A computer scientist from Jordan, I am now in the USA for a year of intensive English language instruction before entering a doctoral program in my field. My research interests and long-term goals lie in the areas of security management, networks, risk assessment of cyber-physical control systems, and cybersecurity. The Ph.D. program in Computer Science at the University of XXXX is my first choice for a variety of reasons, most of all academic, since I see your program as one of the leading research institutions in the world in information assurance education. I admire your program enormously for serving as one of the initial seven Centers of Excellence in Information Assurance Education. I am also enormously impressed by the University of XXXX's XXXX lab, a unique, innovative effort in cyber security experimentation and research. Finally, I am very much attracted to the larger community of XXXX and hope to spend much of my time on the bike paths when I am not in the commuter lab - as I am an avid bicycle enthusiast who enjoys nature more than the hustle and bustle of a big city.
At Al-Balqa Applied University, I studied Software Engineering broadly speaking, from an interdisciplinary perspective including related areas. Throughout my education, I gained a constantly and incrementally increasing passion for research and development (R & D), especially in the areas of network security, Cloud computing, and cybersecurity. I worked on a research project for my senior year dedicated to preventing cross-site scripting attacks by developing a sublanguage of HTML. Moreover, in the last semester during summer school, I was awarded an internship with the National Information Technology Center (NITC) for 4 months, where I learned a great deal about all the areas that I am most interested in professionally, fully confirming my career choice and focus.
Upon graduation, motivated by my thirst for ongoing training and professional advancement as well as a sense of patriotism, I joined the Jordan Armed Forces to work with the Directorate of Cyber Security and Information Technology, where I remained until coming to the United States only recently. I also plan to return to work with the same governmental agency of the Armed Forces of Jordan upon my return, after earning my PhD, hopefully at the University of XXXX. My ideal job at some point would be to lead the agency. In my time with the Directorate of Cyber Security, I have made a great deal of progress in my capacity to contribute to research and have cultivated a strong aptitude for the type of problem-solving and problem-discovery skills that enable a cyber security expert to excel. It was a special honor for me to be selected to join a group working on the security implementation of the e-government cloud environment. In addition, I served as an instructor at the Information Technology Training Institute (ITTI) for more than five years teaching (Oracle, VB, CCNA, and network security). I also served as a part-time instructor at XXXX University, teaching computer center staff how to make the best use of the latest information and communication technology techniques like Cloud Computing to help them do their jobs to the best of their ability. I have also had the privilege of teaching network and information security courses.
Earning my MSC Degree and authoring my thesis on using cloud computing environments for e-government services in Jordan was well received. We proposed a hybrid cloud computing model for Jordan’s e-Government using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm to test the proposed model. This experience will help me to excel as I continue in graduate school. I have immensely enjoyed a variety of intensive trainings and courses related to network security and cyber security as part of the Jordan Armed Forces and I have also now been awarded a full scholarship from JAF to study towards a graduate degree in the USA in Cyber Security. Upon my return to our agency, I will be serving as an instructor. I have also had the privilege of being trained by U.S Army and NATO personnel in the areas of Security management, learning increasingly sophisticated ways of identifying vulnerabilities, assessing threats, preventing, and tolerating malicious and harmful activities, mitigating, and recovering from attacks, etc. These training and courses, along with my graduate study and 5+ years of hands-on experience provide me with a solid knowledge base and skill set to excel in my studies toward the PhD at the University of XXXX.
Thank you for considering my application.
Personal Purpose Statement PHD Computer Science
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