and must be written in English. Be sure to include your Full Name, Date of Birth, and Department on each page of your document. All supporting materials must be received by the application deadline. Materials received after the deadline date may adversely affect the evaluation of your application. Please make sure to add a 1 1/5 inches top margin to each page of your uploaded document. Statement: My inquisitive mind, I believe, is the reason for my inclination towards sciences, especially engineering and research in particular, which has immensely shaped my career. I have been involved directly with chemical engineering over the last four years and have been greatly motivated to pursue a career in chemical engineering research. The chemical engineering coursework which I did for my undergraduate studies gave impetus to my strong desire in me towards research in engineering. The core courses in chemical engineering such as Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics, Chemical Reaction Engineering and transport phenomena along with the course on Unit Operations have given me a basic foundation of knowledge in chemical engineering. I have worked on various research projects and have come to conclude that the effort and resources spent in conducting research on product development is worthwhile only if there is benefit to the consumers. It is against this background that I seek to embark on studies to improve my research skills in a bid to contribute meaningfully to the society and economy. I therefore decided to integrate my research in chemical engineering with many business related courses as much as possible especially with a bias towards economics to develop a sound understanding of economic impacts on conducting research on product development. Thus, I was motivated to complete courses like Economics, Managerial Economics as well as Financing Economic Development. I have experience in conducting research and my first major project was at Unilever Research India Limited, one of India’s most respected companies in the FMCG sector. I was among one of the privileged top five students in the chemical engineering department selected to participate in the project. Their Department of Corporate Research focuses on developing existing commercial products currently on the market or developing new ones. My project involved increasing the dirt removing power of a detergent, using a novel proprietary technique. It was an interdisciplinary project, involving experts from chemical engineering, experimental physics (for instrumentation), and computer science (software). I learnt experimental skills necessary to operate QCA and collect data using QCA again as well as analyzing it. This automated technique helped in reducing time and cost. More significantly, I grasped how research transforms a concept from the laboratory experiment into a consumer product in the market. I also understood the importance of saving time as well as money while doing research as more money one invests into the research projects will contribute to the final cost which can thus lower profits. However, in doing so, we had to keep the costs as low as possible. So, we used the already available systems, and made them compatible to QCA. Saving time is advantageous as the product would go into the market earlier meaning lesser competition. It is against this background that I would like to merge research in chemical engineering and business studies as a way of empowering my knowledge base about designing products that would be viable and competitive in the market. At the University of Oklahoma, I studied the reaction kinetics of the deoxygenation of methyl stearate. My job was to run the reaction and analyze the reaction mixture at various time intervals in order to measure concentrations as a function of time, rate of reaction and then the reaction rate constant and finally activation energies. The products involved were so many, as a result the team was not able to deal with the stoichiometry hence they could not find the correct rates. I dedicated myself to find a solution to that problem. Finally, I figured out that the problem was with the analysis of the GC data which was a milestone achievement on my part. As a result of the interest I had developed in colloidal science at Unilever Research and because of my interest in computer simulation, I decided to work on a related topic for my undergraduate research project titled, “Self Assembly of AOT Surfactant in Oil-Water System.” It is essentially a computer simulation study and the technique used for the simulation was Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD). I happened to be the first person in our research group to use DPD simulation for colloidal systems under consideration as previous studies were done using MD simulations. This made the task more challenging and interesting to tackle which was a great incentive to me. After graduation, I am presently working on a project on the optimization of the intravenous delivery rate of chemotherapeutic agents in order to maximize the apoptosis of cancerous cells that has acted as my introduction to the field of optimization theory and its application to highly complex systems like the biological system. My research experience has been very exciting and instrumental in my decision to pursue chemical engineering related to business analysis. I believe that the graduate school will enhance my knowledge base, improve my experimental and computational skills, and allow me to build up research experience while encouraging me to conduct innovative research. I should also emphasize that the experience I gained working at Uniliver coupled with knowledge gained from my undergraduate research project, both form a solid foundation in my interest to pursue research in Chemical engineering especially in colloidal science that encompasses biomedical engineering, optimization theory and simulation as well as business studies as I find these interesting and full of opportunities to learn new things. I am confident that Princeton University as a renowned institution, will offer me a unique opportunity to fulfill my