Statement of Purpose s3

Statement of Purpose My name is Lei Wu, and I am a graduate student of Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. I would like to apply for the fall internship position at STRATFOR which I heard from my close friend, Zhixing Zhang. The position is an excellent match with my interests, education, and career envisage. MPA program at LBJ School has given me broad vision in understanding global affairs, and the work in STRATFOR will serve as a great opportunity to strengthen my research skills and in particular, to improve my understanding of regional issues from the geopolitical perspective.

I am very interested in international affairs, particularly involving developing counties and energy issue. I would like to join the AORs of East Asia or Africa at STRATFOR. I am from southeast province of China, Hainan, and I’m native to both Mandarin and Cantonese. I believe that my bilingual background will enable me to be valuable to the company.

Due to a strong interest in international affairs, I decided to study at LBJ School of Public Affairs, which in turn prepared me for a professional career in an international organization. To broaden my knowledge about other countries, I have taken diverse classes, which trained me with Public Finance Management, Applied Microeconomics for Public Analysis, as well as Quantitative Analysis. For example, class of Cities and Governance in Developing countries with Dean Wilson enabled me to explore the process of urbanization, urban policy, and local governance in developing countries, ranging from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In this class, I chosen South Korea as my final case study, and analyzed the development and urbanization pattern in South Korea by examining the government structure and performance, and the nature and degree of organization of civil society. This class also sparked my interests of energy issues in developing countries in African countries, such as water resource, oil and natural gas. At the same time, the class of Policy and Process with Professor Lodis Rhodes strengthened my understanding of the different settings in which policy develops and the factors that influence its development. In this class, I used china’s healthcare reform as a case study to explore how this reform affect individuals and institutions and give legitimacy to public policy, including the executive and legislative branches, the courts, interest groups, and individual citizens.

In the past ten years, China has developed her economy in a fastest pace ever. As the pace speeds up, demand for more energy and resource have driven China to explore potential markets outside of the country, and the issue of energy becomes one of priorities in the relationship between China and other countries. To specify my interest in energy policy, I attended a one-year policy research project named “Shaping the Energy Technology Transition” at LBJ school and I am a member a policy research team. This project was to see how the United States might shape its energy technology transition from the current hydrocarbon-based energy economy. As a part of this project, I was conducting interviews with policy professionals, scientists, public officials, and historians with broad experiences in the formation and implementation of United States national energy policy. This project not only trains me to manage a project in a timely manner, but also deepened my research skills and my insights of energy issues. In addition, I have taken the course of Energy Law with Professor Spence, and his class enables me to understand how the different legal/regulatory systems affect the energy industry, as well as learning how to analyze political/regulatory risk as it affects investment in the energy industry.

The diverse classes have shaped me as a good member in a team work, provided good writing skills, and trained me in policy analysis. These courses also provide me basic tools to analyze public policy. I had experiences on how to do data analysis with Excel, PowerPoint, and SAS. In addition, I am familiar with using Geology Information System (GIS) software to evaluate policy issues, which would become an asset for geopolitical research for STRATFOR.

I obtained a master degree in Wuhan University, a preeminent institution with a free academic atmosphere. During my three years of graduate study, I developed a strong interest in international economic organizations and human rights law. The graduate study at Wuhan University gave me a deep understanding of international economic law and prepared me for leadership and academic analysis responsibilities. My academic training provided me knowledge in international law and politics. At Wuhan University, I was especially interested in WTO law and UN law. I took various courses to strengthen my knowledge of international organizations. For example, I studied the EU law, WTO law and UN law, and I was top three in these classes. I not only got the highest grade in my class, but applied knowledge to my own research. I published one book and eight papers, and one paper was published by one of the most well-respected journals of international law in China.

I have no doubt that this internship will provide an invaluable opportunity for me to strengthen my research on international affairs, and I’m confident that my bilingual skills, research ability, writing skills and strong understanding of international system qualified me for this position. Thank you for your consideration and your time! I look forward to hearing from you. Within the next week I will contact you to confirm that you received my mail and resume and to answer any questions you may have. I am looking forward to join this internship programs and becoming an asset for STRATFOR. Best regards, Lei Wu