Dear Sir, I write this email hoping that you have an opening for a graduate research assistant (GRA)

in your research group. I would also be highly grateful if you could evaluate my profile and apprise me of my chances of being admitted to the department of Civil Engineering at Mississippi state University. At present I am an undergraduate senior (4th and final year) at the Department of Civil Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut. I am currently on my eighth semester out of eight. I have attached with this email my CV for your perusal. After the completion of my present program in May 2013, I wish to pursue an M.S. in civil engineering. I plan on applying for the Fall 2013 term. Having visited your profile, I believe there is a significant match between your research interests and the directions that I would like to pursue in the following aspects: Hydrologic Processes and Watershed Modelling Water Resources Systems Analysis & Management Coastal Processes and Hydrodynamics Given this alignment, I would like to express my strong desire to contribute to your research as a member of your research group. RESEARCH EXPERIENCE I was given an opportunity to assist in research work on climate change impact assessment as a part of my major project. A case-study on chaliyar river basin as to how the streamline flow varies with respect to the SRES scenarios by IPCC will be taken up by me. My part so far was to find the potential predictors based on the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis dataset for the river basin. Artificial neural network based downscaling models separately for each station in the basin was designed. I am combining the precipitation and temperature parameters along with evaporation, infiltration and soil behavior as input to Soil Water Assessment Tool to estimate the stream line flow of the chaliyar river basin with the help of digital elevation model. I have also presented a seminar on the application of artificial neural networks in prediction of suspended sediment discharge in rivers as a part of my course work which was assessed by a couple of faculty members. This was about the taking various parameters like current water discharge, previous water discharge, previous rainfall data and training a neural network with back propagation algorithm on Matlab for the prediction. I was awarded A grade(9/10) for this.

ACADEMICS
In my undergraduate level, I undertook all available basic and advances courses related to water resources engineering, for example, (a) Mechanics of Fluids, (b) Hydro systems, (c) Fluid mechanics laboratory work with emphasis on various flow parameters in a flow in a conduit as well as open channel flow, (d) water resources engineering, (e) Environmental engineering I & II on various water supply schemes, estimating the quantity and quality of water, sanitary systems and treatment and disposal methods of waste water, f) Environmental engineering laboratory work on topics learnt in the subjects, and (g) Coastal engineering. I will also attain a good insight in Urban Water resources systems planning and management Regarding my academic performance, I have a GPA of 7.31/10.00 in last 65 hours till now with a cumulative GPA of 6.98 / 10.00. I have a GRE score of 316/340 [169/170 (quantitative), 147/170 (verbal)] and 3.0/6.0 (analytical writing) and a TOEFL score of 102/120 (Reading: 28/30, Listening: 26/30, Speaking: 23/30, Writing: 25/30). Owing to the substantial match of interests that I have mentioned, I am interested in pursuing higher studies in civil engineering working under your guidance. In case you have a graduate research assistant position open in your

research group, I would be eager to join. In addition, since It shall be difficult for me to finance my own education in the US, it would be very kind of you if you could apprise me of my chances of joining the department with any possible financial aid. I thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from you, Regards,
Revanth Nannapaneni