Another Revision

Ok so I looked over the essay I posted last night and consider input from various peoples and I have come up with the current revision. Let me know what you think:

Perhaps the best explanation of why I want to be a graduate student and what I hope to accomplish is that I want to be a “mad scientist.” I don't use the term to conjure up mental images of a crackpot or societal deviant. Rather, I use the term to highlight the passion and endless exertion in pursuit of “why.” Many people do not understand or appreciate this passion and tend to view it as abnormal. This response it what I expect and is, in many ways, what I'm going for in my graduate work. As an undergraduate engineer I have already developed such a passion for Electrical Engineering and the corresponding accusations of abnormality.
I entered Virginia Tech as an engineering student and Division I athlete. My “madness” became quickly apparent in my decision to tackle the considerable challenges offered by Bradley's Department along with those presented by Frank Beamer and company. Others would have been satisfied with being a “full time jock,” but I decided early on to pursue a double major, covering both Electrical and Computer Engineering. I knew myself well enough to know I would never be happy if I didn't challenge myself academically. In fact, I entertained the idea of adding a major in Economics to the mix, but, by this time, I could hear my true calling in life and it only involves two “E”s.
That calling was then, and still is, to be that passionate “mad scientist.” In light of this, I dropped my inconsequential past times to more thoroughly pursue my dream. I had become utterly consumed by Electrical Engineering, so much so, that I now consider my Computer Engineering degree a support degree for my EE aspirations. Thus, I took leave of Beamer's squad, to dive, head long, into Electrical Engineering. Many people say that I quit football because I couldn't balance the time demands of sports and school. I simply laugh, thinking of the many ways in which my life became more hectic after football.
Since leaving the football team: I worked in two nationally recognized research labs, became involved in various Engineering clubs, increased both my GPA and course load, and got engaged, all of which demand a considerable time investment. However, it was my work in the research labs that fueled my desire for graduate work the most. I worked in the Autonomous Systems and Control Laboratory (ASCL) on the second floor of Whittemore for a year following my departure from the ranks of student-athletes.
In the ASCL I met a group of “mad scientists,” led by, perhaps, the model for the term. During my time with these folks, the ASCL was developing self contained autonomous submarines for the purpose of mapping underwater environments. These people were looking beyond all the naysayers to pursue knowledge that has the potential to revolutionize navigation. It's the sort of world changing work that the average person would simply never think of. It is also an example of the work that Electrical Engineers do everyday, driving their knowledge beyond the limits of conventional thinking to satisfy their own passions. In short, these people exemplify what I mean when I use the term “mad scientist.”
At the ASCL, I was exposed to life as one of those “mad scientists” and I loved it. For a long time I dreamed about being in a research lab, pushing out the boundaries of science, fueled by an unquenchable drive to discover the unknown. I got a small taste of that dream at the ASCL. Although, I was mostly involved in the more down to earth tasks, I knew that the advances made in this small lab had application far beyond the depths of some murky lake. I was aware that the techniques developed there could and would apply to all kinds of things, many of which lie beyond our imagination. Perhaps the ASCL will one day deliver driverless transportation or housemaid robots that don't walk through coffee tables. Either way, the ASCL is making a difference by turning today's fiction into reality one step at a time.
While working in the ASCL, a professor convinced me to give some thought to an area of Electrical Engineering that I had never really considered before: communications. I'd never really thought of the importance of providing systems to connect people before. However, the area seemed to embody many of the aspects of Electrical Engineering that I had grown to love. This area held a special attraction for me, as well, because I didn't know that much about it. So, once again driven by the possibility of new knowledge, I wished the world of path-finding robots well, and continued my journey to a new world know as the CWT.
At the Center for Wireless Telecommunications (CWT), I met a truly fascinating technology: Cognitive Radio. This systems can sense its environment and react intelligently. This is, therefore, the quincentennial “mad scientist” technology in that it takes a passion for learning from its designer. The interest in bestowing my love of learning onto a machine is what drove me initially to the ASCL. It is also apparently what drove the invention of Cognitive Radio.
Working in the CWT, I experienced a whole new level of my conception of “mad scientists.” This group is developing a system that senses its wireless environment and then proceeds to design the best possible means of communication, all without the aid of a human brain. It's a system that operates in a world completely beyond the senses of humans. The researchers in this lab are truly driven by a passion for exploring and mastering an unknown realm.
The CWT already developed a cognitive radio that can avoid jammers and remember the clever things it has thought of in the past. Currently, a few of the challenges the lab is tackling are: developing smart communication networks that manage themselves, providing communications that only occupy unused sections of the wireless spectrum, and allowing public safety personal to stay connected even without an infrastructure in place. These are only some of the big picture projects the lab is taking on and I already get to play a small part. This exactly the sort of work I can dive into more deeply as a graduate student.
In the work of the CWT, the thinking part of their system is separate from the radio part. That means the thinking part, the Cognitive Engine, could be applied to other situations, completely independent of radios or even any communications. This technology already has the potential to completely revamp the entire communications infrastructure. Even more exciting, though, are the unexplored possibilities of using the Cognitive Engine for other purposes. There are endless possibilities to this work. This is precisely the sort of thing that demands the passion and drive of a budding “mad scientist.”
It is the passionate for exploration of the unknown, the drive to make the impossible a reality, and the willingness to continue to ask “why” in the face of conventional wisdom that forms my view of the “mad scientist.” I have grown to appreciate the nature and work of “mad scientists” through my work in research labs. Many can recite facts or equations, but few possess the passion of the “mad scientist”. The passion of a true “mad scientist” drives me to continue my education through graduate school.