IamathirdyearmastermajorinautomationatShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity,P.R.China.WithtremendousinterestinIndustrialEngineering,IamwritingtoapplyforacceptanceintoyourPh.D.graduateprogram.EducationbackgroundIn1995,IenteredtheNanjingUniversityofScienceTechnology(NUST)--widelyconsideredoneoftheChina’sbestengineeringschools.Duringthefollowingundergraduatestudy,myacademicrecordskeptdistinguishedamongthewholedepartment.IwasgrantedFirstClassPrizeeverysemester,andmyoverallGPA(89.5/100)rankedNo.1among113students.In1999,Igottheprivilegetoenterthegraduateprogramwaivedoftheadmissiontest.IselectedtheShanghaiJiaoTongUniversitytocontinuemystudyforitsbestreputationonCombinatorialOptimizationandNetworkSchedulingwheremyresearchinterestlies.Attheperiodofmygraduatestudy,myoverallGPA(3.77/4.0)rankedtop5%inthedepartment.
Inthesecondsemester,Ibecameteacherassistantthatisgiventotalentedandmaturedstudentsonly.Thisyear,IwontheAcerScholarshipastheoneandonlycandidateinmydepartment,whichistheultimateaccoladefordistinguishedstudentsendowedbymyuniversity.Presently,IampreparingmygraduationthesisandtryingforthehonorofExcellentGraduationThesis.ResearchexperienceandacademicactivityWhenasophomore,IjoinedtheAssociationofAIEnthusiastandbegantonarrowdownmyinterestformyfutureresearch.In1997,IparticipatedinsimulationtooldevelopmentfortheschedulingsysteminProf.Wang’slab.WiththetoolofOpenGLandMatlab,Idesignedasimulationprogramfortransportationschedulingsystem.
ItisnowwidelyusedbydifferentresearchgroupsinNUST.In1998,IassumedandfulfilledasewageanalysisdisposeprojectforNanjingsewagetreatmentplant.Thiswasmyfirstpracticetoconvertalaboratoryideatoacommercialproduct.In1999,IjoinedthedistinguishedProfessorYu-GengXisresearchgroupaimingatNetworkflowproblemsolvingandHeuristicalgorithmresearch.SoonIwasengagedintheFuDanGeneDatabaseDesign.Mydutywastopickuptheusefulinformationamongdifferentkindsofgenematchingformat.Throughthecomparisonandanalysisformanyheuristicalgorithms,Iintroducedanimprovedevolutionaryalgorithm--Multi-populationGenetic
Algorithm.Bydividingawholepopulationintoseveralsub-populations,thisimprovedalgorithmcaneffectivelypreventGAfromlocalconvergenceandpromotevariousevolutionaryorientations.ItprovedmoreefficientlythanSGAinexperiments,too.Inthesecondsemester,Ijoinedtheworkshop-schedulingresearchinShanghaiHeavyDutyTyreplant.Theschedulingwasdesignedfortherubber-makingprocessthatcoverednotonlydiscretebutalsocontinuouscircumstances.Tomakeabalancepointbetweenoptimizationqualityandtimecost,IproposedaDynamicLayeredSchedulingmethodbasedonhybridPetriNets.Thepracticalapplicationshowedthattheaveragemakespanwasshortenedbyalargescale.Ialsopublicizedtwopapersincorejournalswiththisidea.Recently,IamdoingresearchintheCompositePredictoftheElectricalPowersystemassistedwiththetechnologyofDataMiningforBaoSteel.ItrytocombinetheDecisionTreewithRecedingOptimizationtoprovideanewsolutionfortheCompositePredictiveProblem.Thisprojectisnowunderconstruction.
Besides,InJuly2000,IgottheopportunitytogivealectureinEnglishinAsiaControlConference(ASCC)whichisoneofthetop-levelconferencesamongtheworldintheareaofcontrolandautomation.Inmysenioryear,ImetProf.Xiao-SongLin,avisitingprofessorofmathematicsfromUniversityofCalifornia-Riverside,Ilearnedgraphtheoryfromhimformynetworkresearch.TheseexperiencesallrapidlyexpandedmyknowledgeofEnglishandtheunderstandingofwesternculture.
Ihopetostudyindepth
Inretrospect,Ifindmyselfstandingonasolidbasisinboththeoryandexperience,whichhaspreparedmeforthePh.D.program.Myfutureresearchinterestsinclude:NetworkSchedulingProblem,HeuristicAlgorithmresearch(especiallyinGAandNeuralnetwork),Supplychainnetworkresearch,HybridsystemperformanceanalysiswithPetrinetsandDataMining.