Oleg Novikov

Joined a research expedition to the North Pole; wants to improve the lives of materials scientists with the help of VR

Path to science. As a kid, I never imagined I’d be a scientist. I began to study the English language when I was six, and my role model was my grandmother, a teacher of history and social sciences. It seemed to me that I’d go into those fields, as well. But my destiny was different. In high school, I got into chemistry after a teacher had shown me how experiments and knowledge of this subject can be applied in real life. So, I changed my direction from humanities to natural sciences. It wasn’t an easy decision. To justify this risk to myself and prove that my new path was correct, I poured my all into science and got into chemical research. And it was the right call!

As a high schooler, I went to a winter school in infochemistry organized by ITMO’s Infochemistry Scientific Center and Talent Academy (a St. Petersburg-based educational institute that organizes academic competitions and other initiatives – Ed.). At that point, I knew little about chemical research and only knew about school-level experiments, which were far from actual lab work. But this experience allowed me to find out what real research looks like. At the winter school, I began to study silver micro- and nanoparticles and learned to synthesize them. These particles, like sensors, allow us to identify unknown substances in small amounts. This was also an opportunity to work at an ITMO lab – and receive an invitation to come back and work there after the winter school.  

Working at the lab gave me a glimpse into the real lives of scientists, their interests, and the global issues that they tackle. I also realized that I want to dedicate my life to science. Thanks to my research into silver nanoparticle-based substrates, I was able to enroll at ITMO via the ITMO.STARS competition. And here I am, in my second year at the university.

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First successes. At ITMO, I continued my work on a project that I showcased at the national project contest Your Turn, won a million rubles, and received an invitation to the World Youth Festival. I was lucky: out of 20,000 participants, the company Rosatom picked 14 experts from around the world to go on an expedition at the North Pole – I was one of them. It was an unforgettable experience: for ten days, I admired the views from onboard an icebreaker and hosted VR workshops for 60 talented high school students.

Right now, I’m continuing my work with virtual reality tech; with the help of ITMO’s Center of Usability and Mixed Reality, I’m working on a VR app that teaches you to use an atomic force microscope. Usually, in order to gain access to such a device, you must first pass a theoretical and a practical exam; it can be very helpful to train in advance in a virtual environment so that you’re more familiar with the equipment and won’t cause any damage later on. With the help of my app, materials scientists and other ITMO students can learn to work with different surfaces, structures, and systems.

Dreams and aspirations. I want to see Russian science develop and chemistry to become more accessible to school and university students alike. It would be great if conventional educational methods were complemented by virtual reality tech. This way, we can provide safe education while also immersing students deeper into the world of science.

Konstantin Rodionenko

Published a paper in a top-cited international scientific journal as a Bachelor’s student; studies topological photonics – a discipline that paves the way forward for new quantum technologies

Path to science. I began to think about my future profession in ninth grade. By that time, I already had a good amount of knowledge: I studied at the Presidential Physics and Mathematics Lyceum No. 239, took part in contests, and at one point was a winner in the national school competition in math and physics. Naturally, I decided to go into exact sciences. I was most interested in theoretical physics – it seemed that in this field, I’d be most capable of applying all of my knowledge. But to be confident in my choice, I decided to join a summer school at ITMO and see for myself what a scientist’s life is like.

While there, I worked on a real science project, explored the labs, and met so many people who were deeply passionate about research that I decided to make physics and science my calling. To me, scientists, just like doctors and teachers, are those who strive to make the world a better place.

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First successes. After graduating high school, I applied to ITMO’s Faculty of Physics. Later, I won in multiple competitions, such as the national student contest in physics and the national student contest in theoretical mechanics. In my third year, under the supervision of Maxim Gorlach, an associate processor at the Faculty of Physics, and in collaboration with Maxim Mazanov, a PhD student, I published a paper in the journal Physical Review B. This is considered a serious achievement for a young researcher, as this journal publishes works by world-class scientists.

Our study concerns topological photonic systems, which are used, for example, in data transmission devices, namely, optic-fiber cables, which transmit enormous amounts of data at high speed. But at such a speed, there’s a risk of energy loss – and with it, loss of data. In order to prevent this, engineers use waveguides, which are resistant to accidental bending and deformation. We improved upon the waveguides that are used to create topological photonic systems. Usually, you’d need a lot of waveguides that make up a symmetrical grid. Our solution, however, has made it possible to reduce the number of elements by sixfold while maintaining the same quality of data transmission.

Dreams and aspirations. I’ve started work on another project that, too, concerns topological insulators. This time, we want to carry out a more practical study in collaboration with colleagues from other universities; in the future, we’d be able to integrate it into existing systems. I’m sure that my projects will find an application not only in data transmission systems, but in quantum computers, too. Of course, I would also like for my work to be not just of scientific interest – it should benefit people, as well. For instance, it could make mobile devices function better, allow AI technologies to develop faster, and make our lives safer in general. After all, increasing the speed of data transmission would, among other things, accelerate the development of smart-city technologies.

Philipp Ignatenok

Developed a human-like voice assistant for T-Bank and an epilepsy diagnostics model for the Russian Ministry of Health

Path to science. I got into IT when I was a child. First, I would watch videos about how computers work; in primary school, I learned Visual Basic and Python; and when I grew up, I began to take part in contests and hackathons. My team and I even won 100,000 rubles at a few of those. But there were a couple other events that were truly crucial: one hackathon marked my first visit to ITMO. It revolved around analytics and I was surprised to see that my knowledge of Python came in handy there. At another contest, I ran into a new subject – artificial intelligence. With the help of some courses and some literature, I got a grasp on it after a month. However, I realized that I’d like to stick with the subject and ended up going into AI.

First successes. Another turning point for me was when I worked on a case for T-Bank. Together with my team, I developed a voice assistant with a distinguishing feature: the ability to hesitate, or, in other words, make pauses in speech. Such behavior humanizes the robot and makes it sound like a call center worker. As a result, customers would hang up on it less often and actually resolve more of their issues with the AI assistant’s help. This case netted me a win at the national contest Big Challenges and in the ITMO.STARS contest – through which I enrolled at the university.

In my first year, I worked on an AI solution for the Russian Ministry of Health as part of the international hackathon Digital Breakthrough. The idea was as follows: it’s important for medical specialists to be able to discern whether a patient is in deep sleep or is experiencing an epileptic seizure and requires first aid. For this purpose, they use electrocorticography, a process that records brain activity and can be used to make a diagnosis. My model automates the diagnostics process and can detect a seizure with 99% accuracy. Right now, I’m finalizing the interface and discussing how the product’s integration with the Ministry of Health.

I’ve already started working on my next project, but it’ll require more effort, time, and expertise. I’m planning to develop a multimodal large language model that can write code for different development frameworks. Right now, ChatGPT is quite adept at writing code for any type of framework, but it can’t combine code too well because of the primary focus on a given programming environment. I’ve designed a model that sees the common points between development frameworks and adapts the results to the prompt. With this solution, you’d only need one specialist instead of ten to develop an IT product.

Dreams and aspirations. I feel that IT specialists can be dubbed scientists, too – our solutions are, in their own way, also discoveries. Unlike with conventional programming, where the goal is to develop a product that corresponds to a known problem, we develop solutions that have not existed before. To me, science is first and foremost about social responsibility. For example, I’m lucky not to have epilepsy, but I can develop a product for those who do – and have a need for this solution. I’m very hopeful that in the future, we’ll have more IT products that can automate tasks within various fields and make life easier for many people.