Please review my Personal Statement for a MSC Computational Science and Engineering in TUM

[demakase]

Hello all,

 

I'm applying for entrance to a MSC in Computational Science and Engineering in TUM (http://www.in.tum.de/en/for-prospective-students/masters-programs/computational-science-and-engineering.html)

 

And so far the following is my personal statement:

 

 

My first approach to computer simulations was in the year 2007 when I started my thesis for my bachelor’s degree. What drove me to that area was an affinity to computer software throughout my career and my life in general, since I would always look for a way to make use of software and its advantages, even if it wasn’t a requirement for an assignment or task; before simulation, I learned to how to use CAM/CAD to create part drawings and assemblies.

 

So by 2007 I had experience in CAM/CAD software using Autodesk Inventor, but I didn’t expect how much I would enjoy working in CFD with the simulation and study of wet natural-draught cooling towers, which was the topic of my research in that time. While I was making the thesis I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of post-graduate students  who worked at the same lab, do a lot of tutorials and  start reading journals, which in the end led me to push forward my goal of working in the field of computational fluid dynamics.  This same motivation led me to pursue my first Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, with a specialization in Computational Fluid Mechanics.

 

Nevertheless, after all this time I have to admit it’s very easy to be led astray from a goal I set in 2007; before even starting my thesis in CFD there was a research offer regarding foundry equipment design, which I turned down because I wanted something related to Computational Fluid Dynamics; my internship was in PDVSA (Venezuela’s state oil company) and there was an offer to work in a thesis there as well, which I also turned down because at that time I already had a complete research proposal on the study of the trajectory of droplets outside of a cooling tower. Even after graduating, my current job is in the procurement and oilfield equipment trading business, and I have even received offers to move to the USA branch in a long-term commitment; an offer which I also turned down because my long-term goal is to work with simulation and CFD, whether on an industry setting or as part of a PhD. I have even turned down job offerings since they were outside of the city where I was taking classes for my master’s degree. All of these past occurrences show how important it is for me to work in this field, and how I have prioritized that above anything else.

 

In my master’s degree program, I learned about the inner workings of the simulation software I used and many of the commercial code packages, either with courses that explored the governing equations, or courses that explained the algorithms of in-house codes and programs as examples. For my master’s degree thesis I chose to work on multiphase flow mainly because it is a field with a lot of ongoing research, and also because I had already worked on it as an undergraduate, using the lagrangian model on droplets. My thesis was on the simulation of slug flow in an horizontal pipe using Ansys CFX; I used a model specific for this flow pattern and tested it with different boundary conditions and the Shear Stress Transport model, and I showed a possible application with the calculation of safety factors in pipes submitted to slug flow, using results obtained using Ansys CFX and the model tested.  

 

In the School of Mechanical Engineering of my university the thesis is only graded as approval/dismissal, but the results of my work prompted my advisor to submit an abstract to the 1^st Conference of the Venezuelan Fluid Mechanics Society, which was on November 5^th, 2012; my abstract was accepted and I received a lot of good input on my presentation, and that experience strengthened my conviction to keep studying simulation. What I’ve also realized is that with the current state of the art in this field, my first master’s degree might not be enough for the current demand of knowledge from PhD research projects or the industry. Therefore, I have searched for a course that would mesh together with what I’ve learned in my master’s degree, and I’ve finally found it with TUM Computational Science and Engineering.

 

CSE’s program has a focus on programming and scientific computing that isn’t found elsewhere, with courses on parallel programming and scientific computing that complement my current knowledge in object oriented programming. The elective courses that also interest me are those in the D2 catalog such as Computational Thermo-Fluid Dynamics with Open Source Tools and particle simulation methods, which would be useful for a thesis in simulation of multiphase flow.  

 

After I obtain my master’s degree at TUM I feel I’ll be ready for anything that is thrown in my direction in this field; I would be able to pursue a PhD research on the field of computational fluid dynamics or work in the industry. With all the scientific programming and courses I will learn at TUM and the current engineering basis I have gathered so far, there will be no obstacles to deter me from performing successfully in the interesting field that is Computational Fluid Dynamics.

 

Regards,

(Name)