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I intend to apply for Ph.D. Program in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong



uabubakar 1 / -  
Oct 10, 2016   #1
I have recieved this from my potential PhD supervisor:

"I would recommend that you broadly state your interests and include a few examples of the kind of research you'd like to do. Also explain your long-term goals - what do you want to do with your PhD? What kind of future contributions are you trying to make, so that we could think about how you might best get there"

Will the following will be enough or did I missed something? Please be kind and help me out as soon and as much as possible. Thank you.

My Statement of Purpose

I intend to apply for Ph.D. Program in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hong Kong under Hong Kong PhD Fellowship (HKPF) scheme starting 2017.

Motivation and Purpose

My motivation of further study and research has something to do with my choosing academic career. As a young academician my long term goal is getting a PhD which I belief will help me to get new experience and knowledge and to be more creative and innovative. This goal has been my reason for past studies, and a PhD degree will provide me the final tools I will need to meet the challenges I will face, and to be the strong academician I would like to be.

I have read your program information description and feel the PhD Program should be suitable to me and would prepare me extremely well for what I ultimately intend to do in life. The purpose of my applying for a place at your university is precisely to acquire the depth of knowledge and sophistication of methodology to attain a superior level of expertise by way of strict training.

Academic background

Undergraduate study I majored in Applied Geology in the Department of Geology, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, located in Bauchi, Nigeria. I received quite good education there. The courses I studied included tectonics and photo geology, elementary structural geology and map interpretation, sedimentary petrology, sedimentary environment and basin analysis, and so on.

My undergraduate research project was on the Architectural element and bounding surfaces analysis of the upper Bima Sandstone member Gongola Basin, Upper Benue Trough North - Eastern Nigeria. The research project was published in the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi Journal of Technology Education and Research, Volume 6, Number 2, PP: 64 - 80.

I was outstanding both at academic courses and extracurricular activities. I was among the best three graduating students in a class of 45. I received the award for the student field worker of the year (2009/2010 session). I was elected Vice president of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi Chapter of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist. I also served as the Chairman electoral committee for the 2010/2011 session.

Graduate Study I started to do my masters of Science degree in Geology (Focused on Stratigraphy and Palaeontology) immediately after my undergraduate degree, in the department of Geology, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. This department is a reputable one in Nigeria with quite a number of famous scholars specializing in stratigraphy and palaeontology. The courses I studied included remote sensing, advanced sedimentary petrology, advanced stratigraphy, sedimentary basin analysis, reservoir and subsurface geology, palynology, advanced micropalaeontology, advanced palaeontology, and paleoecology.

I was the best student in a class of 3. Unfortunately, my need for research was not satisfied owing to the lack of necessary equipment and facilities for doing experiment and collecting data. My dissertation was on Late Oligocene and Early Middle Miocene Foraminiferal Biostratigraphy and Paleoenvironment of Well - 004 (OML - 34) Niger Delta.

Teaching Experience:

After finishing my M.Sc. course work in 2013 with CGPA of 4.33, I was employed by the Department of Geology, Gombe State University. I was assisting in teaching undergraduate courses which include introductory geology II, sedimentary petrology, micropaleontology (palynology included), and invertebrate palaeontology. I also assisted in supervising undergraduate project research.

Research Interest

I carried out research in several fields which include sedimentary petrology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, and micropaleontology. I published four research papers and two conferences abstract. I am outlining below my activities and interest:

My research in sedimentary petrology involves pairing sedimentary stratigraphic data with a range of petrography and geochemical proxies to explore key predepositional events, such as provenance and tectonic settings of the provenance area. This investigates the key relations between provenance and basin which is governed by plate tectonics. My tectonics research includes investigating sedimentary rocks composition in order to determine information about previous orogenic conditions and to use detritus of the sedimentary rocks to describe the evolution of orogenic settings.

My sedimentology research involves detailed field observations which involves examining the rock for colour, texture, composition, sedimentary structures and fossils and then identify the sedimentary rock type. If there is enough evidence, lithofacies analysis (i.e. identifying facie, facies association and facies successions) would be conducted in order to interpret depositional environment. Sometime the data obtain from field observation is integrated with petrography, pebble morphology and grain size analysis to come up with better interpretation, like diagenesis of the sediment.

My Micropaleontology research involves using distribution of foraminifera species both planktic and benthics quantitatively, for biostratigraphic study. The benthic foraminifer's species were used for paleoenvironmental study. The paleoenvironmental study includes the determination of bathymetry, salinity, and oxygen deficiency of sediments. I also used foraminifer's abundance and diversity for sequence stratigraphic study.

I like to investigate the provenance (source area) of the Cretaceous sequences in the Gongola Basin and the tectonic setting of the source area using sedimentary rock composition (thin section and geochemistry). This kind of research i.e. systematic relationship between sedimentary rock composition and provenance types as related to the tectonic setting of sedimentary basin are thus potentially significant for the evaluation of frontier basins in exploration.

Future contributions

Since I was young, I always want to teach want I learn from class to my friends and younger ones with the belief that the teaching will encourage me to do more research and understand things better. I choose to work in the university because I want to help others and bring benefit to their life in order to make their dream a reality. My ambition is that after receiving PhD at your university, I will root myself on the university and brave a new way to efficient and effective teaching and learning.

admission2012 - / 475  
Oct 10, 2016   #2
Hello,

There are tons of great SOP examples on this forum. Generally you want to open with a background paragraph that summarizes your entire SOP. Then you want to move into your general interests, research history and then your short and long term goals. Then you want to discuss the program itself and how it will be beneficial to you and how you will contribute to it. - selective admissions.


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