STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

I come from a well learned and much respected family. Being so, I find myself almost
involuntarily thirsting for knowledge and having an innate desire to know more. So, after
establishing myself as a professionalsoftware engineer with Cap Gemini India, one of the largest
global IT consulting and business solutions provider, I find myself yearning to shape my future
and enhance my knowledge and skills in my field. To fulfill my desire to expand my knowledge,
I wish to return to academia and I strongly believe that my experience in Software Development
and my understanding of Industry requirements will help me towards this goal. In the following
few lines, I have outlined a few reasons for my interest in pursuing a graduate level education in
the field of computer science from Penn State University.

I have always had an innate curiosity and deep rooted attraction towards exploring,
understanding and mastering extremely challenging subjects and concepts. This led me to opt for
Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry as my core subjects in High School. I secured 83.7% in my
Board Examination, which placed me in a very good position when it came to choosing the
institution and the field of study for my Undergraduate Studies. I chose to pursue my undergrad
in Electronics and communication atMVSR Engineering Collegefor the same reasons I chose
Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry as majors for my Higher Secondary education. MVSR
Engineering College is ranked 19th among Private Engineering colleges across India.

The first year of my college saw me dealing with a well-structured course of the fundamentals
and basics in sciences and higher mathematics. In my second and third years, while I went
deeper into the vast electronics and communications engineering area to widen my background
in various design concepts, I also paid special attention to vital subjects I would deal with in my
professional life. Apart from the ECE core concepts, Programming was also a part of my course.
I had the privilege to learn hardware descriptive programming language like Verilog HDL along
with software programming in C & C++.

Amazed by the universal applications along with my new found love for the crisp intricacies of
programming, I built and programmed a sumo and a maze solver bot in my second year of
engineering along with my team which consisted of equally talented individuals from my class.
This was my first competitive project, so nothing was left to chance. I did extensive study on the
working and programming of the hardware and software and it really paid off when the bot was
adjudged as the best entry in the national level competition.This success inspired me to take my
interest forward and prepare myself for a future in programming.

By the time I was in my final year of Undergrad, I developed a fair amount of expertise in
writing complex pieces of code in C,C++ and also started making progress in my attempts at
mastering java. My time spent in the labs gave me a sense of commitment towards my goal, and
also helped in developing effective multitasking abilities. I have had a strong liking for wireless
and networking concepts as well, which led me to choose the area for my final year project. My
project “VHDL implementationof Ethernet Transmitter-Receiver” dealt with the implementation
of an Ethernet mac controller using vhdl programming language. This entailed the description of
the mac controller in vhdl, which I was able to perform successfully.

I had the chance to undergo comprehensive training in multiple technologies as well as soft
skills, at Cap Gemini. I worked on a project called ‘Enterprise Application Management’ for
CISCO as a member of the off shore development center. It is primarily responsible for all the
applications running on CISCO’s network and facilitates an array of options for different kinds
of monitoring like adding and deleting applications, making dependencies between applications
anddatabases and so on. During my association with this I got an opportunity to learn,workand
get comfortable with different technologies like PERL, J2EE, JSP, EJB, Struts, XML, HTML,
Java Script, Ajax, SQL and DOJO. I have assuaged my curiosity towards the technical terms of
the software field not only by experiencing but also exploring and enjoying.

When I started researching the various programs at different Universities to see which one would
bestsuit me, I compared aspects such as course-work, faculty, campus, etc. and I strongly believe
that Penn State University is perfect for me to pursue my Masters. Penn State University and it’s
Masters program will add value to the real time experience I have earned so far and further hone
my intellectual and programming skills.The diversity of the faculty, combined with their
expertise will provide a student like me a rich and rewarding experience.

I am confident that I possess the requisite background, intellectual ability and a high level of
motivation to meet the high standards of the graduate program and overcome any challenge that I
might face in the pursuit of my goals.Given the opportunity, I will most certainly uphold the
values and morals of the institution and emerge successful.

RUDRARAJU ASHOK GAJAPATHIRAJU