As per tradition, the ceremony took place in the atrium of the Commandant’s Office of the Peter and Paul Fortress and was opened by Vladimir Knyaginin, the Vice Governor of St. Petersburg.

60 graduates of St. Petersburg universities were honoured with the award, including Alexander Panin, who is graduating from ITMO’s Faculty of Control Systems and Robotics this summer. Alexander took the first place in the ranking of sports achievements among ITMO graduates. An avid ultimate frisbee player, he trains with the Russian national team and is actively developing the ultimate frisbee club at ITMO. Under his guidance, the ITMO team regularly shines at student tournaments and open national competitions.

Additionally, Alexander came 8th in the in-house ITMO ranking based on scientific achievements. Currently, the graduate’s focus is primarily on robotics and control systems, but in the future he’s planning to move on to multiagent systems: drone swarms and groups of mobile robots and their control. During his studies at ITMO, Alexander has published five Scopus-index articles and took part in the Battle of Robots championship.

“This fall, I am planning to enter a PhD program at ITMO to continue my work in multiagent control and keep playing ultimate frisbee. I am going to present the results of my research at the IFAC World Congress in Busan, South Korea, in 2026,” says Alexander Panin.