Being a third world country, India has been particularly insensitive to the advances in science and technology that has been commonplace in the developed world. As a child, I dreamt of using cellular phones and palmtops, thanks to Discovery Channel, when people around me communicated via the ancient Strowger exchanges and computer users were restricted to their seats, operating bulky and immobile desktops. Excited by the idea of becoming an electrical engineer since then, my interest in pursuing graduate studies intensified during my high school and undergraduate years. This saw me taking science as my core subject in high school and subsequently follow it up with an undergraduate course in electronics and communication engineering from one of the most reputed institutions in my country.
During the course of my undergraduate education, I discovered that my passion lay in communication and signal processing. The industrial training that I received during my third year gave me an opportunity to study the DSP based gun control system used for transportation tanks. My project – Design of a Finite Impulse Response Band Pass Filter for Low Frequency Medical Applications strives to reconstruct low frequency electrocardiogram signals from a noisy environment using an FIR band pass filter simulated in real time using the TMS320C5X kit.
I have maintained an average of 85% over 6 semesters, thus ranking 3rd in my department of 69, beaten to the 1st rank by just 0.5%. My natural flair for mathematics, one of the fundamental requirements of electrical engineering, has been instrumental in helping me achieve this. In this highly automated world, no knowledge is consummate if it does not include computer awareness and more so in the case of electrical engineering. To inculcate this faculty in myself, I underwent a 2 year diploma course at the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) which opened up new avenues that complemented my knowledge in electrical engineering with computer know how.
In today’s rapidly contracting world, I dream of a global dual way paging system which will enable people anywhere in the world to receive messages and also reply to the same. I propose to design an interface supported by a communication protocol to facilitate the above. My objective is to make it efficient, inexpensive and ergonomic. The modulation techniques prevalent today have their innate disadvantages. It is my goal to design a new modulation technique that eliminates these, but at the same time, is bandwidth efficient and feasible for long distance communication. I am no stranger to the frustration and disappointment inherent in research work. It is the thrill of discovery that goads me on.
I firmly believe that one continues to learn throughout one’s life and the most effective method of learning is through interaction with others. I hope to share my varied knowledge with my peers and to derive from them an understanding of topics that are foreign to me. I am sure that the University of Maryland is the best place where students are offered the perfect combination of educational facility and environmental structure. Its outstanding academic reputation mingled with its diverse environment creates an opportunity for growth that is second to none.
At this stage of my career, where I am in the process of getting to know more about electrical engineering, I wish to avail the solid education and able guidance of your illustrious university. This I am sure will help me achieve my goals.
