STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

I am writing this essay in support of my request for grant of admission to the MS program at the
Department of Computer Science, University of Houston.

My Interests and Background: I believe that my avid interest in Computer Science, coupled
with wide exposure and enriching experience gained during my undergraduate studies in India,
augmented by my keen analytical abilities, flexible outlook and a focused approach to learning,
gives me a significant advantage in pursuing my career objectives.

Since my school days, I have always been regarded academically brilliant, having been
awarded the scholar badge and merit certificate throughout my school education. I was always
among the top 10% students in my class of 50. During my undergraduate studies also, I have
always been among the top 10% students, in a batch of 75.

My three and half years education at the University Institute of Engineering and Technology,
Panjab University, Chandigarh, India, one of the oldest and premier universities in the country,
has provided me with a thorough understanding and appreciation of the basic concepts related
to the field of Computer Science and Engineering. The rigorous assignments and laboratory
work have not only broadened my knowledge base but have also infused in me the confidence
to pursue higher studies fuelling my desire to do higher learning in Computer Science.

For my industrial training, a mandatory part of the undergraduate program at the university, I
worked on a live project at International Business Machines (IBM), Gurgaon. During the stint, I
was required to study the production defects in certain software applications. The project
involved developing a code for data-porting in Java, following which I generated several reports
as reference text for the company. The work was extended in my internship at Consultancy
Development Centre (CDC), Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, where I worked
on a database of consultant-membership data. The choice was keeping in line with my interest
and desire to work in the area of data mining. This project provided me with an opportunity for
exploiting my creative and innovative potential. Working on this project also helped in analyzing
my goals and will remain an important milestone in my career that strengthened my desire to
pursue graduate studies in the field of Computer Science.

During my undergraduate program I worked on a couple of other projects. One such project was
under the able guidance of Prof. Brejesh Lall, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. This project involved the development of schedule-
management software for the faculty at the same department. The application software,
provided the faculty with features such as searching of courses and faculty, timetable
generation, archives etc.
Recently, I also got involved in a research project with Prof. Naveen Aggarwal, Department of
Computer Science, UIET, Panjab University, Chandigarh. The project involved the study of
issues and requirements for successful integration of semantic knowledge with web usage
mining for the next generation of personalization tools which are more intelligent and more
useful for web users. The study is being extended to the development of a semantic website
incorporating web usage mining in providing personalized content to the users.
My project work and research also required me to get an exposure of various programming
languages, software tools and platforms. I have practical experience of working with languages
such as C/C++, Core JAVA, SQL 7.0, HTML, JavaScript, JSP, MySQL, DB2, Oracle and LISP
and platforms such as Windows XP and UNIX.

My interest in academics is further highlighted by two national (one at “Emerging Trends in

Wireless Communication & E-Security WCES Jan’07 and the other at Chandigarh Science
Congress Mar’07). While one paper discussed the ‘Counter measures for the Security threats
concerning Mobile Agents’, other involved a detailed discussion on ‘Wireless Health Monitor, its
concept and architecture’. My two most recent papers, accepted at International Conference on
Data Management Feb’08, emphasize on the techniques for ‘Improving Personalization with
Web Usage Mining using Semantic Knowledge’ and ‘Various Ranking Algorithms for Web
Personalization’.

The sharing of ideas and new findings through various other small projects has always been a
vital part of my undergraduate student life. Presentations were a perfect opportunity for me to
explore beyond the syllabus and were instrumental in giving me an edge over my peers in
sharing knowledge and competence with others. It is for this interest that I conducted several
seminars including one on ‘Search Engines and Personalization’. Also, as a core member of the
technical committee at my college I organized many competitions on software development,
quizzes and workshops such as one on Adobe Photoshop.

My Career Goal/Objectives: I wish to earn an MS degree in Computer Science to get to a

higher level of specialized knowledge. My professors, seniors and peers have encouraged me
to apply to University of Houston because of its excellent faculty, world-class research facilities
and scientific approach to teaching state of the art concepts, which I hope will provide me
appropriate opportunity for learning and attaining my career objectives.

I also firmly believe that if I am fortunate enough to get admission to University of Houston, it
would be a realization of a long standing dream for me. I will be bringing to the university a
strong grasp of fundamentals in Computer Science, a curious and open mind with zest for
knowledge and learning, sincere and dedicated approach towards academics, capability for
hard work and a penchant for teamwork. I also hope to take back with me memories of an
experience of a lifetime and of strong and lasting relationships with my teachers and fellow
students. I hope to become part of the global network of world-class professionals, working like
a community towards confronting current and future challenges in the field of Computer
Science.

Why University of Houston: The Computer Science Department at University of Houston has
a strong academic team. Many of the faculty members are working in areas that are of interest
to me in particular, such as ‘Data Mining’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’. I believe that the current
programs being offered at your university would be invaluable in contributing towards building
my quantitative and conceptual skills for tackling research challenges in the future. In order to
achieve all this I wish to gain exposure to the latest developments taking place in the field of
Computer Science. I wish to become part of the best academic environment that can only be
offered by an esteemed university like University of Houston.

(SATYEN ABROL)