I am therefore interesting in studying IRT at graduate level. I am very impressed by the work of Dr. NAME on IRT. I am specifically interested in creating new IRT model. Another area I am generally interested in is, structure equation modeling (SEM). I also learned about SEM in my undergraduate studies. I was fascinated; how SEM helps in understanding relationship between variables. Working with Dr. NAME will be an excellent way to improve my research abilities as well as learn more about my intended area of interest. I am also interested in the work of Dr. NAME 2 about robust statistical analyses. I am specifically interested in studying assumptions violations in robust analyses and problem associated with violations. It will be an interesting opportunity to study with Dr.NAME. I feel that my research interests fit extremely well with quantitative psychology department at SCHOOL, and in particular with Dr. NAME and Dr. NAME2.