| |
Applied Program: Ph.D. program,
Computer Science, Department of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science
Personal Statement
As
a child who has grown up in a family of scientific researchers,
I have developed a long-standing love for science since
my early childhood and have long wished to make my own achievements
in the field of science and technology. This aspiration
was to some extent fulfilled in November xxxx, a truly defining
year for me in my personal development, when I was invited
to make a presentation at the xxxxxxxxxxx as the author
of the research paper xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. In my presentation,
I proposed the novel idea that relatively high precise position
estimation can be realized through the relatively low-cost
commercial GPS received the unanimous appreciation from
the experts attending the conference. This international
conference experience, while allowing me to savor the initial
sense of achievement, has all the more reinforced my determination
to seek a research career in computer science.
This
achievement, among many others, would have been impossible
without a quality education at the most prestigious university
in China—Tsinghua University—where I have completed my
undergraduate program and am on the verge of completing
my Master’s program, both at the Department of Computer
Science and Technology. During my undergraduate program,
I relied on my strong background in mathematics and physics
that I developed in middle school and on efficacious study
strategies to score a well-above-average academic performance.
I have particularly excelled in such specialized courses
as Principles of Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition,
Hardware Design and Software Debugging. During my Master’s
program, as in my undergraduate program, I have continued
to pay close attention to the theoretical courses in computer
sciences and have been able to speedily react to the most
recent theoretical findings and new methodologies. In the
elitist academic environment of Tsinghua University where
competition is automatically exceedingly fierce, I know
it is gravely inadequate simply to be a good learner. Only
the fast good learner can be the fittest to emerge triumphant
in competition. It is this consistent “Fast-Good-Learning”
principle that has brought me a spate of accolades including
top-level scholarships and academic honors.
As
early as I was a junior student in my undergraduate program,
I had contributed my efforts in the research experiments
on speech recognition, digitalized remote controller of
robots,intelligent battery charger and other projects.
All those experiments initially proved to be major challenges
to me as I discovered that my lack of relevant development
experience put me in a grave disadvantage. To overcome my
inadequacies, I resorted to intensive self-education and
to auditing a lot of specialized courses until I could perform
the experiments independently. In undertaking my graduation
project for my Bachelor’s degree—Intelligent Air Data
Sensors, I exercised my initiative of learning to a fullest
extent. When I found that I lacked in-depth knowledge concerning
the intelligent technology, I immediately set to consult
a large amount of technical literature and within the shortest
possible time mastered all the necessary knowledge regarding
the fuzzy logic. This knowledge enabled me to solve all
the major issues and to considerably enhance the precision
of the sensors, resulting in the panel’s rating of my thesis
as “first-class” for its high quality and innovative research.
In
the course of my Master’s program, my academic interest
and creativity have been brought into full play. Over the
past years, while further modifying and improving the research
on intelligent air data sensors, I have participated in
the project on developing the RoboCup robot design. Working
in a research team, my responsibility in this project was
designing the electronic hardware circuit design of the
robot and its control algorithm. In addition to fulfilling
my own share of responsibilities, I communicated fully with
other team members and the result of those effective communications
was my proposal that distributed control architecture be
adopted and individual processors be used to control the
robot’s motion and communication. With efficient teamwork,
our team, Tsinghua Mars, won the xxxx-Cup Championship of
Chinese Robot Competition xxxx. Subsequent to this project,
I completed the research on the estimation system of unmanned
helicopter based on GPS that I mentioned at the beginning
of this Statement. The air data sensor and the GPS positioning
system that I developed single-handedly have both been applied
in the unmanned aerial vehicle and unmanned helicopter,
playing a vital role in insuring the overall success of
the two unmanned projects. An important award I have won
is the third prize during the xxxx Cup xxxx Creative Electronics
Design Competition of Tsinghua University. My computer software
development skills have been strengthened by the part-time
job as software engineer that I have been working on for
the past five years at the xxxxx Software Co. Ltd. I have
been responsible for developing the application programs
under the embedded Linux operating system, including the
text editor, file manager, desk-top manager and e-mail client
terminal software.
Currently,
I am working on my Master’s dissertation at the State Key
Laboratory of Intelligent Technology and Systems on the
topic of Distributed Interactive Simulation System and Visual
Simulation. The paramount problem I am to work out is the
time management and synchronic management in distributed
system and the simplification method in terrain visualization.
This project is very meaningful to the extent that the simulation
system we develop will promote future control research of
robotics and that all simulation modules can be re-used
and replaced with minimal addition efforts.
In
retrospection of my past academic pursuit, I am very delighted
to find that I have truly plunged myself into the formal
research on computer science and have developed an unswerving
interest in pursuing an academic career in this domain,
specifically in computer application technology and robotics.
In terms of robotics, I am interested in probing into such
issues as the control of the autonomous robot, the application
of artificial intelligence to robots, and the application
of robots to practical purposes. I wish to study how to
make robots act purposefully and successfully in a world
in which almost everything is uncertain. Home to the most
advanced computer technology in the world, the United States
can offer me many fascinating concepts and technologies
in computer science.
A
careful reflection on my background indicates that I am
a good match for UC Berkley as its Department of Electrical
Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) offers curriculum
and research programs that closely correspond to my interest.
Among approximately 85 faculty members, roughly half are
in the Computer Science Division, indicating an almost unparalleled
faculty resource. This is further proved by the fact that
the Department includes 22 members of the National Academy
of Engineering and 9 Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) Fellows. Three faculty have also won the ACM Turing
Award. Under EECS’s Ph.D. program, concentrations cover
analysis of algorithms, artificial intelligence, complexity,
theory of computation, computer architecture, operating
systems, robotics, and computer vision. The robotics study,
in which I am most interested, has reached a leading international
level at EECS. Most importantly, EECS exalts extensive cooperation
among faculty and students within ECS, in related departments
on campus and with other research laboratories in companies.
My own past experience shows me that cooperative research
is vital to any scientific undertaking.
It
is my conviction that the excellence of the faculty and
the breadth of educational opportunities in EECS at Berkley
will expose me to the best education and research training
in my chosen field. In your nurturing environment, my potential
will be developed and my skills honed. I will endeavor to
become an accomplished computer scientist worthy of the
prestige of UC Berkley. |