Statement of Purpose

Today’s people are paying increasingly more attention to a balanced diet in daily life, however, modern food is highly influenced by serious environmental pollution and human’s misconduct such as the overuse of hormones during the crops planting and animal raising process. Due to that, it is very difficult for people to get rational and comprehensive nutrition. For my part, I hope to learn Nutrition to help people to realize their dream of a nutritious diet. This program requires students to have sound chemical and biological knowledge which is exactly what I majored in during my college days. Therefore, I believe I will certainly make an eligible researcher in this field.

Through my major study, I have got an in-depth understanding of Food Science and Engineering. In usual days, I was strongly interested in exploring chemical and biological knowledge. In my eyes, my personal qualities of calmness, carefulness, patience and creative spirit are of great value for further study and research in this field. During the former two years, I devoted great efforts to acquiring specialized knowledge and read relevant books, laying a solid foundation of basic knowledge. Later, I was involved in a provincial-level experimental program.

I once took part in the Experimental Research on Rice Bran Soluble Dietary Fiber against Hyperlipidaemia (HLP) launched by Hunan Province. The experimental process was complex but the procedures were rather simple. Especially in the animal experiment, I did intragastic administration, injection and lab cleaning every day for half a year, which was really boring. However, every single detail would have a great impact on the experimental result, which urged me to do everything to the best. From time to time, I discovered problems and figured out solutions, so that we could reach the best results in every stage. When drawing the mice blood, for instance, we failed due to poor techniques. To overcome this, I referred to a large amount of materials and conducted iterative trials. With the constant efforts, the experiment was carried out smoothly. In the whole process, I got equipped with lots of experimental skills, technologies, improved my experimental capacity, and came to know how to make a good plan for an experiment.

During my freshman and sophomore days, I also placed much importance on social activities. At class, as the secretary, I organized class activities and strengthened the relationships among students. In the Academic Department of the Student Union, I took part in the organization of all kinds of school activities such as debate contest, speech contest and knowledge competition and so on. The speech contest went so well under the efforts of the team that I led. These experiences taught me how to organize and plan activities, how to arrange time, and how to work with high efficiency. Gradually, I learned to share my ideas and cooperate with others in the following work and study.

Since graduation, I have been interning in Wuhai City Food and Drug Administration where I am given access to learning the current status of the food industry and the needs of people. The main duties for me are: routine administrative work, the study in the latest food safety supervision documents, and sampling check. In the week-long municipal edible oil sampling check, we drew 60 samples from the large restaurants, small canteens, and supermarkets in the three regions of the city for check. In the following process, I assisted them in finishing the check, and was informed of how to publicize the quality of edible oil and how to deal with sub-quality products. Through this experience, I gained a full understanding of the quality of edible oil and the specific policies for national supervision on food safety, by which I found the specific research area what I want to have further study in the future. In fact, I not only acquired a wealth of professional knowledge, but also enhanced my ability of teamwork.

Recently, I study in into Mason for one years. I learn a lot about the skills of studying in America such as academic writing, the ability of communication with professor, and developing an own research. This will help me better adapt to study in a foreign country in the future.

For the postgraduate study, I intend to gain more pragmatic skills, make up my deficiency in experimental knowledge, and make constant progress from a well-rounded perspective under the guidance of advisors. In the meantime, with the improvement of personal ability, I will make my own innovations in experiments and focus my efforts on research papers. Nutrition is what I find the most interesting, specifically speaking, I hope to have a chance to research its influence on people’s health. Upon the completion of the postgraduate study, I plan to return to my motherland and dedicate myself to improving people’s health condition with my knowledge and skills.