I am A.H.M. Ashfaque Ashfaque Uddin, an MPhil student in Micro- and Nanotechnology Enterprise at the Uniersity of !am"ridge. My ultimate career goal is to "e an accomplished researcher in Nanotechnology.. #ith Nanotechnology #ith that aim in ie$, I $ould li%e to pursue the Ph& program program in EE!' at MI(. MI(. I outline my academic and research accomplishments, career o")ecties and motiation "elo$. In the year of *++*, I $as admitted into the undergraduate program in Electrical Electronic Engineering at angladesh Uniersity of Engineering (echnology (echnology UE(/, $hich is recognised as the "est Engineering Uniersity in angladesh. I $as ran%ed among the top +.*0 of appro1imately 23+,+++ students $ho appeared in the Uniersity Entrance E1am. After a semester at UE(, political circumstances in angladesh forced me to transfer to the "achelor program in Electronic Electrical Engineering at the Uniersity of 4eeds, one of the top-rated Engineering Uniersities in the U5. My education at 4eeds $as an eye-opener for me. I found Electronic Electrical Engineering een more interesting and challenging than I had eer imagined. 6ight from the time I )oined, I too% genuine interest in the core concepts underlying eery phenomenon. (he stimulating enironment at 4eeds spurred me on to pursue a research pro)ect during the summer after my freshman year. I personally approached Professor 7iles &aies, a former !am"ridge professor and a pioneer in Molecular Nanotechnology and (erahert8 Electronics, to get inoled $ith his research group and $as a$arded the opportunity to $or% on a pro)ect at the (erahert8 Electronics 4a"oratory of the Uniersity of 4eeds. (here I inestigated the optical properties of different solid and liquid materials, e.g. Human !ortical !ortical one, Polyamide Plastic etc, "y using (erahert8 (erahert8 time-domain spectroscopy. spectroscopy. (he pro)ect pro)ect $as an effort to$ards the deelopment of (erahert8 (erahert8 technology for physical, "iological and medical imaging. (his e1perience $as inalua"le for me "ecause it helped me to learn the "asics of practical research and appreciate $hat it is li%e to "e a mem"er of a research res earch group. 9ollo$ing my $or% at (erahert8 4a"oratory, I coauthored a paper entitled :A (erahert8 (erahert8 (ime-&omain (ime-&omain 'tudy of Human !ortical one: $hich $as presented at ;(he IEEE (echnologies, (echnologies, ia the International !orporate 4eadership Program I!4P/ run "y the Uniersity of 4eeds. (his yearly scheme ta%es the t$o most research oriented and academically successful penultimate year students from each engineering department and places them in an industrial internship. At Pace, I )oined the 6& department and spearheaded a pro)ect $hich inoled the design and deelopment of a $ide"and upconerter. (he pro)ect ena"led me to acquire an in-depth %no$ledge on arious design aspects of !ommunications and 69 Engineering, e.g. the design methodologies of P44 ?scillator, @uadrature I@ Modulator, 69 Mi1er, 9ilter etc. Moreoer, $or%ing in such a $ell-esta"lished company helped me to gain commercial understanding and a$areness of practical enironment. (he follo$ing year, I completed my final year undergraduate pro)ect $ith Pace Micro (echnology. (echnology. (he pro)ect inoled the ealuation and improement of the phase noise performance of a dualconersion system for a &igital 'et (op o1 and inestigation of the feasi"ility of the system for @AM-*3B modulation scheme. My performance in the final undergraduate pro)ect $as recogni8ed $ith ;(he IEEE est 9inal Cear Cear Undergraduate Pro)ect Pri8e; and ;6inicom 4imited Pri8e;. Academically, I graduated second among 2*= undergraduate students in my department $ith a final cumulatie aerage of D3.*0 $hich is 23.*0 a"oe the threshold for a first class honors degree. I receied the prestigious ;Professor !arter E1cellence 'cholarship; in each year of the undergraduate program for my academic performance and $as included in the ;&ean:s Honors 4ist; in each semester.
&uring my final undergraduate year, conersations $ith Professor 7iles &aies inspired me to e1plore the multifarious applications in the field of Nanotechnology. I "egan to follo$ the recent research and innoations in the field "y going through releant )ournals, periodicals and $e"sites. My inquiries helped me to appreciate the degree of impact that Nanotechnology $ill ma%e on people:s lies in the not-too-distant future. Upon graduating from 4eeds, I decided to em"ar% upon a career in Nanotechnology. As a stepping stone to$ards my aim, I secured admission to the MPhil in Micro- and Nanotechnology Enterprise sponsored "y ;(he !am"ridge-MI( Institute; at the Uniersity of !am"ridge. In this program, I am currently underta%ing a $ide range of interdisciplinary courses that $ill help me "uild a strong foundation in Micro- and Nanotechnology. At the moment, I am gaining hands-on e1perience of different characterisation and fa"rication techniques of nano-materials such as A9M, 'EM, (EM, E-eam 4ithography, 9ocused Ion eam 4ithography etc., $hich are used in the Nanotechnology $orld on a day to day "asis. I am also $or%ing on a pro)ect at (he Nanoscience !entre under the superision of &r. Ash$in 'eshia on the deelopment of a high-precision silicon micronanoelectromechanical resonator oscillator generating frequencies in the 2+-23++ MH8 range. (he e1traordinarily small si8e and high leel of integration that can "e achieed $ith silicon MEM'NEM' resonators appear to open e1ceptional possi"ilities for creating miniature-scale precision oscillators to "e used in e.g. mo"ile communications and naigation deices. In the long term, such oscillators could reali8e nano-electro-mechanical processors that, com"ined $ith traditional !M?', could create ne$ alternaties for signal processing in >4'I. I plan to spend the coming years completing a Ph& in the field of Nanotechnology. My intent is to implement Nanotechnology in electronics, "iology or in the interface of these t$o disciplines. After my Ph&, I $ill continue doing research either in academia or in industry to$ards deeloping ne$ ideas and concepts in Nanotechnology and contri"uting to its immense deelopment. I $ould also li%e to contri"ute my share of %no$ledge to the economic and technological adancement of my country. (he distinguished faculty, e1citing range of courses offered and state of the art research at MI( $ould ma%e it a perfect arena for my graduate studies. At the EE!' department of MI(, my research interests coincide $ith those of Professor (om:s Palacios, Professor ladimir uloic, Professor oldman and Professor Mildred &resselhaus. Infact, I hae "een in contact $ith seeral of these professors and they seem e1cited a"out $or%ing $ith me. It $ould "e a priilege to pursue graduate studies assistance at Massachussets Institute of (echnology. I am confident that, gien an opportunity to study at MI(, I $ill emulate the high standards set "y your graduate community.
