My passion in engineering was initially shaped by my volunteer experience at a major hospital in my hometown during the summer of my freshman year of college. While working as a navigator in the Department of Radiology, I observed that many patients were waiting for MRI tests, then had to wait in long lines for doctors to interpret the test and diagnose based on the results. I found the overall process to be long and inefficient. I wondered if future medical imaging systems would give us a scan from which people could directly get accurate diagnostic information.
This experience led me to become fascinated by the field of electrical engineering and the principals behind medical instrumentation design, which ultimately led to my career goal of becoming an electrical engineer in the biomedical field.
Digital Signal Processing class further sparked my interest in exploring the link between electrical engineering and medicine. Designing a digital filter that eliminated noise caused by the patient’s motion and preserved a clean ECG for the heart monitor helped me appreciate signal processing as a powerful tool in medical applications. However, even after filtering the interference in the ECG data, interpreting ECG is still difficult for people without medical training. Therefore, as I pursue my graduate study, I want to focus my study on imaging processing that transforms abstruse medical image into reliable and clearer information.
While the overall success of my digital filter design project encouraged me, a failed attempt propelled me into bettering my communication skills. This in turn readied me to immerse in a highly collaborative environment. When the data transmission part of our microprocessor project failed to work correctly, I spent an entire night trying to debug it, but I could not remedy it by myself. was frustrated, but my partner offered a suggestion that fixed our transmission problem. This made me realize the importance of keeping my mind open to collaboration and to advice and new ideas from others. We later used this effective communication to design a more efficient algorithm. Willingness to share ideas and cooperate with people will inspire my creativity and help me in future projects.
Beyond the electrical engineering curriculum, my preparation in neuroscience will be a strong asset to the medical imaging research at Brown. During the neuroscience training camp, a group project on evaluating the work of learning mechanisms using a molecular biology approach strengthened my neurophysiology background.
Moreover, through Professor Zhuan Zhou’s lecture on neurodegenerative disease, I saw the strong connection between electrical engineering and neuroscience because the investigation method he used was primarily based on electrophysiology and optical imaging. Researching on an interdisciplinary area, such as medical imaging processing, requires in- depth scholarly exposure in interface between biomedical sciences and engineering. Therefore, I plan to take Neuroengineering class to broaden my understanding of neuronal circuit, neuron simulations and neurotechnologies.
While rigorous courses will prepare me with a substantial foundation and essential skills in medical imaging processing, I will also be able to raise my technical skills by getting involved in research. I hope to participate in Professor Benjamin Kimia’s research project focusing on recognition of two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes from medical images, which would allow me to extend imaging processing principles into biomedical imaging applications.
After completing the master program, I plan to work in a biomedical company where I could continuously develop my professional skills by solving challenging problems. With these skills, I hope to contribute to advancing automatic systems that can interpret and analyze medical imaging data. There are times when my individual effort is not enough, but I believe that the collaborative force of many engineers can ensure goals are achieved, and I hope to be part of them.
Thank you for reading my statement. I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to engage in a challenging academic environment and to learn from the accomplished faculty.
