High-Performance Computing Department was organized in 2010 by eScience Research Institute of ITMO University. It offers students to follow several Master`s Programs that combine studies of different fields and research areas. Interdisciplinary approach is an integral part of computational science, which is applied for such dissimilar issues as modelling of traffic flows and prediction of illness spreading. That is why such experts are called transdisciplinary researchers.
Moreover, High-Performance Computing Department organizes Double Degree Programs in partnership with University of Amsterdam, which places 55th according to QS World Rankings. Its` students are given an opportunity to take part in real research projects headed by skilled scientists. Apart from lectures, they attend international research sessions devoted to, for example, urban science or study of complex social systems` behavior.
Currently the Department provides three Master`s programs: Supercomputer Technologies in Interdisciplinary Research; Big Data and Urgent Computing; and Urban Supercomputing. The fourth program called Computational Biomedicine will be launched in 2016-2017 academic year. Specialists of High-Performance Computing Department have been cooperating with medical experts of Federal Almazov North-West Medical Research Centre for a long time. The new program is one more joint project, which aims to contribute to this partnership. The researchers are sure that challenges of modern medicine cannot be solved without well-qualified experts.
“Fortunately life expectancy in Russia has increased. However it means that health care institutions have to serve more and more people who visit hospitals and medical centers. It leads to the lack of medical staff and other problems. That is why one has to apply high technologies for activities connected with this field. Currently medical specialists and IT experts don`t collaborate; it is difficult for them to understand each other. This Master`s program is going to build bridge between these areas,” commented Nadezhda Zvartau, senior researcher of Federal Almazov North-West Medical Research Centre.
According to Sergei Kovalchuk, associate professor of High-Performance Computing Department, traditionally Computational Biomedicine focuses on specific problems that can be solved by using highly-specialized methods. Apart from training in this field the Master`s program includes other courses connected with Big Data, urban studies and others.
“Computational Biomedicine was developed to apply various computational methods for medical research. For example, one can use hydrodynamics` approaches for modelling of blood flow. We focus on a wide range of topics connected with it because apart from modelling one can also use other technologies to solve medical challenges…” said the expert.
Ms. Zvartau also noted that application of information technologies is necessary to solve such problems of the modern medicine as interaction of different departments of a medical center, which is important for making patient histories. Otherwise it will take a lot of time to pick up diagnostic results made by different doctors. Furthermore IT will help to develop such fields as bioinformatics and modelling of biological processes.
“These experts will have wonderful job opportunities. Many large companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft invest in eHealth. Moreover, recently a well-known Russian pharmaceutical company announced a computer-assisted service for drug prescription,” said Nadezhda Zvartau.
The specialists of High-Performance Computing Department will present the new program one more time at ITMO University Open House, which will take place on April 3, at 11:30 am.
