Sample SOP for MS in Electrical Engineering

Growing up, I was always fascinated with the idea of intelligent machines. A machine capable of thinking
on its own could accomplish so much, this sheer thought opened my mind to endless possibilities.
Further, as a first hand witness to the rise of high-speed modern devices, I was propelled to explore and
learn the fundamentals of computers. With this motivation, I joined the prestigious Indian Institute of
Technology, ABC opting Electrical Engineering as my major. After graduating in 2014, In my first
professional stint at XYZ Technologies I worked on state of the art GPUs and Networking chips. This
professional exposure acted as a catalyst for my intellectual appetite in this field and motivated me to
pursue my academic interests in the domain. Through the course of graduate studies, I aim to broaden my
understanding of computer architecture and explore modern challenges that are being faced with
compute-intensive fields like neural networks and deep learning.
During my undergrad coursework, I was introduced to various fields of Electrical Engineering. My
academic interest in Computer Hardware was sparked as a freshman through the course of  Digital Design.
The beauty of employing simple binary digits to implement complex digital hardware amazed me.
Advanced courses such as Computer Architecture and Operating Systems introduced me to the details
and working of components of computer hardware like cache and pipelining, which propelled my interest
further. As I learnt more about the different components, the architecture began to feel intuitive, and I
grew more attached to the subject. Under the able guidance of Professor ABC, the courses of Embedded
Systems and Digital Hardware Design encouraged me to explore the field further.

At the end of my junior year, I went to intern with XYZ based out of Phoenix, USA. I was aligned with
printing R&D group where I got opportunity to work and converse with experts of this field. This also
being my first professional hands-on-experience with Verilog and Industrial simulation tools, the amount
of learning about the breadth of digital design was immense. I successfully designed and implemented
hardware to aid in verification of printer head. Designing the hardware came intuitively to me. As speed
of incoming data from printer head was higher than maximum possible speed of outgoing data, design
required a memory. For ease of implementation, I saved data in serial address, which could be read by
computer via USB cable. Design was implemented using ALTERA Cyclone III FPGA board.
Additionally, I created GUI software using visual basics, which communicated with hardware and saved
incoming data in form of binary text output file. However, it was hardware part of this problem that
interested me more and working on it gave me a sense of accomplishment.
During my junior and senior year, I undertook a yearlong research project on optical structures under
guidance of Prof XYZ. Using methodologies such as FDTD and RCWA, I created and ran simulations of
different nanostructures to determine their suitability for medical applications. This project helped me to
gauge a different avenue outside computer architecture and broaden my horizon. However most
importantly it helped me realize that computer architecture was more intuitive and certainly more exciting
field for me.
Pursuing computer hardware further, I embarked my professional journey at XYZ as Formal Verification
Engineer. XYZ is Silicon Valley based company providing Formal Verification services to major semi-
conductor companies. XYZ has provided me with an enriching work experience of working on state of
the art technology with experts across the industry. In my professional career of 2.5 years, I have
collaborated with several designers belonging to different companies, working on networking and GPU
chips. I have succesfully signed-off over 15 RTL designs varying in functionalities and design
complexities. Employing multiple state of the art fomal tools, I have also gained insight into working of
formal engines running in background. I have had the oppurtunity to experiment and analyze benefits of
different solvers based on BDD, BMC, SAT or combination of them. Interacting with design and
simulation teams, I also got a glimpse of various mechanism involved in hardware development. This job
also helped me grow my communication skills and become a team player.
For last 6 months, I have worked on formal verification of L1 cache of GPU. Being a big design, it posed
a challenging problem for verification using formal methods. Through experimentations and analysis, I
have identified each source of complexity and came up with techniques to counter them. Building upon
each solution, I have built a formal verification environment that produced great results and identified
over 20 corner-case deadlock bugs which were difficult to identify with simulation.
Working in formal verification has provided me with a steep learning curve. Each design provides a
unique problem requiring innovative solutions. Tackling these problems required numerous discussions
with my peers and brainstorming sessions.  It has increased my appetite to work on complex designs. I
also had the opportunity to attend Design Automation Conference (DAC) 2016 held at ABC.  The
experience has further fuelled my motivation to work on new innovations. I strongly believe my decision
of going back to academics would provide me with a stimulating environment and a great opportunity to
contribute to new research going on in this field.