I do not believe in the impossibility since I trust that the brain could make impossible things possible. When I was 14, I surpassed the impossibility. At that time, I took a challenge to attend the Astronomy Olympiad competition while knowing nothing about space and universe. Although I was almost dropped out in the first round, after a month that I had filled out my schedule entirely with study, discussion, and practices, I found myself understanding new concepts faster and solving problems more accurate. More astonishingly, my effort paid off as I became a national representative to participate in the international Olympiads. At the first thought, this event taught me to persistently move forward toward my determined goals.
More importantly, …show more content…
My college life has been arduous, but it has been an inspiring preparation period for me to build up my knowledge and skills and get ready for graduate-level research in neuroscience. To investigate this field thoroughly, I have spent my 4-year undergraduate study taking a large number of brain-related courses across departments, work on interdisciplinary research in diverse fields, and attend international conferences and summer programs globally. Yet, being a foreigner in the Korean society makes it fairly exhausting due to the language barrier and partiality. A significant portion of classes are conducted partially, or wholly, in Korean and academic resource and opportunities for international students are relatively limited. Through the dedication, I have maintained my GPA of 4.14 which is at the 2nd rank of the department and at top 2% of the institute, despite hardship and …show more content…
program in Neroscience at UCSD University of California, San Diego is the top choice of my graduate study. More crucially, I am particularly excited to work with Prof. Terry Sejnowski, and Prof. Takaki Komiyama, who have published impactful studies in synaptic plasticity, neural circuitry and learning. I have referred Prof. Sejnowski’s work in learning and visual processing several times in my project proposals. Both his research methods using combined experimental and computational approaches, including biophysical neural models, and interests in synaptic plasticity and neural dynamics ideally matches with my research potential and experiences. I believe that my neuroscience and computation knowledge would profoundly contribute to the development of neural models, integrated with experimental results, for research projects on neural plasticity and processing in Prof. Sejnowski’s lab. I have also read Prof. Komimaya’s articles on the learning-enhanced top-down processing and on the plasticity of inhibitory circuits with an enthusiasm and I am convinced that my research background in learning and neural processing would be a good complement to Prof. Komimaya’s work. I would like to learn from their success and develop my own exceptional study to answer research questions of interest I
More importantly, …show more content…
My college life has been arduous, but it has been an inspiring preparation period for me to build up my knowledge and skills and get ready for graduate-level research in neuroscience. To investigate this field thoroughly, I have spent my 4-year undergraduate study taking a large number of brain-related courses across departments, work on interdisciplinary research in diverse fields, and attend international conferences and summer programs globally. Yet, being a foreigner in the Korean society makes it fairly exhausting due to the language barrier and partiality. A significant portion of classes are conducted partially, or wholly, in Korean and academic resource and opportunities for international students are relatively limited. Through the dedication, I have maintained my GPA of 4.14 which is at the 2nd rank of the department and at top 2% of the institute, despite hardship and …show more content…
program in Neroscience at UCSD University of California, San Diego is the top choice of my graduate study. More crucially, I am particularly excited to work with Prof. Terry Sejnowski, and Prof. Takaki Komiyama, who have published impactful studies in synaptic plasticity, neural circuitry and learning. I have referred Prof. Sejnowski’s work in learning and visual processing several times in my project proposals. Both his research methods using combined experimental and computational approaches, including biophysical neural models, and interests in synaptic plasticity and neural dynamics ideally matches with my research potential and experiences. I believe that my neuroscience and computation knowledge would profoundly contribute to the development of neural models, integrated with experimental results, for research projects on neural plasticity and processing in Prof. Sejnowski’s lab. I have also read Prof. Komimaya’s articles on the learning-enhanced top-down processing and on the plasticity of inhibitory circuits with an enthusiasm and I am convinced that my research background in learning and neural processing would be a good complement to Prof. Komimaya’s work. I would like to learn from their success and develop my own exceptional study to answer research questions of interest I