SOP Sample for PhD in Material Sciences

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

“You see things; you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?” 

– George Bernard Shaw

I believe getting a doctoral degree is a sizeable milestone in the journey of education. I wish to pursue the highest degree in education which will help me to get the required exposure and a suitable platform to showcase my skills and knowledge. This statement of purpose is an effort to unveil my potential as an aspiring PhD student.

Academic Background:

I have completed my Master’s Degree in Materials Science and Technology from the prestigious National Institute of Technology, Helsinki, Finland. My master’s thesis entitled, “Effect of Carbon Black on Microstructure, Macromolecular Behavior of Nitrile Butadiene Rubber/Thermoplastic Polyurethane Composites”, which was presented at the International Conference of Polymer Processing and Characterization, ICPPC 2014, moreover, my work is included in the book “Functionalized Engineering Materials and Their Applications” as a chapter by Apple Academic Press, which would be indexed by Scopus. I have successfully defended my thesis and was awarded my M.Tech Degree in August 2014.

I have completed my Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Helsinki University, and had the opportunity to work on a project work titled, “Characterization of Ni-P coating on AZ91D Magnesium Alloy with Surfactants and Nano Additives”, which was published in the Journal of Magnesium and Alloys, Volume 2, Issue 4, December 2014, pages 293 – 298.

I have used SEM/EDS, TGA, AFM, XRF Spectrometry and XRD while performing material characterization during my Master’s and Bachelor’s programs and during my work experience for performing failure analysis and replica metallurgy evaluation. I am familiar with alloying element-microstructure-property co-relationships along with polymer compounding techniques and polymer characterization. My Master’s thesis investigates the effect of carbon black on the macro and micro level of behavior of NBR/PU blends primarily aiming to improve the mechanical properties of NBR employed for oil seal applications.  My Bachelor’s project was coating AZ91D magnesium alloy with Ni-P coating in the presence of surfactants and Nano additives like Alumina, Zinc Oxide, and Silicon Carbide.

My Bachelor’s and Master’s research experiences left me with the burning desire to pursue a career in researching materials. I felt industrial experience would be really helpful in providing me with a broad and practical view of materials engineering practices. I joined the industry for this purpose and I am really gratified that I was exposed to manufacturing as well as in situ performance aspects of a wide variety of materials which honed my working knowledge on materials. I enjoy teaching at any level, during my graduate training, I was fortunate enough to serve as a teaching assistant and provide instruction for a course on Material Science to undergraduate students.

Work Experience:

In the course of my work at Yellow Hat Pvt. Ld. , I was exposed to melting and quality control departments in the company. I was trained in the practice of controlling material microstructure by chemistry and process variables which fueled my interest further in Materials engineering, I worked as a melting supervisor where I had the opportunity to control chemistry and process variables during the melting process and to produce customer specified microstructures in the cast products. I was also involved in the internal research investigation on the relationship between defect ratio and process variables using statistical quality control tools.

After my stint at Yellow Hat Pvt ltd, I joined OPTF L.L.C. in Dubai where I worked as a metallurgist in a third party inspection lab. I did 15 failure analyses and several replica metallography analyses on my own; failure analysis was mainly on industrial material failures involving materials from oil & gas and marine environments. The clients were highly satisfied with failure analysis/ replica inspection reports as they were provided in the required time with professional technical analysis and clear conclusions.

My Aspirations:

I am deeply interested in pursuing my Doctoral program in Material Science & Engineering with specialization in computational fluid mechanics. I would love to engage myself in research and to be a part of projects involving biologically inspired material systems, materials for energy, computational materials and mechanical behavior of materials,

To achieve analytic supervision in the field of Material Sciences, prospects is the perspective I have drawn in my mind and then enter the industry with a high-quality background. I am confident enough that exposure to leading-edge facilities, research groups, breath-taking campus and interaction with acclaimed faculties at your esteemed university will help me gain knowledge and develop versatility to face stiff global competition. It would be a great privilege to be able to pursue my Ph.D. at your renowned university, and I am sure this course will help me fulfill my long-term career goals.

I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you the position of Ph.D. in the weeks to come.  Besides, I am very passionate about reading, discovering new ideas, implementing new philosophies, theories, inferences, experimenting with materials and design new experiments.