Purpose

Iwassittinginacoffeeshopnearconferencehallabouthalfhouraftermyteam'ssubmissionof
paper on GAIT ANALYSIS and explaining audience our method of approach. The feeling was
ecstatic,butIwasalsoabitnervousastoknowtheresultoftheconference.Yet,itwassatisfyingto
reachourgoalaftermuchofthestruggleduringinitialdaystryingtodecodelotofresearchpapers
tostudymethodswhichwereusedpreviously.Sippingcoffee,Igatheredmymindtolookbackand
checkwhyImadedecisiontotakethisimportantcareerstep.ThedaywhenIfirstvisitedasuper
specialtyhospital,IhadseenvariousdevicescapturingvarioussignalsofourbodylikeEEG,ECG
etc..Ihadwonderedwhatthoseplotsgatheredjustbyplacingelectrodescouldprovideinformation
toaDoctortoinferstatusofapatient.Theaboveincidentkeptlingeringinmymindonlytobe
backafewyearslaterwhenIvisitedNIMHANS,BangaloretofetchEEGsignalsfromthepatients
withmysisterforherundergraduateproject ,she wasassistingthedoctorinplacing them in
specific positions and he was explaining waveform that he obtained and how he it can help
diagnosediseasesfromit.Iwasstandingtherespellboundedrealizingthattheseareproducedas
resultoftheactivityofmillionsofneuronsinthebrainandawaveformfromthemreflectingthe
patient'sstatuswassomethingthatamazedme,appreciatingtheimportanceofthosewaveforms
playedinhisdaytodaylife,andatthatinstantIdecidedtoconsiderseriouslyaboutthisasa
career.
NotuntilfourthsemesterinEngineeringIknewthewaveformthatIhadspeakingofwasa
signalanddifferedagreatdealfromwaveform.SignalsandSystemscourseItwas,whichmade
meunderstandthis.ItalsolearntgreatdealabouttheroleMathematicsplaysinstudyofthese.
DigitalSignalProcessing followed it providing a practicalframework tooperate work upon on
thesesignalsoncomputer.ButitisRealtimesignalswhicharerandomwhichprovesdifficultand
all the above methods discussed considered signals tobe Linear and Time Invariance whichis
completelyviolatedbyrealtimesignalssoanewframeworkunderprobabilitytheoryhastobe
developed.IhaveparticularreminiscenceofpostclassroomsessionsinLinearalgebrawhichhave
alwaysprovedavaluableassetsduringmylearningstagesofthesesubjects.
I have an inclination towards both theoretical and application oriented learning. My research
interestslieinthefieldslikeSpeechprocessing,Imageprocessing,EstimationandDetection.During
mycollegetermIhadanprivilegetolearnSpeech,ImageandBiomedicalsignalprocessingasa
partofmycurriculumwhichwasofferedasanelective.HereIstudiedaboutthefundamentalson
thesesubjectsalsoworkedonvariousassignmentsasapartunderstandingthesubjectinsubtler
way. This practical approach helped me in grasping the subject thoroughly as days progressed
duringmyfinalyearproject.ParticularlyIwasmoreinterestedinprobabilisticmethodsofthese
SpeakerrecognitionusingmethodslikeHMMandIfoundwaystolearntheseonmyown.Infact,
learningthemethodsandimplementationofthisbydoingaprojectandaimtoformaMATLAB
Toolboxonthesame.

