My Motivation to Study Transportation Engineering

Educational background example

On 31st August 2016, I successfully completed my undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering from University of South Asia Lahore, Pakistan with a CGPA of 2.86. During my undergraduate studies I have been a brilliant student. I had involved in many Curriculum as well as co curriculum activities. I was a good player of football, cricket and tag of war. I was an active donor of university’s blood donating society. I have donated my blood many times and I am proud of that and I am ready to donate it again where needed. I did my final year thesis project on “Characteristics of Wagon Drivers of Lahore, Pakistan” with the group of four members in which I was selected the group leader. Lahore is the provincial Headquarter of Punjab province which is the largest province of Pakistan by population. I feel myself lucky that I completed my final year thesis project under the supervision of Engr Prof. Dr. Tanveer Iqbal Qayyum who is known as “The Founder of Transportation Engineering in Pakistan”. Under his supervision, I learned a lot of things about Transportation Engineering. The basic purpose of our project was to determine characteristics of drivers and on the bases of those characteristics how can accidents be overcome. Because a driver is not only responsible for the safety of his life and life of passengers but he is also responsible for the safety of other road users. In the final thesis project, our group used to visit all roads of Lahore and we used to interview wagon divers and asked different questions. For example their monthly income, education, route permit, police behavior with them etc. We also visited different government departments. We did survey for almost six months and collected all necessary data. At last the hard work paid and I was given A+ grade in my final presentation. At that moment I decided that I will select transportation engineering for higher studies because transportation engineering has a bright future in Pakistan.

I am a socially active person. I have many friends and we had formed a society that worked against drug addiction. We used to collect funds and spent those funds on the welfare of society with total honesty. I left that society because I went for higher studies to Lahore. I approach to people with positive behavior. During my higher studies I met different people from different regions and cultures and traditions. In future it will help me to interact with people of other regions or countries.

Why Transportation Engineering

I would like to apply for the master’s degree in transportation engineering because nowadays Transportation engineering is playing key role in human life and economy of different countries of the World. My motto is to work for the betterment of society as well as my country. To become a good and expert transportation engineer and designer, it is necessary for me to gain deeper theoretical and practical knowledge about transportation engineering. During my studies, I will try to come up with the best of everything. I am hopeful that I will achieve my aim and goals during higher studies and become a good transportation engineer and designer. Higher studies will give me chance to polish my abilities. I will try my best to transfer my knowledge to other individual of my society. So in that way it will help me to become a good human being as well as a useful citizen for my society as well as my country.

It has become a non separable part of human life. As we all know that human life cannot survive without natural resources. But when we see the geography of the earth, it is not the same. In some regions there are mountains. In some regions the land is plan. So for the transportation of natural resources we need routes. Without roads we may be able to transport natural resources but the benefit of those resources will be lesser. The absence of roads may be cause to lack of facilities. For example if a village is located on a mountainous region and the population of the village is more, then it is the responsibility of the government to provide them all facilities for example health facilities, educational facilities etc but a government cannot provide all those facilities unless they have constructed good roads. The availability of roads make sure the smooth transportation of all materials required for construction in less time without any danger or harm. By using those roads the locals can transport the local goods to global market and can earn money in lesser price. Good roads and transportation system also reduce transportation time. In this way the economy of the country will rise rapidly. Let’s take an example if a region “A’’ produces a particular good and that particular good is wanted by people of another region “B”. Then the cost of the particular good totally depends upon the distance between them and the mode of transportation and condition of road. If the condition of the road is excellent then it will be available at low cost at lesser time at point “B” and if the condition of the road is bed then it will be available at higher cost and more time is required to transport the particular good at point “B”.

Good roads and transportation system also result in increase in tourism which is one of the important factor of the economy of any country or region. Let me take the example of my region Gilgit Baltistan. There are ten districts in Gilgit Baltistan. The most beautiful district among them is Astore. But tourists refer to visit Hunza district. The reason is that the road to Hunza, which is known as “Karakorum Highway” shortly KKH, is in excellent condition. The road was constructed by a China Company and it has maintained high quality. It is very smooth for driving while the condition of other roads is very worst and dangerous. Therefore, few tourists visit the other parts of the region. Now days, eighty percent of people are Hunza district are related to tourism. Good roads and transportation system also enhances safety.

