I have decided to update my reference letter again with a substantial number of duties as I feel a mere copying and pasting of duties will certainly carry less weight. This time it has a mix of paraphrasing and expansion of some of the duties. I know this is self serving and feel really stupid to be doing this but atleast it gives me a reason to live !!.
Could any one of you go through this version and let me know your thoughts. I would email them this version sometime late this afternoon. Thanks !!
Citizenship and Immigration Canada Date: 7/2/2013
(PhDStream-Federal Skilled Worker Program)
Case Processing Pilot-Ottawa
219 Laurier Avenue West
7th floor, Section B
Ottawa, K1A1L1,Canada
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
This is in continuation to my earlier letter in support of the permanent residence application of Mr. xxxxxxx who is currently a PhD student with the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto and is co-supervised by me and Prof. xxxxxxxxxxx. This letter expands on his job duties and responsibilities in this department as a Research and Teaching Assistant.
Starting September 1st 2007 till current date, xxxxx has also been working as a Graduate Research Assistant (NOC Code: 4012) in the department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. As a graduate research assistant, he currently assists me in research activities concerning the biologically mediated recovery of valuable base metals from an Iron Sulfide tailing . He previously assisted me in research activities concerning Metabolic Modeling for in-situ Uranium Bioremediation. In the first year, 50% of his time was spent in the course work, and rest, 20 hours/week, towards the research assistantship. Since May 2008, he has been working as a fulltime research assistant contributing 40 hours/week. As a research assistant, his duties include:
a. Conducting literature reviews to gather information regarding previous studies on Biologically mediated leaching
b. Conducting laboratory experiments. Laboratory experiments herein refer to bioleaching experiments to monitor the recovery of Nickel from an iron sulphide tailing
c. Compiling and analyzing research results from the above experiment(s) for publication in scholarly articles. Specifically, post-processing of results by applying techniques such as SEM (Scanning electron Microscopy),XRD (X-ray Diffraction), ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Spectroscopy)
d. Assisting his supervisor(s) (Prof. xxxx and Prof. yyyy) in the analysis of results from experiments
e. Assisting his supervisor(s) (Prof. xxxxand Prof. yyyy) in the preparation of articles for scholarly publication and conference proceedings
f. Training summer research students on research methodologies
g. Assisting his supervisors with writing grant reports
The details on the work hours and the salary from the research assistantship positions are provided in the following table.
From To Term Hours Salary (Annual)
Sep 2007 Dec 2007 Fall 2007 20 / week $20,400
Jan 2008 Apr 2008 Spring 2008 20 / week $20,400
May 2008 Aug 2008 Summer 2008 40 / week $20,400
Sep 2008 Dec 2008 Fall 2008 40 / week $20,400
Jan 2009 Apr 2009 Spring 2009 40 /week $21,600
May 2009 Aug 2009 Summer 2009 40 /week $21,600
May 2010 Dec 2010 Fall 2010 40 /week $30,000
Jan 2011 Apr 2011 Spring 2011 40 /week $30,000
May 2011 Aug 2011 Summer 2011 40 /week $21,600
Sept 2011 Dec 2011 Fall 2011 40 /week $21,600
Jan 2012 Apr 2012 Spring 2012 40/week $21,600
May2012 Aug2012 Summer2012 40 /week $21,600
Sep2012 Dec 2012 Fall 2012 40 /week $21,600
Jan 2013 Apr 2013 Spring 2013 40/week $21,600
Since 1st January 2008, xxxxxx has undertaken several teaching assistantships (NOC Code: 4012). He was appointed as a TA for the following courses
(i) APS104- Introduction to Materials and Chemistry (Jan-April 2008, Jan-April 2009)
(ii) ESC202-Engineering Science Praxis (Jan-April 2008, Jan-April 2009)
(iii) CHE 332-Applied Reaction Kinetics (Sep-Dec 2011, Sep-Dec 2012)
(iv) CHE 412-Advanced Reactor Design (Jan-April 2013)
As a teaching assistant, his duties included
a. conducting tutorials and quizzes
b. supervising laboratory sessions
c. Assisting faculty members in the preparation and administration of exams; and in grading exams, term papers and laboratory reports.
d. Assisting faculty members in leading discussion groups and tutorial sections
I believe that xxxxxxxx is a valuable member of Canadian society, and I support his application for Permanent Resident status in Canada. If you need any additional information, I would be glad to answer your questions.
Sincerely,
D/MM/YYYY