Personal Statement When Asked Where

Personal Statement

When asked where I would like to pursue my PhD in engineering management, I can never come up with an answer other than the University of Denver. This is not solely because of my positive experiences with the University of Denver during graduate school; instead, I want a PhD from a university that understands the nature of the field of engineering, a university that understands the importance of integration, invention, and progression within the engineering field. No other university has such an understanding of these variables, with special regard to the importance of cross-disciplinary knowledge in engineering. Having obtained Master's Degrees in both engineering and real estate & construction, my dream is to integrate these pursuits in a way that will allow me to pursue progressive technology in a changing world.

Throughout my educational career, I have always believed that the key to success in the field of engineering lies within the ability of the modern engineer to make connections across the disciplines. Indeed, this is what technological progress has been about since the earliest days of humans. At the University of Denver, I feel confident that I can use both my background in engineering, as well as my experience in real estate and construction to make those connections that will allow me to become an asset to this university. Working in a managerial capacity has allowed me to understand how many of these connections can be made. In the past, much of my experience has been in a managerial role, performing tasks such as achieving optimum utilization of resources, interacting with others related to the current task, and achieving communication related goals. In performing these tasks, I came to realize that many of the facets of the construction and real estate world were closely related to the field of engineering. In both disciplines, an intimate understanding of the sociology of others was needed, along with business skills. For instance, as the Project Engineer for KUDU Corporate, I was responsible for completing such tasks as negotiating with vendors, achieving optimization, and planning the completion of projects. In doing this, I had to carefully consider not only the financial and material aspect of the projects, but also the social and personnel aspects of these various projects. Through this, I learned that the art of dealing with people plays a major role in both the role of the construction/real-estate manager and the engineer. Although this is only one way in which the two are related, this experience opened my eyes as to the importance of cross-discipline study in the area of engineering.