PS范例——Environmental Engineering

蝴蝶结UID：195566

PS范例——Environmental Engineering
http://cn.oversea.yahoo.com/030102/255/1egig.html

I wish to enter the Environmental Engineering and Science program at the University of Richmond (UR) and obtain a Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering. I am specifically interested in bioremediation of hazardous waste, and in all aspects of applied microbiology. As an undergraduate in the same program, I have had the opportunity to participate in several research projects at UR and elsewhere. Since the first semester of my freshman year in college, I have wanted to be a professor of environmental engineering. I was introduced to research the summer after I graduated from high school. The mechanical engineering department at UR was sponsoring a summer high school internship program and I was able to work closely with professor Ty Cable, who was studying the city of Savoy's curbside recycling program. I collected data, analyzed it, and designed part of a process to mechanically sort recyclable containers. I attended the Conference on Solid Waste Research and Technology in Churchville, PA, with Dr. Cable the following fall (1991) and was the first author on the abstract and research presentation. I chose to enter the environmental engineering program in the civil engineering department because I enjoyed chemistry and biology. I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in academic research, but I found living biological systems much more interesting than the mechanical systems I studied with Dr. Cable. Bioremediation using microorganisms seemed to be the perfect thing for me to study. The summer after my freshman year, I worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the Environmental Engineering and Science program at the University of Washington in Seattle with professor H. M. Lilly. I had my own project and also spent much time with the graduate students there, learning about their research. I have since spent two more summer in Seattle, working with Dr. Lilly and his colleagues, Drs. S. Bryce and P. Miller. I have worked on several different projects, the most recent being the most interesting: this past summer I designed and built a completely mixed bioremediation reactor, maintained an aerobic mixed culture of microorganisms, and conducted kinetic studies on its ability to degrade benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes. As a result of my summer work in Seattle, I have considerable experience working in the laboratory and I am very familiar with certain analytical instruments, such as flame ionization detectors(FIDs) and thermal conductivity detectors(TCDs).

During the school years, I have paid for roughly one third of my education by working part time at various jobs. Most recently, I worked for professor D. Houseman in the civil engineering department at UR during my junior year as an hourly lab assistant. As a result, in January 1994 I began to work on an independent study project which is currently continuing. With Dr. Houseman's guidance, I hope to isolate and characterize a microorganism from a mixed culture capable of degrading dichloromethane under anaerobic conditions. The project has enabled me to apply what I have learned in the extra course work I have done in chemistry, microbiology, and biochemistry. I hope to continue with this project, perhaps for my master's thesis. I also want to pursue, with help from Dr. Lilly, the use of molecular biological techniques to study the microorganism once it is isolated. From all of this research experience I have learned that I would not be happy working outside an academic research environment. Since I was young, I wanted to be a professor. I grew up in Richmond, immersed in an academic lifestyle because my father is a professor at UR. Thus, I plan to follow my master's degree with a Ph.D. in environmental engineering and then look for a faculty position in the areas of applied microbiology or environmental engineering.

蝴蝶结UID：195566