\documentclass[12pt]{article}\usepackage{a4}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}\centerline{ \Large Statement of Purpose}\vspace{1cm}My undergraduate studies in the department of computer Science andEngg at IIT Bombay have exposed me to a stimulating academicenvironment where learning and research go together. Through the manyopportunities I have had here. I have grown to love research work andhave found that I have a strong aptitude for the kind of work that itinvolves. I have therefore decided to pursue active research as acareer. It is with this objective in mind that I wish to enroll forthe doctoral program in your university. \I plan to study at the graduate level in the area of distributedcomputing, specifically the theory of asynchronous systems. I believethat theory and application in Computer Science go hand-in-hand. Thestudy of theoretical aspects of distributed systems is essential forthe successful development of applications for heterogeneous andfault-tolerant systems. The possibilities of research in this field fascinate me. \Recent research in the theory of asynchronous computation has yieldedtheorems describing the computability of tasks in asynchronous systemsthat can tolerate multiple failures. Attempts are also being made tocompletely characterize the power of various synchronizationprimitives in an asynchronous system. As part of my B.Tech project(senior thesis) under Dr.~S.~Ramesh I am currently working onextending these results to stronger synchronization primitives andexploring the possibility of utilizing some of these ideas tocompletely describe the power of concurrent objects. To further myunderstanding of these problems I have also enrolled myself for thegraduate level course, {\em Foundations of Parallel Computation} underDr.~Ranade.\I have excelled in academics at every step in my education. Throughouttwelve years of schooling I have always been ranked among the top ofmy class. I was introduced to Computer Science in junior college. Iwas awarded the Merit Certificate for my performance in the All IndiaSenior School Certificate Examination - {\bf 100\%} in ComputerScience, {\bf 99\%} in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. I was alsoplaced seventh in the state wide Physics Talent Test of the PhysicsSociety, Madras. In the highly competitive entrance examination to theIITs I was ranked 134th among over 100,000 students. The broadcurriculum at IIT Bombay provided me with a strong foundation in allbranches of Computer Science. Of these I have pursued those which haveparticularly appealed to me. During the summer of 1994, I worked on a`learning' program for the game {\em Othello} using Neural Nets that Ihad initially developed as part of my course work. For my seminar(junior thesis) I studied {\em smart recompilation and incrementalparsing techniques} under Dr.~Dhamdhare. Efficient implementation ofthese techniques can substantially reduce compilation time in largesoftware systems.\I have also gained considerable teaching experience in IIT. I havebeen a course assistant for the Institute level freshman course,Computer Programming and Utilization for two consecutive years. I havealso delivered lectures and given demonstrations on UNIX at variousworkshops conducted by the Computer Science and Engg. Association. Allof these have been well received and have made me confident ofdeveloping into a very good teacher (I have also taken the Test forSpoken English in November 1995). I have worked for two months atARCUS, Bangalore, a company that develops VLSI tools and also forRational, USA at their third party development centre in Bangalore.\My undergraduate program has given me sufficient exposure to variousavenues for research and I have chosen Distributed Computing forwhich I have both an aptitude and a liking. A good graduate programis now essential for gaining a deeper insight and to make significantoriginal contributions to this field. I am confident that I possess themotivation, intellectual ability and preparation to succeed in ademanding graduate program.\My interest in the theory of distributed computing makes UCLA anatural choice for graduate study. Professor Eliezer Gafni is one ofthe leading researchers in this field and I have studied his work aspart of my ongoing thesis and he has encouraged me to apply to yourprogram. Working under an expert whose work can serve as a model willset me on the path to contributing significantly to the ongoingresearch at UCLA. The research interests of the other faculty memberscover a large number of topics in Computer Science and this willenable me to keep in touch with the latest developments in thesefields. The excellent facilities offered by your department willprovide an environment conducive to successful graduate work. Thefaculty at IIT have also strongly recommended UCLA for pursuinggraduate studies.\I look forward to joining UCLA as a graduate student at your esteemeddepartment.\vspace{2cm}\begin{flushright}Anand V Panangadan\end{flushright}\end{document}