Furthermore,theinteractionwithprofessorsandparticipantsduringtheconferencesandthe
projectexhibitconductedbyvariousuniversitiesandcollegeshavealwayscapturedmyinterestand
provided motivation to work on projects during my 2nd year of Engineering. Particularly, Our
collegehadconducted3workshops,spanningaweek, underthebannerofCenterofPattern
Recognition. Workshops, along with covering modules in conference such as Fundamentals of
Signal Processing, Optimization techniques, Fundamentals of Pattern Recognition and Image
processing,hadprovidedMathematicalbasisforthecoreconcepts.AutomatedObstacleDetector
inTrainan8051basedprojectwasaminiprojectwhichwe.Thisaimedtosolveproblemmanual
signalcrossingusingthefeedbackfromtheinfraredsensor.Withfurtherextensionintendedto
includesophisticatedmodulesonourtrainsuchasfiresafetybyplacingasmokesensortheproject
was completed in leisure. I had simulated a BPSK and QPSK over AWGN channel in
MATLAB/Simulink, though it was not something new, the attempt was to learn more about
Simulinkthroughaproject.DuringthisphaseIrealizedtheimportanceofselflearning,itmademe
correctmyconceptualunderstandingofthesubject.Aimofthisexercisewastoparticularlyget
accustomedwithprogramminginMATLAB/Simulink.Thesenseofsatisfactionderivedfromthis
gavememoreconfidencetotakeonmyfutureendeavors.
Duringthefinalyearofundergraduatestudies,asapartofprojectandseminar,Itook
themyseminartopicasSupportVectorMachinespartly.Frommypreviousencountersdoingthe
project,thestrongbeliefwasthat,onehastolearnMathematicalaspectsbehindthetopicalong
withthesmallpresentationtoillustratetheapplicationwhichinvokesinterestinaudience.The
preparation for the seminar was particularly tedious one since I lack basics to understand the
subjectthoroughly.ApproachingtheDrGouriSrinivasaPhD,inInformationsciencedepartment
provedparticularlyenrichinggettingtheoverallpictureofthecontent.Eventhen,Istronglyfeltthe
needtoaddresstheconceptsofHyperplanesinlinearalgebra(Iunderstoodtheimportanceof
abstractpropertiesofplaneswhenextendedtomoregeneralizedcase),QuadraticOptimizationand
KernelsusedinNonlinearclassificationmyself.ThoughIcouldnotunderstandtheseconceptsto
greaterdepththeoutcomesfromtheseareveryprominentwhichonlyenhancedmyinterestinthe
learningmoretheoreticalaspectsofthesubject.Theseminarwasappreciatedbyoneandallinthe
department.Inawaythispathledmetoknowthenuancesofthefieldingreaterdetail.
TheexperiencewassimilarindoingourprojectunderProf.Subhash.K.Kulkarni,beingthe
leadofthegroup,TheideawastoattacktheproblemofanalyzingGaitofapersonusingthelevel
sets.Silhouetteofaparticularpersonwasextractedwithbackgroundsubtractionperformedonthe
imagetoobtaintheobjectunderconsideration.Next,wetransformedtheimageobtainedtoget
measuresrequiredforourcalculationtoobtainthesignaturesthatarescaleandrotationinvariant.
Theresultwasasuccessforstillimagesandneededafurthersophisticatedapproachtoextendthe
methodforthevideoandrealtimeapplication.Havingcontributedindiscoveringandevolving2of
the 3 signatures we obtained, I contributed towards implementation of the obtaining level set
contourimageonMATLAB.MyteamproducedapaperinInternationalConferenceinSignaland

Image Processing conference titled Novel Signatures for Gait Analysis Using Level Sets.
(http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6754883) During one of the
conversationwiththeProf.Ramasubramaniam,Ph.D,aprominentresearcherinspeechprocessing
from IISc,Bangalore, I realized the importance for statistical classifying methods in the Pattern
Recognitionmethodsonimagesduringtherealtimeapplications.Thisspurtmydesiretowards
learningthestatisticalmethodsusedinsignalprocessingapplications.Duringthetenureofthe
project,IhadanopportunitytoworkasaResearchAssistantunderthemyguideforabout10
months.WhereI workedindevelopingpaperalsotaughtinlabslikeanalogelectronics,Digital
SignalProcessingforabouttwomonths.Theexperiencewasenrichingwhichhascapturedmy
mindandmademymindtopursuemycareerinResearch.
MyCareerGoal:

I want to see myself as an expert with deep knowledge with solid mathematical

backgroundandtakingsmallstepsindevelopingmyownalgorithmswithcompleteknowledgeto
understandandusemostsignalprocessingandcommunicationalgorithms.

In the immediate future, I wish to explore Industry to train myself in applications of

Practicalimportance.

