With fascination I looked amazed at my mother’s first laptop as she brought it home in the first day she bought it. Although I was only four years of age, I understood back then that that was not a toy, but something very serious, something that attracted me. I was too young to understand its mechanisms, but I soon started to turn it on by myself and to enter in my mother’s programs. My fascination for my mother’s laptop grew so much that in my first day of school I told my mother that I want to work with laptops when I will grow up. Henceforth, my academic development followed a road traditionally dedicated to boys and men. I was often the single girl in the information technology laboratories, being curious about everything regarding software and hardware.
Because technology continues to evolve every day, my motivation is to keep up with all its advancement. In this sense, now that I am 28 years, my goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in Information Technology, as a natural evolution of my previous studies. As such, I got my Bachelor degree in Saudi Arabia, majoring in preschool teaching. In December 2013 I have graduated from a Master program in Sacred Heart University, in Connecticut, United States, majoring in computer science and information technology and attaining 3.30 GBA on my master. As an international student, coming from Saudi Arabia, I have easily assimilated English language and was able to integrate among the other students.
During my courses in Saudi Arabia, I provided extra-curricular training in Information Technology to my colleagues or other students who needed help with better understanding the IT courses. I have also worked for a year as a preschool teacher on Alroad School from Saudi Arabia, teaching children how to operate computers, how to navigate on internet and how to conduct desktop research for their academic projects.
I find this experience very rewarding, as I saw myself in the children I tutored, eager for more information from an early age. Seeing the children’s fascination about IT, I understood what I want to do in my life: pursue a teaching career for the junior students, in order to instill them the passion for Information Technology as they are very young. I believe that the new generations will soon contribute to the progress and development of the IT and it is my aspiration to help them get there, delivering innovative technologies.
During my courses within this university, I am planning to develop research on automatic learning techniques, aiming to connect interdisciplinary fields like psychology, biology or statistics with artificial intelligence, computer science through numerical, computer-based simulation. I strongly believe that this research will contribute to better understanding the human learning mechanism and it can generate solutions for the improvement of human learning through computer generated programs.
I consider that your university is exactly what I need for developing my research. Because of the mix of courses and practical knowledge that this program at your university proposes, because of its pedagogical approach and because of its reputation, I am choosing to apply for a Ph.D. in Technology Management within your academic institution.
My previous academic experience, focused mainly on IT studies, as well as my passion to work with children and to educate them on IT programs are the reasons that make me a good match for this graduate program. I am looking forward to start working in my research within your academic institution and to receive training on how to improve my mentoring skills.
