学生范文 - Personal Statement (Chemistry)

Personal statement

(chemistry)

Heat effect, photochemical effect, electrochemical effect…It is different types of effects in chemistry that make the world so colorful; atomic structure, neutron decay, electron movement…It is different types of microscopic particles that compose the earth. We can find chemistry everywhere in the world. The world is beautiful, so is chemistry.

I fell in love with chemistry for the first time I saw the dazzling light of burning a piece of magnesium. I can still remember how happy and proud I was when I first touched beakers and test tubes, dressed in my lab coat. I also love doing scientific researches and academic work. As both of my parents are university faculties, I’ve developed a good habit of reading and learning since my childhood. I love and enjoy their life style, spending nearly all day long doing their academic work.

Why I choose chemistry as my major was because of a lecture from a young but great scientist, Dr. Peng Chen, the director of Department of Chemical Biology in Peking University. Thirteen years ago, graduating from College Of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering in PKU, he furthered his study in the University of Chicago, which I have long been yearning for. His lecture introduced me to a whole new world—chemical biology. Scientists used to view chemistry and biology as two independent disciplines, but now, this new field has linked them together like a bridge so that our study can be more specific and efficient. I was interested in drug development, and chemical biology shows me a new way to resolve health issues.

After his lecture, we talked for a long time. He was amiable and patient. I couldn’t believe that a great scientist who was just awarded a prize from Royal Society of Chemistry was once in the same high school as me. I had never felt the scientific study of chemistry was so close to me that I could start my own through my hard working. I can’t describe how excited I was. It’s just like that I spent nearly two decades sailing at sea without a specific destination, and at that moment, I found the beacon for my future. From then on, I decided to major in chemistry and began paying attention to the University of Chicago.

During the first year at Fudan University, I majored in Nature Science and commanded a rich knowledge of chemistry, physics, biology, etc. and moreover, a comprehensive and critical thinking method. One year later, I made my choice to major in chemistry without hesitation. Then I caught a chance to visit California Institute of Technology and University of California-Berkeley for two weeks, which broadened my horizon and intrigued me to go abroad.

Chemistry is a subject based on experiments. During my college years, I tried to seize every chance to participate in scientific researches and experiments. In my sophomore year, I won the honor to be a volunteer in the group of Professor Yong Cao, who was awarded National Catalysis Prize in 2014. The research was about designing and developing new efficient heterogeneous catalytic processes that could achieve targeted conversion of fossil and biorenewable feedstocks with lower energy requirements and environmental impact. In the group I learned the rigorous attitude in scientific research. During my junior year, I had the privilege to work as an assistant in the group of Academician Dongyuan Zhao, whose project was “Synthesis and Assembly of Mesostructured Materials”. Working for the Zhao group revealed a height that I had never seen before. I decided to work harder to reach that height.

For four years, I have been paying a sustained attention to the University of Chicago. I admire Professor Chuan He for his study in bioinorganic chemistry and Professor Bryan C. Dickinson for his protein engineering very much. I’ve read the paper“A Targetable Fluorescent Probe for Imaging Hydrogen Peroxide in the Mitochondria of Living Cells” by Professor Dickinson and benefited a lot. Chemical biology in the University of Chicago is so outstanding and in the lead that I really expect I can communicate with these professors to improve myself and make contributions there.

I also realize that besides hard work, innovation is the most important thing in science. As a Chinese student, I have an initial but creative idea that traditional Chinese medicine could be applied in the field of chemical biology. We can use small molecules as probes to find target molecules of active ingredients in some herbs, so that we can explain the principles of them and find more functions of traditional Chinese medicine, such as berberine.

With an abundance of knowledge, a way of comprehensive and critical thinking, good science literacy, and innovate consciousness, I’m sure I’ll perform my best in the further education of the University of Chicago. I sincerely hope that you could accept me and give me the opportunity to make contributions in chemistry.