Ambition, hard work and a pinch of luck are the three ingredients for being successful in life,

finding right balance between them is my goal in life. Success means different things to
different people, so what does it mean to me? For me success would mean achieving the
following target, to develop technology that would make the lives of people easier. Achieving
this target would require me to carry out extensive research. I want to do this research in the
field of Integrated circuit design, I realized this while I was pursuing the course of Analog
electronics in my 6th semester (Jan-May 2014) at BITS Pilani, Goa campus. I am really interested
in learning how integrated circuits work and how to design them using simulation software
such as cadence and Pspice. Another reason that has spurred this interest in me were the books
Design with Operational Amplifiers and Analog Integrated Circuits by Sergio Franco, CMOS VLSI
Design by Neil H.E Weste, David Harris and Ayan Banerjee and Design of Analog CMOS
Integrated Circuits by Behzad Razav which gave me a good perspective into the field of
integrated circuits.
The reason I want to pursue a Masters degree at Virginia Tech is, I currently have a
good overview of integrated circuits but do not have sufficient knowledge to fulfill my above
stated career ambition. Another reason that has compelled me to apply to Virginia Tech is the
multi-disciplinary research in the field of Bio medical engineering. I have done research work on
the generation of electricity from microbial fuel cells during my 3rd year (2013-2014) at BITS,
Pilani Goa campus under the supervision of Dr. Srikanth Mutnuri (Associate professor at BITS
Pilani, Goa campus email:- srikanth@goa.bits-pilani.ac.in), he has several accolades to his
name. As part of the project my colleagues and I had analyzed various materials for use in
different configurations of microbial fuel cells, the analysis was done to determine an optimal
design for generating power from microbial fuel cells. Dr. Srikanth Mutnuri had highly
commended my work and had given me an A grade (the course titled BIO F266 study project
on my transcript) and a letter of recommendation for my work. I feel there is immense
potential for the use of microbial fuel cells as power sources in integrated circuits. They could
be used in numerous Bio medical devices for example powering pace makers with microbial
fuel cells could eliminate the need for replacing the battery. Something like this could just be
what I need to fulfill my goals.
I have done well in the courses required for pursuing my research target, those being
Analog electronics and Analog and VLSI design (as can be seen on my transcript). As part of the
Analog and VLSI design course I had learned the encounter tool in Cadence for designing
integrated circuits. If given the opportunity I want to gain a better understanding of the above
mentioned subjects and further explore CAD (computer aided design) tools for designing
integrated circuits through the Electronic Components, Circuits, and Systems curriculum and
courses in the field of Biomedical applications on offer at Virginia Tech. I want to use the

Knowledge gained from these courses to design integrated circuits that use microbial fuel cells
as power sources with the guidance of the professors at Virginia Tech.
To conclude, as detailed above I am driven by my ambition. This ambition is what will
enable me work hard and excel at Virginia Tech if given the opportunity.