Professional Statement - Upsham Dawra
“It works!” Those seemingly simple words had so many emotions attached to them. It seems like yesterday when I snaked my fingers through the mess of wires to push the pushbuttons, only to have the output of an addition operation display on the LCD screen. It was just a simple computer, made with a Programmable Logic Device and some Integrated Circuits, capable of only a few op-codes, but the feeling of satisfaction and achievement that I felt at that moment has stayed with me since. Little was I to know that this would be my first step into the field which would consume many, many hours of my time and would transcend being coursework and would become my passion. That ‘mess of wires’ was my tryst with Computer Engineering.
During my education at Purdue, I undertook classes like Data Structures, Algorithms, Microcontrollers, Computer Architecture and Compilers, along with classes like Signals and Systems and Fourier Transforms. This afforded me a venerable arsenal of knowledge in both Electrical and Computer Engineering. It also gave me an opportunity to work in small, academics-focused teams, building great projects like a 3D Graphics Processing Unit built in severe area restrictions as well as a multi-core Central Processing Unit with pipelines and caches.
Over the summer of sophomore year, I did research in Computer Networks. My work involved developing a frontend to a way to visualize a routing network. In short, I would be given the configuration files for an arbitrary network, containing routing domains et al. I would need to plot them in an interactive way, so that the whole network could be visualized and configured in one go. I used the Java/Swing AWT framework to realize this project. I enjoyed my work and expanded my skill-set a lot over the summer, especially in graphing and algorithms.
Having seen a bit of academia during my research, I chose to work at one of the global telecommunications and digital wireless technology giants, Qualcomm Inc, over the next summer to experience industry work first hand. I worked in the Android Location team, specifically developing code at the Hardware Abstraction Layer and the Java Native Interface layers for the Android Gingerbread environment. I developed great real-world coding skills and learned the importance of inter-personal and team skills as well.
Additionally, over my 4 years at Purdue, I was appointed the Teaching Assistant for various Computer Science and Computer Engineering courses. This helped me look at the coursework from a different perspective, and gain a deeper understanding of the course material. I also held various scholarships throughout my time in college, including the Trustees Scholarship (4 years) and Benjamin-Meissner Scholarship (2 years). Not just that, I was involved in honor societies like National Society for Collegiate Scholars as well.
I believe that my passion for, and my continuing fascination with my field will help me be successful in a work environment. I bring to the table strong fundamentals, backed by rock-solid coursework, experience in research and a zest for computers. I believe that my qualifications and background have prepared me fully for work in the engineering industry.
