I hold a three years bachelor's degree and a two years master's degree with hono urs in from .

As I am particularly interested in security in information techno logy I decided to focus my master s programme on this area. During my master's degree I was a participant in the Students' Project at the . There I was not only taught the theory in VLSI design and security in informatio n technology, but I was also involved in various projects. The most notable one dealt (or dealing) with the instruction set extension of the Leon2 processor for e lliptic curve cryptography. In addition, I was tutor for the course Computer Orga nisation where I tutored a group of 15 students through their practical exercises . I had the pleasure of doing my MSc project entitled in the research group of Prof essor at the University of . My task was to design a co-processor that speeds u p a specific branch of elliptic curve cryptography and runs on a Xlinx FPGA demo nstration board. The outcome of my work was very promising and resulted in a pap er that was accepted for the CHES Workshop. My aim after completing my master s degree was always to continue my academic stud ies as I have always been an ambitious student who thoroughly enjoys carrying ou t research. The PHD studentship , announced by the Computer Science department, is e xactly the type of reputable and challenging postgraduate research programme I w ould like to take part in. The positive experiences I had whilst at the Computer Science department in mean that I am extremely keen to return. With my solid knowledge and background in computer science I firmly believe that I will be a suitable candidate for your research programme and I would greatly look forward to being part of your team. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------