Linköping University Selection Committee

Dear Sir,

I am applying to your master program of Statistics and Data Mining starting in September 2014. My

career ambition is to become a doctor researching in the field of data mining.

I graduated from high school with mathematics as my major. Based on my high school score I went

to Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree

from Computer and Systems Engineering Department with an average score of 84.4% (GPA 3.62).

As my first exposure to statistics and data management, I took two courses; "Probability Theory

and Computer Applications" and “Statistical Methods for Computers”. Then, I took another two

courses; "Database Systems" and “Special topics in Information Systems”. I got high scores in the

four courses (3 Excellent and a Very Good). I was impressed by the vast area in which we can use

the simple principles of data analysis and data mining in our everyday life.

Complementing my strong academic performance are my advanced skills in leadership and

communication. During my studies, I was the team leader responsible for building and leading our

project team. As the team leader, I was responsible for distributing project assignments and

responsibilities as well as governing interpersonal relationships.

The project’s name was “Efhamni” which means “Understand Me”. It was a sign language

recognition system using Microsoft’s Kinect system. The aim was to address problems of

communication for the hearing impaired. The graduation project was awarded the second place on

a national competition by Egypt Innovate, Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center,

TIEC Graduation Project Competition, IBTIECAR 2012. The competition was sponsored by Microsoft

ATL at Cairo and many other sponsors. It was a program for general gesture recognition, which is

presented and tested with isolated signs of sign language. The framework made use of Kinect, a

depth camera developed by Microsoft and PrimeSense, which features easy extraction of

important body parts. Recognition was done using Hidden Markov Models (HMM) with a discrete

observation probability. The project also offered an easy way of initializing and training new

gestures or signs by performing them several times in front of the camera. Results showed a

recognition rate of 85% for fourteen signs when they were trained by more than one person.

After graduation, I joined the R&D department of the Egyptian Navy, as part of my military service.

We worked on developing an algorithm for privacy preservation within data mining systems and

hiding of sensitive rules. The project produced nearly no hiding failures and relatively low misses-

cost.

During my service in the army and until now, I have been working as a teaching assistant for

pattern recognition and computer vision course. The course covers various topics, from pattern

similarity, simple classifiers and their evaluation, to different techniques of clustering and their

usage.

In addition, I work as a research assistant in Alexandria University. The research is conducted under

supervision of Professor Marwan A.Torki and it is funded by Academy of Scientific Research and

Technology (ASRT) in Egypt. We are currently working on obstacle detection /avoidance from

optical flow. The aim of the research project is to build a framework that helps the visually

impaired in movement by detecting different obstacles.

I specifically chose this program because I want to pursue my studies after the master’s degree for

PhD and continue as a doctor researching in this field. Any contribution in this field is a great

addition to how we see and analyze data from different sources, how we can get the best out of

the data and how we can use the data to predict results. Working in this field will not only enrich

the academic society with new techniques, but also can be used in the industry. Linking research to

industry is one of my main goals during this program. The applications of data management in

industry are infinite. For instance, we can use a Raspberry Pi board and a simple camera to build a

smart camera, which can be installed in factories to monitor production lines and to trigger alarms

on reaching possible danger thresholds based on given data/statistics. In Egypt, as a developing

country, we don’t have data management systems in most of the governmental sectors. I had an

idea which can be applied in health insurance systems, where we can use a data system to store

information about subscribers to the system and make it available to any medical partner using

RFIDs (private sector/clinics/ even ambulances). This will make the job of tracking the patient’s

history of allergies for example, very easy. Other fields of usage in industry includes hospitals

organization. An artificial intelligence system can be used organize bed schedules, make a staff

rotation, provide medical information and estimate number of cases. Going further on my

graduation project is another possible track for me. Extending it to include full sentences, and word

prediction is a target.

I want to participate in this program because of its outstanding educational system and excellent

facilities, to focus on gathering relevant work experience. The diverse nature of the program is also

a very important point for my application. I have always been interested in being in a diverse

environment and I can easily adapt to new ones. During 2010 and 2012, I joined two international

programs abroad. In 2010, I participated in Seliger camp in Russia, it had participants from all over

the world followed by United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAoC) summer school in Portugal

in 2012. During Seliger camp, I met a Swedish woman. She used to tell me about the Swedish

history and civilization. She taught me simple Swedish words. I believe that joining this program will

help me learn more about the Swedish culture and the Swedish language as I got interested in

them. Also, joining international programs helps in building connections from all over the world.

I am confident that I will bring a high level of energy and enthusiasm to your program. I am sure I

will exceed your expectations for both my academic and interpersonal skills, which I will use and

further develop during this program. I believe my international background and interdisciplinary

education will add more diversity to your program.

Finally, I have a comment regarding my English proficiency. I supplied a document stating that

English was the language of instruction and assessment during my Bachelor’s study. A month ago, I

took TOEFL exam. Scores were out two week ago. I got 109 (28 reading, 30 listening, 23 speaking,

28 writing). If I had chosen to send TOEFL scores to the admission office, it wouldn’t have reached it

before the deadline. The admission website stated that it is possible to send the university paper

only, so I sent it. In case I am admitted, I will provide TOEFL scores immediately to the department.

Thank you for considering my application, and I look forward to your acceptance.

Sincerely yours,

Mohamed Soliman