Statement of Purpose

====Now we start====



The most unforgettable thing in my undergraduate study is the research I had been involved in; as
much because of the results as the process in achieving these results. I am getting closer and closer to
my dream, to becoming a theoretical researcher of ECE/EECS. Former experience on approaching it
has granted me the greatest enjoyment. Benefits like published papers encouraged me to continue
striving. I consider doing research on ECE/EECS fields as a challenge to measure the best of my
energies and skills.

My interests were changed by a project on signal processing, which led me into the world of
algorithms. When I was a freshman, a magazine called Linux Focus introduced me many circuits
interacting with computers. I began to design and assemble circuits myself. However, it did not take
long before I fell into the trouble of having no lab or funding. Thankfully, a PhD student guided me in
doing a research on probabilistic signal processing. I learned a new way to satisfy my curiosity from
that project- doing theoretical research, especially via computer simulation. As I lacked a lab and
funding, I shifted to algorithm improvement on certain topics focused by both EE and CS/CE people,
such as networks. After delivering my creativity to the unbounded theoretical world, I have
successfully published some papers on IEEE conferences and other journals.

Various things around me inspired my research topics. For example, during an internship in a
bioinformatics lab, I found that sequence data occupied too much disk space. In order to save the disk
space, I planned to develop a DNA sequence compression algorithms. This is the initiation of my first
IEEE conference paper. Some of my research generated new research. My project for graduate thesis
was about routing in mobile Ad-Hoc networks at the beginning. During reading papers about it, I
found another interesting topic, the clustering in WSNs. After finishing the job on the schedule, I
joined in a research on improving an existing clustering algorithm. My research interests cover many
fields, including the application in biology and medicine.

My understanding to EE and CS/CE research changed during the research. At first, I was interested in
EE and thought that it had no theoretical work. After I switched my interests, the idea that EE is not
only engineering formed in my mind. In my first project, when I was working on a phenomenon that
could be used in image restoration, I realized that EE also needs scientists provide theoretical
foundations which instruct the implementation of technologies. Later I found that some EE topics are
also appealing to CS/CE people, such as networks. I began to feel that EE and CS/CE are not two
irrelevant fields. After joining an embedded system club, I felt really difficult to assert that some
fields should belong to EE or to CS/CE. They change our life interdependently instead of being two
independent fields. I am very interested on their intersections so I have done some algorithm
improvement over there.

My future work will be on certain intersection of EE and CS/CE. For example, in those fields I had
already worked on, such as networks, bioinformatics and signal processing. According to my former
experiences on these fields, I consider them as the research about problem solving and methodology
investigation. That is why I like them. Additionally, I have accumulated some knowledge and abilities
on them through previous work.

My undergraduate experience motivated me to pursue further study in becoming a professional
researcher. In the past years of self-motivated research, I always felt that I was working in darkness
without guidance. This made me deeply understand the importance of a supervisor. So I sincerely
hope that I can get proper supervision and training in your department.

==== Not the end. To be continued. There is no end in research. ====