By applying for Ph. D. studies at your university, I am seeking to fulfill a childhood dream to understand and appreciate the wonders of nature. Born and brought up in a small city on the Yun-Gui plateau in southwest China, I was full of curiosity in my childhood as I observed the dramatic weather changes there. In this city surrounded by mountains, seasons would come and go with clear-cut perimeters. Watching this year in and year out for 17 years, I could not help asking what forces were causing such fascinating alterations.

With a mystified mind, I graduated in 1989 into the Nanjing Institute of Meteorology to major in synoptic dynamics. The institute offers probably the best academic programs of its kind in China. As a highly motivated undergraduate, I took 21 courses in meteorology, scoring an outstanding GPA of 91.53/100 (3.79/4). In related subjects such as mathematics, physics and computer science, I did well, too, scoring a GPA of 90.91/100 (1.69-4). My overall GPA ranked the second among about 110 students of my year, winning me the Institute Scholarship for 4 consecutive years. In 1992, I was designated an Excellent Student, the highest honor of the school, given to only one student of each grade in four years.

Upon the completion of my undergraduate studies in 1993, my excellent academic records won me easy acceptance into a graduate program at a research center jointly run by the Chinese Academy of Meteorology Sciences and the Nanjing Institute of Meteorology. I worked under the supervision of my advisor, the distinguished Professor Ding Yihui, vice-chairman of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences and now chairman of National Climate Center. I kept myself informed of the latest meteorology findings by reading a wide selection of reference materials, among which are Atmospheric Sciences, Acta, Meteo, Sinica. Under the seasoned guidance of Professor Ding and other noted meteorologists, whom I engaged in regular discussions at seminars and other occasions, I conscientiously trained myself in independent research. I would take care of the nitty-gritty of any projects on my own. Building upon my undergraduate record, I scored a graduate Study of Heavy Rainfall Influenced by Typhoon No.9406 was not only highly rated by my professors but also published in…

On the strength of my academic records, I obtained the position of a researcher at NMC (spell it out, please) in mid 1993, when I received my Master's Degree. I have since taken part in three projects: (A) the Development and Research of Meso - Scale Numerical Forecast System in Beijing Area, (B) the Importation and Development of LAPS/RAMS Analysis - Forecast System, and (C) the Development and Application of A Limited - Area Model With Variable Resolution.

In these projects, I have put my academic training into actual practice and got acquainted with the state of the test results of the parallel version and serial version of MM5. In project B, I investigated into the RAMS extensively and presented a report on its principles and applications at NMC. Last May, I worked with experts from NOAA and IBM Corp. to install the LAPS/RAMS system. After that, I succeeded in using new topography data in RAMS and added the verification mechanism to the whole system. Now I am working on project C, in which I have increased the number of vertical levels of the limited-area model with variable resolution from 5 to 20. In order to find definite effects of different resolutions in model forecast, I am trying to build three models with different resolutions, unit grid and a model with varying resolutions based on the operational limited-are model in NMC. We are planning to make further experiments based on those results.

In an effort to better equip myself, I have been conscientiously enhancing my computer skills and expertise in the last two years. I took classes to learn the UNIX Operation System and SP2 computer, and I have taught myself Parallel Programming, Message Passing Library on SP2, RS/6000 Power2 Fortran Programming, among others. Taking advantage of the learning opportunities at work, I have mastered the Sp2, Cray as well as the PC, and become versed in graphics software, GRADS and NCAR. With these computer skills, I am now more capable of numerical forecast than ever before.

I have, however, found that what I have learned is far from sufficient to meet the challenges in my research. Although I now know a lot more about season changes than I did in my childhood, nature is in many ways still as mystifying to me as ever. If anything has changed, it is that I now have even more questions on my mind, questions that are harder to answer. Hence my decision to pursue a doctoral degree in the United States, where research in atmospheric sciences and other related fields is probably more advanced than anywhere else. I hope that, with the guidance of your distinguished faculty and the benefit of your advanced facilities, my intellectual potential can be brought into full play to answer the more and more profound questions that boggle my mind.

I plan to work for my PhD with a concentration on atmospheric dynamics, air-sea interaction, radiation, remote sensing, climatology, and hope to fulfill my degree requirements in 3 to 5 the meteorological progress in my own country and the Sino-American scientific exchanges. Perhaps, I will no longer have to wonder about every little change in the weather in my hometown a few years down the road.