Scientific Interest, Admission Essay Example

The notion of joining the Scripps Research’s Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences is a personal milestone that is poised to augment my scientific scholarship expertise. Initial post-graduate performances in biological sciences have motivated the ambition to pursue higher education in three research endeavors, where I believe I can make a lasting contribution. They are nanomedical engineering, biochemistry, and analytical chemistry. The priority area in my research context is nanomedical engineering. It is due to an increased need for more medical solutions to manage and prevent debilitating diseases using its cutting-edge technologies. Nanomedical engineering leverages the opportunity to explore nanoparticles that can be manipulated for improved medical therapeutic solutions. Through more research encouraged by the institution, biomedical engineering will develop further with, inclined on my wish to expand the nanomedical engineering information and solutions. Therefore, the holistic training I will receive from this institution is bound to help me achieve the desire to contribute to the medical fraternity.

Persistence and Determination

A critical aspect of my scientific approach is my overarching goal to develop and evaluate new materials and technologies. These maximize performance and overall potential applications in medicine. For example, while working for VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) from August 2017 to 2018, I analyzed design specifications and translated the requirements into manufacturing procedures. My target was to achieve a high quality of finished products – a skill developed through hands-on experience. Even, there was a time I evaluated carbide blade inserts produced by different manufacturers and identified factors that minimized the performance of pre-mature insert failures.

Background

My background can mostly be related to advancing the interest in science, especially in nanomedical engineering. When I was eight years old, I had a friend; Nana lost his battle against sickle cell disease (SCD). I remember his mother’s sorrows at 2 am; they still reverberate in my memory. This incident has and still motivates me to venture into biochemistry, more so after establishing while in high school that SCD was all about an abnormal biochemical arrangement of a hemoglobin chain. Through nanomedical engineering, I believe my unmatched undergraduate success in exploring mitigation of the mechanical failure between the hip-joint inter-faces may enhance better medical outcomes in SCD patients. It is a fact that my background and experience with nanomedical engineering will influence my research goal to coin applicable bioengineering human solutions.

Motivation and Rationale

The detrimental outcome of my friend Nana is the sole motivational factor for the pursuit of nanomedical engineering. Scripps Research’s Skaggs Graduate School of Chemical and Biological Sciences is renowned for professional education rapport. It is why I believe joining this institution will position me to acquire more practical engineering human solutions to debilitating diseases. My one wish is to indulge myself in scientific research to better societal wellbeing. This institution will guide my path to provide better medical solutions, which Nana failed to find.

Research Experience

Laboratory Research Experience

Upon my Master’s degree completion, I interned in an orthopedics lab for three months. I designed biomechanical experiments to simulate the mechanism of greater trochanteric detachment in revision total hip arthroplasty.  Several challenges were encountered during my period. But, I sought expert advise and help from experienced researchers; I emerged strong with skills in research experience. Working in teams consolidated my research framework. It contributed to taking many roles previously, such as the time in the Virginia Department of Transportation. They included mechanical testing and determining material compliance in the procedures.

Research Tools, Techniques, and Methods

My experience in the laboratory has culminated in familiarizing with a range of tools, techniques, and methods. In the undergraduate scientific research experience, I engaged online databases to make use of virtual resources, such as KEGG, BRENDA, and EXPASY. They centered on systemic review techniques in research. As well, my Master’s degree experience involved making use of tools, such as electron microscopes and metrology. These research ventures used analytical techniques, such as EDX analysis and standard deviation. My previous encounter with chemical analytical techniques involved the application of tools, such as transmission electron microscopes. That is why, while working with Applied Materials, I was able to utilize methods, such as DOE. These are part of my laboratory experiences I have been able to amass.

Project Outcome

For my research experience, I have been in scientific projects about the use of nanomedical engineering. My first research was in the UVA Computational Systems Biology Laboratory, working as a research assistant from June to December 2012. I successfully developed a metabolic model of Clostridium difficile (C. diff). I reconstructed the metabolic network of the bacterium from gene-annotated data draw from online databases, such as KEGG, BRENDA, and EXPASY. Besides, I investigated the reliability Of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) for quantitative chemical analysis in analytical electron microscopy. This was during my Master’s degree at the University of Leeds. I also worked on the literature review and sample preparations. We successfully demonstrated the reliability of the measured chemical composition of powdered samples and developed a better methodology for accurate EDX analysis with less than 10% standard deviation using SDD. These are some of the complete and successful projects I took part in.

Publications and Presentations

In my years of research, I have been able to present several publications. My first publication was a multi-discipline design project. We were four researchers exploring the mitigation of mechanical failure between the hip-joint interface and the feasibility of a wear-resistant implant for active individuals. I analyzed design specifications and translated the requirements into manufacturing procedures. This aimed at achieving a high quality of finished products in a research project that was collaboratively published at the Virginia Department of Transportation. I was involved in another publication at the University of Leeds. It entailed investigating the reliability of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) for quantitative chemical analysis in analytical electron microscopy. My input was on the literature review and sample preparations in the publication.

Besides, out of the highlighted three publications, the University of Leads’ publication was my second poster presentation at an international conference in July 2019. This publication on SDD was a vital input to science. It was adopted in medicine through enhancing optimum x-ray chemical analysis in scanning electron microscopes and transmission electron microscopes. I believe I can acquire more research skills and knowledge and subsequently contribute more to the field of science if I get an admission in this institution.