8/15/2019 Cornell SOP

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SUHAIB ZAFAR

Mechanical Engineering PhD

Flight has fascinated me since childhood, ever since I remember traveling by air for

summer vacation to Pakistan. Even today, watching a video of an airliner that weighshundreds of tons is breathtaking when it lifts itself off the ground in style, defying gravityto transport goods and people across thousands of miles while cruising at near sonicspeeds, thousands of feet above the ground. All this is possible due to advancements invarious sub-disciplines of aeronautics, but principally in the area of Gas Turbines.

Fascination with aircraft and flying grew to the point of passion, galvanizing me to pursueundergraduate studies in Aeronautics at the College of Aeronautical Engineering (CAE)in spite of having an offer from another top university to study for a Mathematics degree.My four-year stay at CAE earned me a reputation of being an aviation nerd & a starperformer. That was not only evident in my grades: a stellar Majors GPA of 3.82, but alsoin my class participation skills.

The senior year of my undergraduate studies introduced me to Aerospace Propulsion asa subject, and that is when I began to develop an interest in the discipline. In particular,what fascinated me about Gas Turbines was how it combined the Thermal Sciences intoa single beautiful package, one that is a masterpiece of modern day mechanicalengineering. This fact combined with the diversity of its application areas, and that I wasthe top performer among my cohort in the Thermal Sciences major, securing a GPA of4.00, led me to choose this area of specialization.

I worked in the power generation industry for a year, which is a major application area ofgas turbines. Thereafter, I pursued MSc Thermal Power & Fluids Engineering atManchester, a year-long degree program that prepared me adequately for graduateschool. My Master's dissertation was about predicting the off-design performance ofdifferent power generation gas turbines. The fundamental contribution of the thesis wasto do it for the twin-spool gas turbine, as well as doing calculations for the unchoked powerturbine. My research has been utilized to help predict performance deterioration of powergeneration units run by NESCOM, which funded a project during my stay here at theInstitute of Space Technology (IST).

During my stay at Manchester, I decided that pursuing a PhD in the area of Combustionof Gas Turbines would be the next step in my academic career, one that would help meattain my professional aim of securing a place in either academia or industrial R&D. Ibelieve that I have the aptitude, resilience, mental stamina, requisite knowledge andcreativity to pursue a career in scientific and engineering research.

8/15/2019 Cornell SOP

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SUHAIB ZAFAR

Mechanical Engineering PhD

In this context, it is imperative for me to highlight that I secured a research internship atCRFL, Clean Combustion Research Center at the King Abdullah University of Science &Technology (KAUST) for the period of January-August 2016 under the supervision ofProfessor Hong Im. During my stay at this lab, I would be conducting research incomputational methods for turbulent combustion in gas turbines, with possibleapplications in automotive engines, and I believe this will prepare me even moreadequately for pursuing graduate studies at Cornell.

Of course, my reasons to pursue graduate school stem from the fact that it would furthermy career advancement, and also my passion to contribute that tiny little bit to the vast

oceans of human knowledge that have accumulated over the centuries. My academicand professional interests are multi-disciplinary, as is evident from my resume, thatboasts work experience in both the industry and teaching plus research, and research-only further down the road in the next eight months or so. In essence, I am confident thatmy unique skill-set and academic profile make me a strong candidate for graduate school,and Cornell is my top choice.