Personal Statement

Having undertaken an undergraduate program at the Department of Automobile Engineering of XX University, I have evolved an in-depth understanding of mechanical engineering. Considering myself well-equipped for a Ph.D. program in Mechanical Engineering, I hereby file this application for your earnest review.

My application for your Ph. D. program is most directly motivated by The 3rd ASEE International Colloquium on Engineering Education held from Sept. 7 to 10 at XX University. “China will be a major manufacturing power in the world in the near future and China will need a large number of mechanical engineers for that purpose,” XX chairman explained why the organization chose China as the first developing country to hold the Colloquium. While a growing number of engineering students in China choose to shift to IT industry, I choose to stick to the discipline I am studying because it has been and will continue to be the most fundamental field in this technology-dominated world.

Most prestigious for its education and research in engineering, XX University has offered me the most comprehensive and systematic training that an engineering student can expect. In undertaking my specialized automobile engineering program, I have carried out, apart from the required coursework in English language, advanced mathematics and physics, in-depth study of the specialized courses, especially those related to mechanics such as engineering mechanics, fluid mechanics, and materials mechanics. Learning those courses has helped me acquire the fundamental knowledge and skills in analyzing and solving problems in mechanics. They have proved particularly important in view of the research work I participated in in the second half of my undergraduate program. My experience is that although we can resort to software systems like ANSYS to perform relevant computations, the knowledge in basic mechanics remains fundamental to the formation of effective design concepts.

Of course, I have done intensive coursework on automobile composition, automobile assembly and dismantling, fundamentals of automobile engineering, man-machine engineering, together with a host of engineering-oriented courses. My overall understanding of engineering was further enhanced，no longer remaining on the superficial level of automobile styling but concerned with the central theories and structural designs. Like all engineering students, I have been inevitably exposed to another category of courses that required much practice and hands-on applications such as model production, physical experiments, and quality engineering.

The process of learning has also been a process of discoveries. With increasing interest in automobile impact and safety, I have joined the Impact Laboratory headed by Prof. XX since the first semester of my junior year. Lab experiments have since become another channel to exploit my potential and to improve my practical problem-solving abilities. When studying the lift and drag coefficients of the plates in the fixed fluid field under different circumstances, I made special efforts to teach myself the Fluent software, which allowed me to simulate the numerical results through computer-aided modeling, an achievement duly recognized by Prof. XX.

My outstanding performance and demonstrated skills qualified me as research assistant of the lab in another project—XX. The device is used to conduct damage experiments on certain automobile parts like beam in order to obtain test statistics concerning the materials and structure. In order to rationalize my design, I self-studied the course Finite Element to verify the bearing capacity of various supporting structures. In addition, I designed release, direction guidance and safety devices. Together with experienced engineers, we often discussed structural, processing and implementation feasibilities. In designing the release structure, I discarded the conventional design and developed a purely mechanical structure which significantly reduced the equipment cost but reached the same experimental requirements.

Satisfied with my performance, Prof. XX has arranged for me to undertake my graduation project in the same laboratory. My project focuses on the theoretical verification and the design of XX. The problem I face is how to control, based on the dropping test device, the continuous collision experiments during the dropping’s tiny time intervals so as to obtain statistics of the test specimens in the state of continuous replenishment of collision energy.

As a matter of fact, similar equipment can be found in XX. Named XX，the expensive  equipment costs about 500, 000 US dollars and is electrically controlled. The mechanically controlled device that I am to design, though maybe inferior to XX in precision, will still satisfy experiment requirements and be greatly reduced in cost (less than 10000 US dollars). If realized, my design will constitute a pioneering research in the field and Prof. XX has once again expressed his appreciation of my original and creative conceptualization. My research experience may also include participating in the near future in the experiment of finite element analysis about bone fracture, which falls under biomechanics. Because of the lack of technologies, no experiments in this field have been performed in this respect, even though the research itself is of crucial significance to the safety of automobile passengers.

Off campus, I have sought opportunities for practice. I did a production internship last year at XX Vehicles Manufacturing Base where I studied the processing of engineer parts. Currently, I am working part-time as assistant manager at the Marketing Department of XX Co. Ltd. Those experiences have not only strengthened my teamwork at workplace but also exposed to the realities of part of the automobile industry.

Through all my academic, research and internship experiences, I have come to develop a clear picture concerning my future research interests. In my proposed program in Mechanical Engineering, I expect to research on engineering mechanics, solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, and computational mechanics. Part of the research will be very much an extension of what I have been doing in my lab so far. The research also involves the application of mechanics knowledge and large-scale computer software to simulate the mechanical properties of various materials and structures. As I am proficient in major engineering software ranging from ALAIS, ANSYS, CATA to FLUENT, I can perform simulation and research once I join any research projects.

University of XX is most reputed for its mechanical engineering. Its respected faculty are making breakthroughs in developing the next generation of education approaches needed to impart interdisciplinary thinking and hands-on experiences in an asynchronous, web-based format. Research fields under your program range from well-known fields such as automotive engineering to micro and nano systems, eco-design and manufacturing, and biosystems. A careful study of the research performed by your faculty reinforces my determination to apply for your Department. Prof. XX specializes in fluid mechanics; nanoscale biofluidics and biologically inspired systems; Brownian dynamics simulations; parallel computing. Prof. XX specializes in biomechanics while Prof. XX may teach me about advanced manufacturing and materials processing. Any one of them can be identified as my prospective advisor from whom I can learn advanced knowledge and develop professional expertise required to become a well-trained mechanical engineer. 

It is regrettable that, for all the research and practice I have done, I have failed to develop my research findings into research papers. Nevertheless, with my unbounded research potential and under the productive guidance of my prospective advisor, the publication of research papers will only be a matter of time. A person with many creative ideas, I look forward to embarking on your program which promises to let me transform these ideas into reality.   I am further convinced that your Ph. D. program will develop me into a leading mechanical engineer in a country which is so sorely in need of such engineers.