STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Mechanics, one of the foremost branches of Physics, is an indispensable area in engineering. The
intriguing questions posed by the field of mechanics drew my interest towards this area. This
interest has been further fueled by my natural feel for the subject and my ability to correlate the
concepts with the observations made in the surroundings. My curiosity to learn and my urge to
contribute to the scientific world have prompted me to opt for research and teaching as my
career. My long term career goal is to do pioneering research in an academic milieu and to share
the knowledge thus gained through teaching. My inclination towards research and liking for
mechanics has driven me to apply for a doctoral program in the area of applied mechanics.

After my 8th standard at high school, I was selected for the Program for Gifted Youth conducted
by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and Institute of Mathematical Sciences Madras to
nurture young talent. Here my exposure to the latest trends and developments aroused a strong
fascination in me for science and technology. The choice of Mechanical Engineering as my
major in the undergraduate program at IIT Madras has given me ample opportunity to hone my
skills, acquire knowledge, gain research experience and shape my interests. My focus in
understanding the fundamentals has helped me thoroughly learn the conceptual subjects such as
Thermodynamics, Strength of Materials, Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer. This is reflected by
my grade point average of 9.76/10 (equivalent to 3.9/4) in my Major theory, which is the highest
in my class of over 100 students.

My urge for research got me started as early as my sophomore year. My first project was on the
mechanics of abrasive water jet cutting. In this work, I studied the different modes of erosion,
modeled the jet interaction with the material, predicted the jet propagation inside the material
and simulated the cut surface. The highly intriguing results I obtained were communicated to an
International Conference. Subsequently, this work was extended and was published in
International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture1. This research opportunity gave me
immense satisfaction and further fueled my interest towards research.

With the momentum thus gained, I extended my independent work to a wide range of areas, both
theoretical and experimental. The areas of work include: estimation of residual stresses in water
jet peening, repeatability of simulation processes, feed rate optimization in sculptured surface
machining, modeling of swirling fluidized beds and transport properties in dispersed media 2 .
The results of some of these efforts have been accepted for presentation at two forthcoming
International Conferences. My work in these diverse areas has enriched my knowledge and also
helped me understand the importance of interdisciplinary work.

My stay at IIT Madras has given a new dimension to my involvement in Mechanics. It helped me
identify Solid Mechanics, Mechanics of Materials as my favorite areas among others. My
interest in these fields perked up during my work on abrasive water jet cutting. Though the work
involved contributions from various other areas, the most challenging part was to model the
mechanics of the erosion process. To get a deeper understanding of this field, I chose Solid
Mechanics-related courses as my minor stream, such as Introduction to Solid Mechanics, Finite

1
Please refer to section on Publications
2
Please refer to section on research experience in resume for details of the work
Element Methods and Experimental Stress Analysis. Apart from this, my present independent
study of Continuum Mechanics and lectures on variational methods at the Institute of
Mathematical Sciences has exposed me to the mathematical aspect of this area. With motivation
drawn from my interest in this field, I am currently working on prediction of residual stresses in
water jet peening. This study deals with the analysis of jet structure, prediction of dynamic
material response to loading and estimation of residual stresses.

After a careful evaluation, I find this vast area of Solid Mechanics truly fascinating and
challenging with its charm drawn from both Physics and Mathematics. Having had a good
insight into this subject and a broad view of the various aspects of research currently being
pursued, I find this field very promising for my higher studies. Hence, I would like to pursue a
doctoral program in applied mechanics with emphasis on mechanics of solids and materials,
which would enable me to work in area close to my interests, delve into the intriguing questions
posed by this area and contribute significantly.

In my search for a good university to start my career in research, I was advised by my professors
and seniors that California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is one of the best places for research
in the world and has an excellent solid mechanics group. To know more in detail, I have been
going through a couple of recent works of the research groups in Caltech in the areas of shape
memory effects and micromechanical modeling of material behavior. I find the research being
done in the various areas of solid mechanics and mechanics of materials (more specifically, in
shape memory alloys, multiscale modeling, nanomechanics, micromechanical modeling and
experimental techniques employed to determine material behavior) very challenging and
interesting, and am very eager to play an active part in this research.

I am confident that the excellent research environment, interaction with the faculty and fellow
researchers at Caltech will help me to become a good researcher and bring out the best in me.
With my strong fundamentals, academic background and zeal and enthusiasm for research, I am
confident I will be able to make good contributions to the scientific world with the guidance of
the eminent faculty at Caltech. I am eagerly looking forward to pursue research and consider it a
great privilege to be admitted into Caltech.

(G. Vikram)