Formal Introductive letter to professor

 Dear Professor Blackstone,

I am writing this introductory letter to you in hopes that you can get to know be better. My name is Hendrick Yip Jun Heng, and I am a mechanical engineering undergraduate student studying at Singapore Institute of Technology(SIT). I previously graduated from Singapore Polytechnic(SP) with a diploma in mechatronics and robotics. This is in line with my passion, that is robotics and programming. My interest in robots, specifically automated vehicles, was developed from a young age when I attended many extra-curricular classes on basic programming and robotics during the school holidays. During those courses, I was exposed to building my own robots and learned multiple programming languages such as Python and C++ to control them. I hence decided to pursue an education and future career in robotics engineering.

One part of communication that I feel I am strong at is that I am able to work well with unfamiliar faces should the need arise. For example, during our first critical thinking and communicating seminar with you, the first activity we had was to pair up with someone to complete a task which entailed asking stranger questions. I was able to strike up a conversation with my buddy, and work out how we could complete the task without an awkward atmosphere. Thanks to this strong communication skill, we were not just able to complete the task effectively and efficiently, but I also managed to make a new friend. It also was not a problem for me to approach my other classmates to retrieve the information required to complete the activity.

However, one weak point of my communication skills would definitely be my ability to speak in front of a large group of people. I recognize that every time I am required to do so, I tend to stumble over my words and blank out regardless of my level of preparation. One time when I was required to give a presentation on an automated robot arm project I was working on in SP, I was so nervous and ended up skipping a huge portion of important information, despite this being a topic I had great knowledge of and had prepared for it months in advance. Hence, public speaking is definitely something I have to work on.

One of my goals for this module would be to improve on my public speaking skills. Being able to articulate myself clearly and to effectively express myself in front of a large audience is an important transferable skill to have, no matter what profession one is in. 

Another goal I have would be to improve on my writing skills, especially for reports. Being an engineer requires us to write countless reports. Having the ability to write a clear and well-structured report is definitely a skill all engineers should have.

Finally, I feel that the thing that makes me stand out amongst my peers would be my intense passion for engineering, especially mechatronics and robotics. It has nurtured my willingness to learn new skills and take on new challenges. My next challenge in this module would be overcome my stage fright and poor communication skills. I hope that you will be able to help me with that!

Best regards,

Yip Jun Heng


Edited: 25/9/2023

Read: Vishanth, Cephas and Haikal

Comments

  1. Brad BlackstoneSeptember 4, 2023 at 7:32 PM

    Thanks, Jun Heng, for your early post. I look forward to seeing the comments of your buddies and then I'll leave feedback.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RedFoxSeptember 5, 2023 at 2:06 AM

    Great introductory email overall in terms of content. Email was also organised properly by splitting it into different paragraphs. Maybe you could elaborate more on what kind of robots that you have built because it sounds interesting. Email might be a little lengthy but its alright i guess.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jun HengSeptember 5, 2023 at 3:16 AM

      Thanks for the feedback! yes I suspected that it was a little too lengthy since I wrote nearly twice the suggested word count HAHA. Sure ill definitely elaborate on that!

      Delete
  3. VishanSeptember 6, 2023 at 8:12 AM

    Hi Hendrick,
    I find your email to be of great detail in a positive way and you have answered all the required points needed. However I did notice a few grammar mistakes and maybe you might want too look through email one more time. One more thing I have to say is that, I too share your struggle with communicating with a large group. Lets improve our communication skills through this module.

    ReplyDelete
  4. QuinianSeptember 10, 2023 at 10:34 AM

    One could feel the effort of your self-introduction letter simply by looking at it. I don't mean it in a sarcastic way but it goes to show you want to give your all for this module. However, I believe you can shorten some parts by emphasizing certain points instead of inputting other information that might hinder you because of the word count.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Brad BlackstoneSeptember 22, 2023 at 10:18 PM

    Dear Hendrik,

    Thank you for this well crafted and highly informative letter. I especially appreciate the sharing you’ve done in terms of your unique journey toward mechanical engineering, with an eye on automated vehicles. The way that your childhood study of subjects like Python and C++ impacted your ambition and intgerest in robotics is particularly impressive.

    You also detail how you reacted to our first class activity, and you overview your comm skills and how these relate to your needs. Be assured that we will address the areas that you mention in your goals, including public speaking (stage fright) and communicating in report writing.

    As for language use, this is a very well presented letter, with only a few areas of overuse of caps.
    Here's one: I am a Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student studying... (See if you can find the others.)

    Keep up the fine work.

    Brad

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jun HengSeptember 24, 2023 at 8:05 PM

      Thank you for your comments professor! I will update my letter accordingly!

      Delete

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