Mechanical Engineering/Statement of purpose-5

                                 I desire to pursue graduate studies at Texas A&M University, College Station in the field of Thermal/Fluid systems. I would like to use the knowledge gained from my graduate study to add enduring value to the society, either as a team member of a research group in the industry or as a professor in a revered university.

      The desire to prove myself by doing a bit extra was sown long before my undergraduate years. During my schooling, driven by curiosity, I used to solve problems in mathematics, which were not part of the regular curricula. My fascination for mechanical devices and probing into its underlying fundamentals and principles naturally led me to choose the Mechanical Engineering stream at the undergraduate level at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. I pursued this passion even at IIT Madras, by winning prizes in hands-on competitions like “Mech Things Work” and “Aero-Modelling”.

       The conviction that I can stretch myself when the need arises, prompted me to take up projects during my undergraduate years, to enhance the knowledge gained in the classroom. The versatility of Mechanical Engineering drove me to do these projects in its diverse realms, ranging from interfacing Finite Element Analysis packages, to doing basic research work in the inter-disciplinary field of dispersed media. During my freshman year summer vacation, I underwent industrial training at Tecumseh, manufacturers of hermetically sealed compressors for refrigeration and air-conditioning applications.

During the summer after the sophomore year, to pursue my growing interest in the various facets of Mechanical Engineering, I did a project for the French major G.E. Alstom. The endeavor gave me an opportunity to put my theoretical knowledge to practical use. In the midst of the project, we encountered difficulties in importing a cam, modelled in ProEngineer2000i², into the multi-body dynamics software ADAMS. The fact that I was able to solve the problem ahead of the ADAM’s technical support group gave me immense satisfaction.

         During my junior year I was involved in interfacing two FEA packages: Hypermesh and FEAP. The programming experience gave me an insight into the background of computational engineering software packages. This, combined with a course in Finite Element Analysis, gave me sufficient grasp of the fundamentals of solving complicated real life problems, using the concept of discretization. Later, I was able to extrapolate it to Finite Volume Methods.

The course in Heat transfer gave me insights into the immense scope for research in Mechanical Engineering. In my junior year, besides programming, I engaged myself in basic research in Heat transfer, to pursue my curiosity in the field of thermal conductivity of dispersed media. The proceedings of the research work are being sent to a journal under the title “An Accurate Unit Cube Model for the Physical Properties of Disperse Media.”

         My interest in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) was initiated during the course on “Air Breathing Engines”. This was further strengthened during my summer internship at the CFD department in Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited, Corporate R&D center, Hyderabad, India. I was endowed with the responsibility of handling one of their ongoing projects in which a completely unfamiliar simulation package was to be used. This experience strengthened my understanding of solid and flow region modelling and modelling of radiation, turbulence and combustion phenomena.

From the understanding gained from the plethora of projects and courses like Heat Transfer and Air Breathing Engines done during my undergraduate years, I have narrowed down my focus to thermal sciences and fluid dynamics, especially to application of computational methods in these fields. To gain further insight into my areas of interest, I am presently working on “Numerical Simulation of flow over serrated fins” in a finned air-cooler, as part of my undergraduate honors project.

With a CGPA of 3.75(/4.00) in the credited courses pertaining to thermal sciences and fluid mechanics at IIT Madras, I have acquired a firm grip on the fundamental concepts and their application to areas like Internal Combustion, Air Breathing Engines and Power Plants. My proficiency in modelling is brought to the fore by my CGPA of 4.0(/4.0) in the three engineering drawing courses, wherein we were exposed to CAD with a special emphasis on 3-D modelling with ProEngineer2000i².

In all my undertakings, I have worked with various people, including my peers and researchers at IIT Madras as well as technocrats of the industry. In the process, I realized that no research is successful unless it is financially viable, which made me opt for “Financial Management” as my minor stream. I have obtained a practical and financial perspective of various issues and honed my interpersonal skills and leadership abilities during these interactions. At present, I feel the need to pursue graduate studies to deepen the knowledge in the field of thermal/fluid systems so that I can make a greater contribution to research in this field.

I am conscious of the research being pursued by research groups like the ones at “Micro-Fluidics Laboratory” and “Microscale Fluidics and Heat Transfer Laboratory” in Texas A&M University and the multitude of research facilities available there. It would be a very stimulating experience to be involved with one of these groups in exploring the field of thermal/fluid systems. I feel that graduate study at Texas A&M University will be an ideal fulfillment of my academic and research ambitions. Hence I have chosen Texas A&M University as the University of my Choice for graduate study.

I am aware of the high standards and demands of the graduate program at University of Texas at Austin and am confident of meeting those challenges with my knowledge, skills, discipline and zeal. I hope that my application for admission for Fall 2004, with full financial assistance, will be considered favorably. It would indeed be an honor to join the graduate program in Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University.