Motivation letter for a PhD.

Hi,
I'm applying for PhD position at a French university. I'm not a native English and the second language in my country isFrench so no one in people around me could help me.This is also my first motivation letter and the application must be written in English. So, please, look through my letter and check any grammar mistakes or some things that don't sound good in English. I'll be thankfull for all your comments.I tried to make it very simple but it have to be convincing and correct.


Dear Prof. A:
I am writing to express my great interest in applying for a PhD position in Computer vision and Machine Learning in your esteemed research group. In 2012, I obtained a Master degree in Telecommunications from XX supervised by Prof. B (video processing) and Prof. C (embedded systems). In 2010, I graduated from the YY with an electrical engineering degree.

Through my undergraduate studies, I have built a strong foundation in mathematics, signal processing, and programming. Concomitantly with my end study project, I was actively seeking a program that had multimedia signal processing and embedded systems courses in its curriculum. I therefore joined the XX which Master degree program integrated well with my research goals. In my master project, i first participated in the proposition of a new method of smoke detection from DCT based compressed video within the framework of the European project Z and then performed its implementation on a DSP processor in order to evaluate the possibility of implementing both the encoder and the detector on the same architecture (DSP Blackfin) with respect to the real time constraints, and many important results have been obtained and published. Through these research processes, I have not only enriched my knowledge of video processing and embedded vision fields, but also enhanced my self-study and interpersonal skills.

My most recent experience consists in my enrollment in a PhD program at XX for one year, which was carried out in collaboration with the French Research Institute in Electronic and Embedded Systems. My dissertation topic was also in the field of embedded vision and more specifically related to the design of embedded systems for mobile robots visual navigation. This first year was devoted to an in-depth study of the visual navigation techniques of mobile robots and intelligent cars and a detailed state of the art has been elaborated. However, I was dealing with a total absence of funding sources during this year and the laboratory didn’t manage to fund my research trip at IRSEEM. The basic motivation to further my science career, however, has not changed and I still extremely interested in pursuing a PhD, especially at the University of XX, as its research programs have a stellar reputation that is known worldwide. Moreover, I had a teaching experience as a part time instructor at XX which was a significant opportunity to use my skills in programming.

As my enclosed curriculum vitae shows, I have gained an interdisciplinary experience and an expertise in image and video processing which enables me to pursue my PhD studies in multi-camera tracking. I find this subject very interesting and I believe that I possess the required skills to competently and efficiently undertake it. Indeed, my strong background in mathematics gained through my undergraduate studies has been sharpened with the literature search that I carried out when enrolled in a PhD thesis about Simultaneous localization and Mapping (SLAM), which is one of the fundamental problems in robotics based on a probabilistic formulation. In addition, the experience in image and video processing gathered from both my master degree and the last year’s in PhD provide me with the qualifications for the aforementioned PhD position.

Thank you for your attention and consideration. I look forward to your acceptance.

Yours sincerely,

My name