One of the reasons of selecting transportation engineering is “China Pakistan Economic Corridor” shortly known as CPEC to me. CPEC is a project between China and Pakistan. According to this project new roads and power projects will be constructed. The main purpose of CPEC is to construct new roads and form transportation system for the transportation of goods from China and Pakistan to other parts of the World. Therefore, it will create job opportunities for people of Pakistan especially young generation like me.

Once I secured admission to one of the best engineering university in Bangladesh, my intention was to gain in depth knowledge rather than just getting marks. During my undergraduate studies over the last four years, the excellent course structure coupled with high academic standards further stimulated my interest in the field of civil engineering. Out of the programs offered by my university, I found transportation engineering the most suitable for me. I have always been fascinated with the roads and traffic. But what made me more interested in this field is the ongoing unrest in the transportation sector in Bangladesh. Being a densely populated country with insufficient number of roads and public transport, the transportation system in Bangladesh is an unsystematic sector. There are untrained drivers and unsafe roads with poor road conditions. Transportation management system is not effective. Accidental deaths from road accidents are very common. This crashes and accidental deaths are common both in highways to large cities to even small towns. To continue the economic progress, transportation system needs to be effective. Transportation system needs to be faster, efficient and most importantly safe for everyone. All of these factors work behind my decision to take transportation engineering as my future career path.

Undergraduate studies

Keeping this thinking in my mind, I took my undergraduate thesis on transportation engineering. I chose my topic on road safety. The work was to find out the main reasons behind driver distraction in Dhaka city. As I didn’t have financial or technological support from university, I had to do the work on my own. It has been done on a small scale but if it can be done on a larger scale it will surely put an impact on the overall transportation safety scenario in Bangladesh. With my problem-solving ability I made my own DIY equipment for capturing the data from field and later analyzed it using software. After the data collection and analyzation, found some of the most common and dominant reasons behind driver distraction. What I have seen from the fieldwork and later from the analyzed data, it is a clear indication of how much drivers are distracted while driving and how much this possess a risk upon the road users. At the undergraduate level, I have tried to the best of my ability to get an exposure to research work in order to take a lead in this direction and to get an insight into the field of transportation engineering.

At this point in my academic career, I realize that my undergraduate education has provided me with what is only a glimpse of this field and there is so much more waiting to be explored and created in this field. I want to explore much more in this field. I want to learn more about the transportation management system, road safety and traffic operation . If I get a chance I want to learn about Intelligent transportation system. In future I want to work in my country’s transportation engineering field and keep my mark on solving the ongoing transportation problems. I want to learn about how we can accommodate more vehicles in my country’s roads which is getting more and more densely packed. The traffic management system should be competent enough to handle this much pressure. I want to learn ways to make our roads safer and adapt innovative ideas. I believe a quality higher education from a university in developed world will help me achieving this aim.

My Personality

If someone asks me how am I as a person, I would say I’m smart, active, confident and intelligent. One of my most distinguishing characteristics is the diversity of experience I possess. I have a passion for traveling. I have traveled most of the places of my beautiful country. Moreover, my hometown and university are in two different cities in Bangladesh. For the last several years I have been living outside my family all by me. This made me stronger, made me survive in different situations which previously I thought wouldn’t be possible for me. I have seen people from different backgrounds and various cultures. All these elements have given me a broader outlook. I am a very curious person. I am always willing to learn and I appreciate every opportunity to learn new things. I have a natural competency with computer softwares. I’m a fast learner. With varying degrees of knowledge in a range of topics, I strongly believe that although some are not related directly, all these qualities will influence my graduate work.

Summary

After searching extensively for a suitable academic program, the MEng in Civil Engineering at the University of Concordia has emerged as my top choice. I am applying for your university on an account of its excellent facilities combined with highly qualified faculty and worldclass infrastructure. My admission into your esteemed institution is of paramount importance for my career. With my theoretical knowledge and practical skill, I am well equipped to meet your expectations and if given a chance, I shall make the best out of it.

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