Formats of sop letters

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE


Ashwin Kumar
For M.S. (MECHANICAL ENGINEERING)

I always believed in one thing that the knowledge I have is just a drop in a big ocean. My education so far has helped me to realize my goals and I feel my real struggle to achieve it starts now. My career objective is to pursue research in an innovative and exciting area at the cutting edge of technology and to use the results of research to improve and optimize existing as well as design and develop new ones. It is after a good deal of thought and self-evaluation that I have decided to pursue a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering in the United States.

I have completed my Bachelor’s Degree with Mechanical engineering as my discipline from M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Technology; Bangalore affiliated to VISVESWARAIAH TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY in July, 2006. The realization of the extent to which Industrial Engineering can make a difference in today’s complex manufacturing activities came about during my working on a project in Hindustan Aeronautics limited (HAL). HAL is a defense establishment which manufactures aircrafts and helicopters for the Indian air force. I worked in the helicopter division and here I was exposed to various manufacturing systems and production techniques. My work has reinforced my confidence in my technical skills and ability to think independently, and helped me identify the need to be at the cutting edge of technology. Moreover, it has convinced me of the importance of higher engineering education in enhancing my skills as an engineer and in attaining my goal of working as an empowered professional in the industry.

In my seventh semester, I presented a seminar on Dacrotizing. The Seminar was named “Prevention of corrosion and Hydrogen Embrittlement in metals using Dacrotizing”. The seminar highlighted the effects of corrosion and Hydrogen Embrittlement and the techniques used to prevent it from occurring in metallic components like screws and nuts, which are critical components in most mechanical systems. This seminar also investigated the process of Dacrotizing which involves the application of zinc and aluminum coating on a metal which leads to the complete prevention of corrosion and Hydrogen Embrittlement in metals. The reason for choosing a topic like Dacrotizing was due to the fact that the industry faces huge losses due to corrosion of metallic components. If processes like Dacrotizing are developed and introduced into the production environment, there will be reduction in losses and hence increase in profit.

In the 8th semester of my engineering, I was involved in a project at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The project was named “Improving the efficiency of the main gear box test rig by design modification of the Thrust Loading assembly”. The main gear box test rig is used mainly to test the gear box of the advanced light helicopter (ALH) manufactured by HAL. The project was conducted at the Rotary Wing research and design centre at HAL, Bangalore. We improved the previous design of the thrust loading assembly of the test rig which lead to immense reduction in the inspection, maintenance and hence the testing time. Our designs were accepted by HAL and the modifications have been done. The new designs led to the increase in production, decrease in lead time, and also increase in the efficiency of the test rig.

In the sixth semester of my engineering degree, I got selected in Infosys Technologies Limited which was the first company to visit our campus. Infosys is one of the biggest software companies in India and the first one from India to get listed on NASDAQ. I always had an inclination towards doing something related to software sometime in my life and I grabbed this opportunity with both hands. I underwent a rigorous training at Infosys for four months during which I learnt a lot of new technologies like ASP.NET, ADO.NET and MS-SQL Server 2000 and C#. My CGPA is 4.57 out of 5 and this made me eligible for the maximum training and performance based incentive (TPI) of 12.5%. After the training, I got allocated to an Integrated Business Unit of my choice – Resources, Energy and Utilities (REUD). I’ll be working for various clients like Schlumberger, Dupont, British Petroleum and Southern California Edison to name a few. This has given me an opportunity to work in the corporate environment, which will lead to a better understanding of the industry. I plan to apply all these technologies that I have learnt in someway or the other in my future endeavors.

In summary, I see myself as a multi-faceted person with a diverse range of abilities, with strong logical and analytical faculties, and the resilience to work well under every situation. It would be a privilege for me to be a part of the Mechanical Engineering fraternity at University of Maryland, since working under your distinguished faculty and being involved in the research projects there would be an invaluable learning experience. Therefore, I eagerly look forward to the challenges of the Graduate Program at your University in the fall semester of 2007.