IwouldliketotakeupDoctoralstudiesinabout4yearswithamajorinmathematicsand

concentrateonopenendedproblemsincommunicationandcognitivescience.
IamfollowingUniversityofColoradoBoulder(UCB)sinceMAVENexplorationsatellite
cameintoforayinwhichUCBplayedaprominentrole.Theuniversityhasastrongassociation
withNASAandhasproduced18AstronautsmostofthemarethealumniofthisUniversity.Along
withJPL,UCBerkeley,Caltech,LASPinUCBhadastrongpresenceinresearchactivitiesofNASA.
Alwaysproducingbestoftheresearcherstothescientificcommunity.NumberofNobelLaureates
and huge number of members of Prestigious Academic academies are the indication of strong
researchculturethatexistsintheUniversity.Iwouldliketocontributetotheuniversity'sFlagship
programVision2030whichaimstobeoneamongthetopresearchcommunitiesintheworldwith
excellent infrastructure. T Bridges the program which aims to get older adults to mainstream
technologiesandmakethemawareofisaninnovativewaytobringtechnologyandcommunity
service in tandem toworkfor betterment ofthesociety whichI always wanted todo. Having
realizedtheimportanceofEntrepreneurship,employmentandknowledgegenerationtheuniversity
has taken several steps to scale it to greater heights by developing funding resources and
innovationcentersalongwithManagementDepartment.STARTUPCOLORAD,SPARKBOULDER,
EngineeringentrepreneurshipCertificateprogramfromLEEDSSCHOOLOFBUSINESSareonlyfew
ofmanyinitiativestakeninthisregard.Iwanttoexplorethepossibilityofestablishingafirmusing
theknowledgeandexpertiseIpossessinmyfield.SWARMROBOTICSIntelligentrobotswhich

workintandeminperformingcomplextaskssuchasBeesandalgorithmsdevelopedinthisregard
impressedallotonthelevelofresearchgoingoninthecampus.

Thedepartmentofelectrical(change)hassomeofthebestlabsandcentersheadedby
prominentfacultyinthedomain.Speciallyinsignalprocessingandcommunicationwhichismy
areaofinterestthereareresearchgroupsheadedby Dr.TimBrown,Dr.ShannonHughes,Dr.
YoujianLiu,Dr.MaheshVaranasi,Dr.UteHerzfeld Iyearntolearnfromtheseprofessorsand
seemyselfnurturingmyacademicgoalsalongwithresearchambitions.IwanttobepartofDSP
andcommunicationsgroupwhichspearheadsPervasiveCommunicationLabunderDrTimBrown
sinceitissynchronouswithmyresearchinterests.IhaveadmiredtheworkofDrHughesinher
DetectionofforgeryinPaintingsusingsupervisedlearningwhenItookmachinelearningcourse
onlineaspartofreadingandalsoduringFinalyearprojectinthecollege.Shehasauthoredabook
inModernsignalprocessingwhichIhadreferredfortheDSPcourseinthecollege.Herresearch
areaslikekernelmethodsinsignalprocessingandmanifoldlearningmethodsindataanalysisare
theoneswhichIwillbeabletolearnfromandmakecontributionsinthefield.
IhavereferrednotesofDrYoujianLiuinthecourseslikeLinearSystemstheory,
IntroductiontoProbabilityinthecollegecurriculumandapartofselfstudy,whichwasinformative
andgaveadifferentperspectivetomylearning.Prof.LiuwhoisaseniorIEEEmemberwhohas
researchinterestswhichpartlyalignswithminelikeMIMOCommunications,SpaceTimeCoding,it
willbeanhonortoearnaspotinhisteam.TransdisciplinarySpokenLanguageResearchLab
whichdealswithspeechrecognitionandsynthesishasalsocontributedallottothefielditwillbe
exciting to learn from their methods which enhances my research experience. I have tried to
understand papers of these above mentioned professors and was just able to get superficial
knowledge.IwishtodevelopalgorithmsandmethodsofmyownandselflearningprocesswhichI
feel are utmost important for Doctoral Studies so courses offered such as Probability Theory,
Stochasticprocesses,Realanalysis,DigitalFiltersandWaveletsaretheonesIwouldliketotakeup
gainsubtlerunderstandingoftheconcepts.IamapplyingtoUCBoulderbecauseforitsemphasis
onstudentresearch.Thedistinguishedalumniareallaroundtheworldandarekeyresourcesin
their respective domain. I am sure that with the learning and research gained from Masters
ProgramwillhelpmeinfutureendeavorsasaDoctoralStudent.
Atthisjuncture,Ihopeandaimtomakethebestuseofthisexcitingcareerpath,throughyour
reputed institute. With a staunch inclination towards problem solving, positive attitude and
analyticalassessment,IassureyouthatIwillactivelyparticipateinthecourseyouofferforSignal
ProcessingandCommunication.
Possibleinclusions:

Communityservicesbyme.
Possiblefuturetechnologiesinsignalprocessing.