Sandu Ovidiu Dumitru is applying for the European Space Agency's Young Graduate Trainee program in advanced concepts and applications of deep learning for space. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in integrated networks for telecommunications in Romania. He has had a lifelong interest in space, astronomy, and artificial intelligence. His experience includes research projects in signal processing and acoustic recognition using neural networks. He believes that working for the ESA would allow him to contribute to scientific knowledge and prepare for a career in space-related research.
Sandu Ovidiu Dumitru is applying for the European Space Agency's Young Graduate Trainee program in advanced concepts and applications of deep learning for space. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in integrated networks for telecommunications in Romania. He has had a lifelong interest in space, astronomy, and artificial intelligence. His experience includes research projects in signal processing and acoustic recognition using neural networks. He believes that working for the ESA would allow him to contribute to scientific knowledge and prepare for a career in space-related research.
Sandu Ovidiu Dumitru is applying for the European Space Agency's Young Graduate Trainee program in advanced concepts and applications of deep learning for space. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in integrated networks for telecommunications in Romania. He has had a lifelong interest in space, astronomy, and artificial intelligence. His experience includes research projects in signal processing and acoustic recognition using neural networks. He believes that working for the ESA would allow him to contribute to scientific knowledge and prepare for a career in space-related research.
B-dul Nicolae Balcescu Nr.24, Pitesti jud.Arges, cod potal 110159
Tel.: +40751517806 E-mail: ovydyu_02@yahoo.com 6th December 2015
Dear Sir/Madam,
I wish to express my interest in the European Space Agency's Young Graduate
Trainee program, in the area of advanced concepts and applications of deep learning for space. For a young person in my position master student with the intention of graduating in July next year, having a mind as full of the aspirations and idealism of youth as it is with mathematics and science a training contract with the ESA represents a tremendous and unique chance to learn, and grow, and prepare myself for an exciting career in research for the space sector. I am from Piteti, a small city located 100 km away from Bucharest were I am currently pursuing a master's degree in Integrated networks for telecommunications at the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology, University Politehnica of Bucharest. Although my studies are focused on the field of telecommunications, I have had great interest in artificial intelligence since I was an undergraduate. My bachelor degree project was a sound recognition system with artificial intelligence, which implemented a multilayer perceptron neural network on a digital signal controller in order to identify coins based on their acoustic fingerprints. Although it was my first contact with the field of artificial intelligence, my curiosity and interest in this area of research helped me understand the concepts and implement them in hardware. After graduating, I wrote a chapter in the laboratory guide for the Digital signal processing course, at the University of Piteti, which details the steps for implementing a neural network on a microcontroller, so it would be helpful for future students. Also, the success of the project has determined me last summer to patent a device designed for acoustic recognition of coins, which uses an artificial intelligence algorithm to configure the coins which will be identified. I have been interested in space since I was in secondary school. At that time, this interest was focused on astronomy and it stimulated me to participate in activities related to it. Since then I became active on an astronomical forum (www.astronomy.ro), I won a school quiz contest about astronomy, called Magical journey through the Universe, and even published an article about the detection of exoplanets, on the previous forum and in an online Romanian magazine, called Vega. Therefore, my interest in space would be an important motivational factor for working at ESA. When I was an undergraduate I had the opportunity to go to the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuttgart, for summer practice. The experience I had there determined me to work in research and development. After graduating, my search for a job leaded me to Bucharest, where I started working for a Romanian company, in two research projects. This helped me accommodate to a multidisciplinary research environment, where interaction with both professors and engineers is needed. I have always been a curious and self-motivated person and I think that working in research projects is a confirmation of these qualities.
My experience as a professional folk dancer
gave me the possibility to interact with many people of different nationalities, during the world tours I participated to, and the possibility to develop my team working skills. Also, the experience in the ABSOLUTE project helped me accommodate to new ways of thinking and working on a research project. My life and working experience have taught me that it is good to be guided by a purpose which you believe in. Mine is to contribute to the understanding of the place we and our planet hold in the cosmos. Knowing someday that I have contributed to humankind's progress would be the greatest reward for me as a member of the ESA's ACT. I'm looking to devote my efforts to something that increases scientific knowledge and I believe that such an ESA traineeship is an exciting and singular opportunity to do good work, to learn and improve myself in a comprehensive way, and to prepare myself for a career in space-related research. Participation in the ESA's Young Graduate Trainee program would be an honor and a great first step in that direction. Thank you for the opportunity to apply. I look hopefully forward to further communication between us.