Personal Statement: Shift Towards Advanced Technology

Personal Statement
Tianyue Ma
The rapid shift towards advanced technology and global economy worldwide has given birth to many opportunities in the field of Information Technology. The environment and situation are tight and challenging. This is what has triggered me to want to contribute positively in problem-solving of matters concerning this field by developing solutions that are optimal and meaningful. This is just a brief history to introduce my purpose for my goal in undertaking a Master’s degree in Information Technology. I strongly believe that the program will advance my creativity, logical and analytical skills and approaches in Information Technology. It is my deep hope and belief that I will be granted the chance to undertake this program at Carnegie Mellon University, Heinz College.
Growing through a Master's program in Information Technology will form a foundation that will impact me with research skills and theoretical understanding. There is a whole process of endless acquisition of knowledge. I need to acquire knowledge and hand-on experience in the modern developments, advancements, and techniques in Information Technology. It will also provide me with a deep understanding of practical approach ideas that will foster my managerial abilities and decision-making. Harvesting all this combination will give the expertise required in the major areas of Information Technology. I also believe that I will benefit the institution through the skills that I acquire, by training others too who might need my help.
The specific problems I’m particularly interested to probe are based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis in understanding certain varied topics within Information Technology. I would want to improve my skills in decision making to affect an organization’s leadership systems. The research areas of interest include network security and information security. The qualitative and quantitative skills that I have together with expertise in computer technology and applications have sharpened my analytical skills. The experiences I have had on various projects have enhanced my confidence to the point that I believe I can handle any complex problem on a whole new level. This would also benefit the institution, since I would be contributing towards its research body as well.
The experiences I have had on both academic and working level have molded my technical skills and personality. Being a team leader on the academic projects based on the network and information security has sharpened my leadership skills. Technically, I can use Intrusion Detection System to locate vulnerabilities the system might be undergoing and also track the intruder. The technical abilities I acquired from the project on information security are the ability to effectively and efficiently use SQL injection to detect vulnerabilities on a website. I can use cryptography to form a secured process of decryption and encryption. My ability to perform a buffer overflow is not questionable. The two experiences have also enhanced my analytical skills, especially where I had to use Wireshark to capture and analyze data in the project of network security.
The academic experience in Information Technology did not come to a ha...