Florencia, January 16th, 2019

Dear
CHINESE GOVERNMENT SCHOLARSHIP
City

REF: Call No. 6802220 of ICETEX for postgraduate scholarships in the People’s Republic of China.

Best regards,

I address you attentively and respectfully in order to present my curriculum as a requirement to

participate in the call reference. Next, I described the curriculum developed.

My name is JOAN ALEJANDRO CASTAÑEDA PIÑEROS identified with citizenship card number
1106784195 issued in Chaparral, Tolima 1011, Civil Engineer of the University of Ibagué with 70202-
415454 TLM professional registration. I completed my university studies in Civil Engineering at the
University of Ibagué in August 2017, obtaining a weighted academic average of 3.8 / 5.0. During the
undergraduate stage, I stood out for being a competent, applied, participatory, integral student with a
high leadership capacity within the academic role.

Some of my achievements, I have won an academic scholarship for the first semesters of study called
“Tolima Talent”, benefiting only young people from the department. As shown in the transcript, I
completed and approved all subjects of my university course. As a degree requirement, I chose to
develop the modality of PEACE AND REGION, a comprehensive training strategy of the university of
Ibagué, created in 2011, in order to complement the disciplinary training of the last semester students
from the academic programs offered by the University, where students are linked to projects that
address regional issues in the real context of the municipalities of the department of Tolima, Colombia.
Within this program, I formulated and designed a paving project for a main road in the municipality of
Chaparral, department of Tolima, Colombia. During the completion of this grade modality, I researched
the behavior of concrete slabs according to the loads that vehicles generate while traveling on the road.
In the middle of the process, I found a source of motivation towards the study of the behavior and
design of concrete structures.

Currently, I am linked as a Civil Engineer in the Caguán 2018 Consortium of the city of Florencia,
Caquetá since January 2, 2019 to date, developing functions such a formulations, designs and
supervision of small Community Infrastructure (PIC) projects withing the framework of the PDET
strategy, which complies with the first item of the Peace Agreement signed between Colombian
government, the president-elect Juan Manuel Santos Calderón and FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia). The projects under my supervision includes box coulverts, sewers, plate prints,
community booths, educational classrooms and sport boards in the municipalities of Solano, San José
del Fragua, El Paujil and Cartagena del Chairá, located in the department of Caquetá, Colombia.

From this employment, the particular interest in the line of structures arises as an option for
postgraduate employment study because, during the project structuring and formulation phase,
observations and studies of the structural designs and designs of the projects must be reviewed and
made from the different structures to be built. This motivation has led me to choose to study in China
because this country has high-level and prestigious universities.
On the other hand, China is a very important country worldwide mainly because it is the second
economic power of the world, its technological advancement and cultural wealth is represented mainly
in its old constructions made by ancestors and current, using innovation of the technology of new
materials of constructions that gives it an aspect of evolution to the country.

That is why, when studying structural engineering in this country, I will learn with the best teachers
trained to study the behavior of concrete. Additionally, I will obtain a deeper theoretical and practical
knowledge about the design and calculation of structural elements and systems, as well as to plan
constructions that recover a part of the history and mythology of a territory that give the air of
advancement and modernity to a city. China is undoubtedly an Asian leader in the development of
technologies, which ensures a very advanced and current training in this area of knowledge. Given the
above, my confidence and interest in doing my postgraduate studies in China has increased and I am
satisfied with the decision I have made.

After Completing my master’s degree studies, I hope to contribute to the development of my country
according to these fields, to benefit its economy and improve the standard of living of my countrymen.
I am sure that the Master’s program in Structural Engineering in China will give me the opportunity to
know constructive systems that will be of great help for my contribution as a professional in me
country, Colombia.

In the same way, with this knowledge acquired in my postgraduate course, I hope to carry out research
on the contribution of Graphene in concrete, because different authors share that this innovative
material can contribute to improve the strength of concrete, since Graphene is a material with good
flexibility and hardness greater than steel and close to that of a diamond.

Finally, I want to express my interest in participating and obtaining the best possible results, not only to
study abroad, but also in order to enrich and reinforce the knowledge acquired in the undergraduate
stage. I appreciate the availability of the advisors of the ICETEX offices who were ready to give me
guidance in the process of documenting and filling out forms.

I will be looking forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

JOAN LEONARDO CASTAÑEDA PIÑEROS

C.C. 1106784195 from Chaparral, Tolima
E-mail: ing.leonardo0825@gmail.com