JAYARAMAN, KARTHIK

Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering,

University of Madras.

champ@md4.vsnl.net.in

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
1st PARA FREE.
Right from the time the first computer set foot at the Bell Laboratories, they have
played a vital role in all walks of life bringing in their wake innumerable
developments and technological advancements that have clearly brought about a sea
change in the attitude and outlook of mankind. I was allured by the multifarious
capabilities of this seemingly innocuous piece of machinery and decided that I would
leave no stone unturned towards achieving my goal, which was one of becoming a
computer engineer. The first step in this regard saw me take computer science as my
core subject in my high school and then following it up with an undergraduate course
in Information Technology.
Excelling in academics has always been my forte which is amply illustrated by my
noteworthy semester marks and the fact that I have always been among the cream
only goes to prove further my flair for the same. In this highly automated world of
today, no knowledge acquired is consummate if it does not include computer
awareness. To inculcate this faculty in myself, I underwent a two-year course at
National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) which opened up new avenues
that complemented my scholastic credentials with the requisite computer know-how.
Possessed with an insatiable curiosity to learn more about the working mechanisms
of computers and not to be outdone in the hardware aspects, I decided to further my
rudimentary hardware knowledge by undergoing a one month program at Chennai
Institute of Technology (C.I.T). My fruitful association coupled with my perspicuity
saw me gaining a valuable insight into Computer Architecture, Parallel Processing
and Hardware assembling. My penchant to expand the frontiers of my knowledge in
these fields saw me take positive strides right from my undergraduate study and
duly chose them as my core subjects.
The project I am currently pursuing is on Artificial Neural Networks specializing in
Character Recognition. I have chosen Neural Networks for impelmentation due to
their considerable efficiency with regard to recognition of different patterns. Patterns
of various characters are being recognized by training the back-propagation
algorithm. The input to the algorithm is the binary representation of the patterns and
the output will be the representation values of each alphabet. This project of mine is
being done the aegis of my H.O.D who is also working on a thesis on this subject.
Research work has always been fascinated me and consider myself at home to the
frustration and defeats inherent. It is the ineffable joy of discovery that goads me on
towards higher levels of accomplishment.
Life teaches us a new lesson everyday and I firmly comply with the fact that learning
is effective only if it is interactive. I sincerely hope to share my varied views with my
contemporaries and thereby derive from them an understanding of areas that seem
alien to me. Graduate studies at the esteemed universities in the United States is a
dream come true for every aspirant and I hope to make this dream of mine into a
reality by gaining admission and working under your tutelage. Virginia Tech. offers

innumerable avenues to expand the frontiers of my knowledge as is evident from the

many graduate programs being offered. The distinguished lists of faculty members,
excellent research facilities and state-of-the-art infrastructure have all spurred me on
to become a part of this team. Its impeccable academic reputation mingled with its
diverse and ambient environment creates an opportunity for growth that places it
unarguably at the zenith.
I am now gaining a foothold into the vast ocean of computer science and my career
is clearly in its formative years. I hope to transform it into a success story by availing
the solid education and able guidance of your illustrious institution. This, I am sure
would go a long way in helping me achieving my career goals and objectives.