STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Applicant Name: Saurabh Garg

Prospective Student: Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
University of Michigan Ann Arbor

MY VISION

The desire to extend my focused work in the field of intelligent machining into the vast and challenging research
surrounding the development of intelligent manufacturing systems and the use of an advanced machining
technology, spurred by the vision of working in one of the world’s best research centers that has pioneered cutting
edge research in the same, is what brings my application for graduate admission to the Mechanical Department of
the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. A Ph.D. degree with a specialization in manufacturing is the ideal
platform for me to crystallize my interests in the field into a sound technical knowledge and explore a wealth of
exciting research opportunities spanning design for reconfigurable manufacturing systems to process modelling of
complex machining processes.

MY EVOLUTION WITH MY RESEARCH

My interest in intelligent modelling of machining processes germinated with the first actual research opportunity
that I got during the summer of 2005 (at the end of my sophomore year), when my mentor Dr. S.K. Pal at the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur introduced me to the field of Tool Condition Monitoring using artificial
intelligence (AI) based techniques such as the Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with an ultimate vision for
automated control of manufacturing processes. It sounded to me as a very interesting concept that if potentially
utilised could significantly help to reduce production time delays, ensure optimum usage of tools, prevent damage to
machinery and improve the quality and finish of the machined products by preventing stochastic tool failure through
an accurate prediction of tool-life characterized in terms of tool-wear. Working from basics, I elaborately studied
and then built my own generalized code for the most commonly used feedforward multilayer perceptron (MLP)
ANN trained through the standard backpropagation (BP) algorithm and followed it up with the code for the radial
basis function neural network (RBFN). Following a set of drilling experiments conducted using different work
materials and a wide range of cutting conditions, a comparison based performance of these networks was carried out
in prediction of the drill flank wear. This work was accepted for publication in the reputed international journal
Neural Computing and Applications (Springer) in June 2006, has come online and is in press now.

The desire to build on my work and to refine it always played on my mind. In summer 2006, I took up a funded
research project on Drill wear monitoring using ANNs under the guidance of my mentor and my endeavors have
since been directed to improving the network performance for a more accurate prediction of drill wear. I explored
the effect of several basis functions (like multiquadratic, thin plate spline, cubic, linear etc.) other than the
conventional gaussian function on the RBFN performance using a fresh set of drilling data employing RMS values
for spindle motor current, in a paper that is in review in another international journal Soft Computing - A Fusion of
Foundations, Methodologies and Applications (Springer). I then diversified my attention by studying powerful
stochastic optimization techniques like the evolutionary based Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and developed a binary
coded GA for the optimization of the RBF network architecture employing a self-growing algorithm and compared
its performance with that of the network trained through the conventional k-means approach. This paper is currently
under review in Neural Computing and Applications (Springer).

More recently, I have used some more computationally efficient evolutionary algorithms (EAs) like the Memetic
Algorithms (MAs), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Shuffled Frog Leaping (SFL) for optimizing the ANN
architecture for a still better prediction of the wear. I have used the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique
which originates from the behavioral simulation of bird flocking to train a MLP neural network and compared its
performance with the standard BPNN. This work has recently been submitted to the International Journal of
Innovative Computing and Applications (Inderscience).
In my undergraduate thesis project, I am concentrating on Acoustic emission (AE) based monitoring of the drill
wear progression for drilling small deep holes, with an intent to investigate the sensitivity of AE signal parameters to
wear progression so that the neural network’s function approximation ability can be further enhanced by using the
most sensitive parameters only as the network inputs.

OTHER ACADEMIC PURSUITS

Keen on learning from a shared pool of knowledge that develops in conferences, I have presented my paper on the
effect of basis width on different basis functions in an RBFN based drill wear prediction in a National Conference
on Recent Trends in Information Systems and Management, M.P., India (Dec, 06) and will follow it up with the
presentation of an accepted work on a proposed highly robust neuro-memetic model for wear prediction in an
International Conf. on Advances in Manufacturing and Technology Management, Mumbai, India (Jan, 07).

My undergraduate seminar presentations have throughout been best graded and published in annual departmental
magazines. I also help my friends with their coursework during the semesters and juniors on departmental forums. I
believe these interests are an outcome of my flair for teaching even though I do not have a formal experience as yet.

I have always been interested in placing my thinking, efforts and works in the broader context of society. One of my
collaborated works describing the impact of media spaces on various facets of Indian society was presented as a
paper at the 4th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (ICCPR), Vienna, Austria (July 06). I’m
also presenting a paper on the need for a revival of Gandhian philosophy for a peace starving region like North-East
India in a National Seminar on Peace in Dialogue: Reflections on North-East India, IIT Guwahati, India, Feb
07. I also look forward to potential opportunities for an interdisciplinary research work that can provide me new and
exciting opportunities to learn.

CHOICE OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR

My decision to pursue graduate studies is an outcome of two things: firstly, my passion for research which I have
realized over a period of two years through a systematically structured work in intelligent machining and
optimization, and secondly because of a strong faith in my learning capability as demonstrated by my 3rd position
(out of 39, 95 percentile) in the Mechanical department at IIT Guwahati, an institute rank of 15 (out of 210, 93
percentile) and a current Major GPA of 9.40/10 with an Overall GPA of 8.90/10.

Amongst a host of pioneering research work in the field of design and manufacturing that is being carried out at the
University of Michigan, it is the basic and applied research in the laboratories of the S.M. Wu Manufacturing
Research Center that provides the best fit to my futuristic research endeavors. While the work in the Laboratory for
Drill Research blends so well with my undergraduate research focus, other laboratories including that for Machine
Tools and Machining provide a smooth transition into exploring other related aspects of machining technology.
Similarly, the Research Center for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems with its work involving development of
solutions, methodologies and mathematical models for analyzing manufacturing systems is also a part of the entire
range of thinking and research that I would like to associate myself with.

THE ROAD AHEAD

After pursuing my graduate studies, my immediate concern would be to join industry because I feel that reading the
pulse of the industry is very essential to gain the requisite experience to handle strategic decisions and challenges in
real-life situations, an experience that is unparalleled. My career beyond that can be in academia or industry based
on my subsequent interests.

I’m fully aware of the commitment levels that such an esteemed graduate program at the Mechanical Department of
University of Michigan commands for, in order to strive for excellence in research and industry. With a promise to
make this commitment and to work to the best of my abilities, I look forward to an offer of admission and financial
assistance from you.