professional commitment and develop personally as an individual. The Chemical Engineering Department at Princeton University is one of the finest in the world and is involved in cutting edge research and getting an opportunity to be a part of this will be a privilege. I particularly look forward to interact with various experts from many different fields in a bid to broaden my knowledge. The rich intellectually stimulating vibrant environment at Princeton University and the state–of-the-art infrastructural facilities available will provide me with opportunities to work with and learn from the best of experts and allow me to work towards fulfilling my potential for creative and useful research. Required: Additional Information Please use this page for any additional information that was not captured within your application. If you feel youve already provided us with sufficient information about yourself, you need not add anything here. All supporting materials must be received by the application deadline. Materials received after the deadline date may adversely affect the evaluation of your application. Please make sure to add a 1 1/5 inches top margin to each page of your uploaded document. Addendum: Originally, I belong to an urban Indian middle class family and I am a native of Maharashtra, India. I was born and bred in the city of Thane, India and my family comprises of my parents and a younger sister. My father is employed in government service and my mother is a homemaker. I did my schooling up to high school level in Thane, India. Thereafter, I moved to Bombay to pursue studies in chemical engineering at IIT Bombay. I was fortunate enough to have the privilege of being taught by very good teachers who always emphasized the importance of understanding the concepts and fundamentals of any subject before applying them. I was greatly inspired by my studies to further my academic and personal achievements. My experience at IIT Bombay marked a turning point in my life. It exposed me to various issues faced by society at large both technologically and socially. I also have broad interests encompassing various fields including Finance and Economics. So in addition to Core Economics course, I took elective courses like Managerial Economics and Financing Economic Development. I had the privilege of attending seminars that were conducted by various influential captains of industry in different fields like academia and research, business, NGOs as well as social welfare organizations. Most of them were organized by the S. J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay and presentations were made by renowned characters like Dr. Alan McDiarmid, Nobel Laureate Chemistry (2000), Mr. Anand Mahindra (Chairman and MD of the Mahindra and Mahindra), Dr. Muhammad Younis, Nobel laureate Economics and others. I benefited greatly as these have improved my understanding of business analysis. This has helped me become cogniscent of the issues that often affect the society as well as gain knowledge vital in solving the problems of the society. My internships at Unilever Research, Bangalore, India and at the University of Oklahoma, USA, as well as the work at IIT Bombay itself, have given me the opportunity to interact with different people from diverse backgrounds and cultures as part of the team, which has broadened my vision as well as knowledge base and has helped me to be able to incorporate different cultural perspectives and viewpoints from different people. Maintaining a balance between academics and extra curricular activities has greatly improved my ability to know the importance of time management and planning. I have also realized the qualities it takes for an individual to become an asset to a social entity like a university without compromising on his individuality. Campus life and group work have groomed me to be an active team player. Education has enlightened me on the importance of various facets of life such as curiosity, punctuality, desire for knowledge, focus, skill, concentration, communication as well as patience and how they can positively impact on life. My education has been humble but very enlightening on various aspects of life. I am closely attached to my family and we share a very strong bond. My parents have been my best teachers and critics as well and living away from home has taught me the importance of responsibility. My upbringing has enabled me to adapt to both modern and traditional ideas, allowing me to make informed decisions on what is best for me. By virtue of observation, I have gained a lot of experience on of the lives of people around me who have helped me realize the significance of having a vision – an image of the future. Such visions have often greatly helped me towards setting goals and help taking decisions that are solid. In retrospect, my experience has greatly shaped me in a unique way. It has taught me the importance of identity in particular and the significance of having a vision. I have drawn immensely from these experiences in terms of values, morals and I believe these would immensely contribute towards adapting to diversity at the Princeton University. I have an avid interest in reading books in English or Marathi. I especially enjoy reading fiction and non fiction novels, classics as well as various other types of books on Indian art, economics, psychology, sociology and politics. However, Feynman’s lectures inspired me to consider research as an interesting field. Morrison Boyd also motivated me by showing how a theory develops from experiments. I used to play harmonium, a traditional Indian musical instrument similar to a piano, while still at school. I was very much delighted to find that at IIT Bombay, that one had choice to join an extra curricular activity for one year and could formally learn music under an instructor. I registered for playing piano. I love listening to classical Hindustani music. I enjoy listening Beethoven’s symphonies and Brahms. My favourite singers include Bhimsen Joshi as well as Norah Jones. I love playing table tennis and swimming during my leisure time or just taking nature walks into the countryside. Read More