Human communities throughout the world, specially the environmentalists are facing many water related problems such as presence of contaminants in water, loss of surface water, rapid depletion of the groundwater resources and increased soil erosion due to water runoff. Globally, the potable water sources are deteriorating rapidly. At this rate many parts of the world would be facing a severe scarcity of clean and contaminant free water. This situation has influenced my career objectives considerably. I want to work in the field of water quality engineering and I aim to develop engineering solutions which are simple yet economical and practical for the population at large specially the farmers.
Technology has always fascinated me, and this coupled with my propensity towards the agricultural sciences led me to pursue agricultural engineering as a major in my undergraduate degree program. I was fortunate to be admitted in the College of Technology at GBPUAT, India’s first and premier Agriculture and Technology University, where my curiosity and awareness were both augmented by the excellent facilities in the university campus
Selected to undergo my first internship at the Central Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute, Budni, one of Asia’s premier farm machinery certification institutes; I was exposed to cutting edge research and development for the first time, albeit in the field of farm machinery. Participating in “build from scratch” experiments, I was truly fascinated by the precise methodology and innovative ideas needed to come out with best design of novel farm machineries and equipments. Working for a better design of a “rotary tiller” to increase the operational life of its blades, though tedious and involving, seemed stimulating to me, or maybe it was the delight of working on a real design problem after two years of pedagogy.
In the beginning of my junior year I was offered a research project by Dr. Chhedi Lal, Professor, Dept. of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering. It was entitled Automated Irrigation Scheduling using Wireless Data Transmission Techniques. The aim of the project was to develop a completely automated system which would send a short message (SMS) to the farmer indicating the amount of water to be applied in the field, utilizing data from soil moisture sensors. This has resulted in optimal water usage, regularized water scheduling and minimal runoff losses. The project involved an extensive use of experimental software such as Lab VIEW 7.0, which was used to create a Virtual Instrument to calculate the water requirements based on soil moisture, type and crop conditions.
My decision to pursue my graduate studies in the water quality improvement and contaminant transport analysis was actuated by my interest in the areas of watershed hydrology, drainage systems, and runoff water management etc. to which I was exposed to in courses like Watershed Hydrology, Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, and Irrigation and Drainage Engineering and through my own readings on the various research developments taking place throughout the world. My passion for the subject can be gauged by the fact that I was among the toppers for all the courses of respective departments.
Better water quality and reduced contaminant discharge in runoff water can create a huge impact on the environmental systems worldwide and their universal practical applicability makes them an area of tremendous future potential. Technology development for better water quality provides great research opportunities and I believe land and water resource engineers and conservationists would have an increasing crucial role to play not only in major corporations and public /non govt. initiatives but even in various government departments as well. A good grounding in the agricultural field practices and my strength in analytical and computational related tasks would stand me in good stead in my chosen area of research.
My second internship, at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), a Government of India enterprise, dealt with the regional interpretation of Water Quality monitoring data in the State of Uttarakhand. This training has given me an excellent research experience along with a deep insight on the water quality analysis and management practices.
In my 7th semester, I was selected to be a part of a research team for working on a project entitled
An Innovative System for Bioremediation of Agricultural Chemicals for Environmental Sustainability. This project has been developed by University of Illinois –Urbana Champaign (UIUC). Under the research collaboration of our University with UIUC we are investigating the potential use of bio materials (wooden chips) as filters for the chemical bioremediation of agricultural water. My active interaction and involvement in this project has given me a chance to be a part of high-end research, valuable international exposure, and a working familiarity with DRAINMOD 6.0.
My final year dissertation is Design and Installation of Gravity head Micro-irrigation Systems for Vegetable crops. This project has given me great designing experience as it required a comprehensive design for a gravity head micro-irrigation system for summer squash plants. Also the field experience gained from the complete in field installation of the micro-irrigation system right from water tanks, main lines, laterals, emitters, fertigation unit, filters to the complete polyhouse has been truly enriching.
I actively pursued my sporting interests in my degree program. I’ve been a part of the University Squash team for the last three years and have represented the university in All India University Men’s Squash Racquet Championships twice. Our team also finished a creditable third in the state championships. The game brought in endless hours of hard work and strategizing. It helped inculcate values such as perseverance, patience and also a spirit of teamwork. Squash is a game that’s very demanding both physically and mentally and it really tests your limits. It has been instrumental in my progress as a stronger individual in both mind and body.
I have served the student body of the college in various capacities over the past three years. I am one of the founding members of the Alumni Cell of the college and presently am the Coordinator. Due to the untiring efforts of our team under my supervision, we have expanded rapidly from mere hundred alumni contacts to a family of more than six thousand at the moment. I am also the Vice chairman of the student body of the college i.e. the Engineering Society. This experience in actuality simulated the real life conditions faced in the professional world and thereby has enriched my leadership qualities and organizational skills. Organizing the national level technical festivals has given me great insights into the latest technological developments and has been a wonderful platform to interact and compete successfully with the best students in the country.
My active interest in the National services Schemes for three years brought in greater sense of belongingness and social responsibility towards all sections of the society. Our team adopted a village for about a month and worked with disadvantaged families, discussing their lives, helping them and teaching them English in the evening classes. This taught me societal management and how to make things happen with minimal resources. My association with the National Services Scheme has been a great learning curve for me and a very enjoyable experience in interfacing with people from all backgrounds and walks of life.
In a nutshell, I feel very privileged to be a part of such a wide array of activities outside of the academic domain. These have been a major influence to my overall development as an individual in my learning years. I consider discipline, handling group dynamics, and innovative thinking as the main positives from these activities. I feel that I have gained immensely from the opportunities presented to me and my experiences with them and I am much more confident to face the sterner professional tests in the future.
Now on the threshold of completing four years of enlightening undergraduate study, I am convinced that a graduate degree would be an ideal platform for me to take up new challenges, study new concepts and interact with great scholars and learn from them. My past experiences and work have taught me that determination, hard work and perseverance are the most essential qualities required for professional success and I am confident of putting them into practice and achieve my goals. I enjoy research in its every facet - problem solving, identifying issues, presentation, modeling, and criticism. Given an opportunity to pursue a graduate degree from revered institution like UIUC would help me reach the zenith of my potential both intellectually and academically. I am interested in the works of Dr.P. Kalita, & Dr. R.A. Cooke in the fields of water quality, contaminant discharge and subsurface drainage and it would be a great honor to work under their guidance. I sincerely hope that my application would receive a positive response from the Selection Committee.
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