Statement of Purpose

My desire to pursue a masters in Engineering Management can be perhaps linked to what globalization means today. The assimilation of cultures and values apart, it has resulted in a convergence of information and knowledge culled through inter-disciplinary fields. I need to push beyond the boundaries of both my knowledge and education. Only in this way, can I carve out roles, which go beyond my present profile. Yet, I wish to also build on my training and experiences as an engineer to provide that foundation for the quantitative skills they provide. This base is only the tip of the ice berg. I wish to engage in meaningful research and integrate engineering concepts with management principles and practices to ultimately shape into a successful career in engineering management. Towards my goals, I am being ably abetted by the exposure that I am getting at my current work place. Since October 2009, I am working as a senior Instrumentation Engineer in M/S Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd. BCPL is in the process of setting up a US$ 1.75 billion petrochemical facility in Dibrugarh, Assam with an installed capacity of 280,000 TPA. The sole purpose of this project is to bring about the socio-economic development of the North Eastern region. Entrusted with the responsibility of managing the construction, erection and commissioning of two key plants, I have gained hands on experience in project management. Further, day-to-day experience of coordinating with various external agencies and internal officers has strengthened my communication and interpersonal skills. A challenging project, it is helping me to use my engineering skills competently and combine these with my managerial skills. Prior to joining BCPL, I developed sound knowledge in engineering practices concerning Instrumentation design through my stint at Shaw Rolta (A Design firm focused on Petrochemical and Oil & gas Industry). I participated in several design assignments involving design and development of Instrumentation safety systems for petrochemical complexes and offshore drilling rigs. My first brush with industry was during my college, when I worked on a summer internship project with HI-REL, a leading Industrial UPS Manufacturer in India. During my tenure as an intern I gained rich technical know how about manufacturing system, assembly & testing systems for UPS systems. I was also briefly trained on inventory controls and vendor management issues where I learnt the finer nuances of organizational and team behavior and the importance of leadership in managing an agile enterprise. A year later I submitted an application for conducting my final year project under the guidance of Senior Scientist Mr. R K Singh at the Control & Instrumentation Department of the prestigious Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai. The yearlong research and development project dealt with the development of a prototype in Micro-Electrical Mechanical Systems called Void Fraction Detection. The apparatus was required to detect the presence of a void (of the order 10-3m3) in two phase medium with the help of changing capacitance between the plates surrounding the test area. Since the project was handled by a team of four, we had to divide the project in mutually exclusive modules with every person taking complete ownership for their module. Upon completion, the project was to be used as a base for designing a larger, more complicated system for detecting faults in the connecting pipes of the Nuclear reactor. As a team leader I learnt crucial lessons in decision making, project management and designing systems under tight budget and time constraints. In the end we managed to create the lowest-cost testing apparatus which is now being used by BARC to design a more complex setup. My third formative learning experience started in August 2008, when I enrolled for a Post Graduate diploma in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) from the renowned Government Law College (GLC), Mumbai. GLC is considered to be one of the best law schools in India because of its comprehensive curriculum, faculty and alumni network. The IPR course helped me in gaining comprehensive understanding of Indias IPR policies and legal provisions of The Patents Act, 1970; The Indian Copyright Act, 1957 & the Trade Mark Act, 1999. During this course, I consistently ranked in the top 1% on the basis of my academic grades. I also had the good fortune of working on a few cases with a Law firm which helped me in attending the proceedings of those cases at the Mumbai High Court. My experience at GLC was crucial in helping me develop my techno-commercial acumen. I continue to use my knowledge of legal jurisprudence to interpret contracts and agreements signed with contractors and third parties at my current assignments. During my under graduation, I donned a leaders mantle too. As part of the mess management team at the YMCA hostel where I was staying, during my under graduation, the onus was on me to come up with innovative solutions to

the existing problems ailing the running of the hostel mess. These were under-recoveries, pilferage, bad debts and poor quality control. We had to streamline the whole process, starting with the introduction of strict financial controls and then moving towards checking quality, procurement and pilferage (shrinkage) related issues. In about three months we managed to turn around our finances and the line of credit extended by YMCA was surrendered. My involvement with the Mess at YMCA helped me gain a strong understanding of administrative & governance issues, financial and operational controls and management policies. A lot of this understanding came from the interactions that I had with the diverse team which comprised of students pursuing courses in Law, Finance, Accounts, Hospitality and Liberal Arts. Further, I also volunteered with a Non Governmental Organization called Pratham between 2007 and 2009 during weekends, to teach underprivileged children. This experience made me aware about the hardships faced by weaker sections of society. I am confident that all the different roles that I have had the pleasure of taking up, will enable me to excel in the rigorous MS program in your esteemed institute successfully. These experiences have fortified me and kept me hungry for more. I wish to pursue an MS in Engineering Management in order to further my career goals. These are to combine the skills of a manager and a technically adept individual to evolve into a management professional first and thereafter, a business leader, to bring about some societal changes. My interest in studying Engineering Management at The University of Southern California is based on the exciting opportunities it provides to engage in experiential learning projects, meet and interact with successful Engineering Managers and learn Industrial Management best practices. The schools Professional Associations and Journals is a huge resource of knowledge and current developments to keep abreast with new innovations in research. In addition, I look forward to taking up several courses on relevant topics for professionals in the Engineering management field such as Engineering Project Management, Industrial Ecology, Web Technology for Industrial Engineering and Economic Analysis of Engineering Projects. Further, this programs focus to cover both practical and theoretic aspects of Engineering management will help me achieve my professional goals in Engineering Management Consulting.I have always been a very good performer in my areas of interest and I am very confident that by getting considered to study in your university I will be able to reach great heights in my career.