Youth and Science

First master's students and new study programmes

On 9 September, a new academic year ceremoniously started at the Dubna branch of Moscow State University. For the first time in its recent history, the branch has welcomed first-year master's students.

In his welcoming speech, Deputy Director of the branch Alexander Olshevsky emphasized the importance of scientific and educational cooperation between Moscow State University and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research.

"Two years ago, the Dubna branch of Moscow State University became a separate division of Moscow State University and today, for the first time, it welcomes first-year master's students within its walls," Alexander Olshevsky noted. "Initially, Moscow State University and JINR determined that, in addition to physics, other specialties should appear in the branch, corresponding to the wide range of research areas of the Joint Institute. The Dubna branch of Moscow State University is designed to reflect this multidisciplinarity by advancing and developing new educational programmes and increasing the number of new specialties."

This year, 11 students were admitted to the programmes "Physics of Elementary Particles" and "Fundamental and Applied Nuclear Physics", of which 10 obtained budget places. They are representatives of Russian regions such as Vladikavkaz, Voronezh, Samara, Kazan, Irkutsk and Dubna.

Director of the Moscow State University branch in Dubna, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Eduard Boos spoke about the history of the institution's founding, as well as about the events that preceded its appearance on the city map in the middle of the 20th century.

The Moscow State University's educational base in Dubna was founded in 1960 by Academician Sergey Vernov. It was a division of the Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of MSU (SINP MSU) and two departments of the Physics Faculty, headed by the founding fathers of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research Dmitry Blokhintsev and Vladimir Veksler.

The first graduation was in 1963. Since 1970, the practice of seconding students, postgraduates and interns from various universities of the USSR and other countries for study and research has started. In the period from 1963 to 2015, more than 800 students and 200 postgraduates graduated, among whom about 120 were citizens of Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Cuba, Vietnam, the USA and other countries. More than 70% of graduates went on working in their specialty at JINR, Moscow State University and other scientific centres around the world.

From 2016 to 2021, the activities of MSU in Dubna were carried out within the framework of the Nuclear Research Department of the SINP MSU under the supervision of Tatyana Tetereva. During this time, about 40 master's degree physicists were trained that defended their diploma theses under the supervision of leading JINR scientists.

"Today, one of the main goals of the MSU branch is to train highly qualified personnel in fundamental disciplines to work on projects of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. We are seeing how this world-famous scientific centre increases its influence. To achieve all the set goals, in the near future the branch is going to expand by introducing new promising areas of training into the educational programme," Eduard Boos outlined plans for the development of the MSU branch in Dubna.

The need to train highly qualified personnel in the field of mathematic simulation and data processing of megascience projects using Big Data analytics and artificial intelligence techniques has resulted in the new training programme - Applied Mathematics and Computer Science. As reported by the heads of the branch, the Scientific Council of Moscow State University has already approved the curricula for the new master's programme "Techniques and technologies for data processing in heterogeneous computing environments". In the coming years, such training programmes as radiochemistry, applied mathematics, mathematical physics and others will be implemented.

A report on the current projects and research of JINR, as well as on the history of scientific and educational cooperation between Moscow University and the Joint Institute was given by JINR Director, Head of the programme "Fundamental and Applied Nuclear Physics" at the Moscow State University branch in Dubna, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Trubnikov. He presented the basic areas of the Institute's scientific programme and spoke about the achievements of each of the seven laboratories.

According to Grigory Trubnikov, a unique feature of the training at the branch will be the introduction of students to work in a special professional environment of an international organization based on the world-class scientific infrastructure developed at JINR. It includes the NICA accelerator complex, the Superheavy Element Factory based on the universal high-intensity cyclotron DC-280, the Baikal-GVD deep-sea neutrino telescope, the IBR-2 pulsed research reactor, the Multifunctional Information and Computing Complex (MICC), others.

"JINR is immensely grateful to the staff of the Physics Department of Moscow State University for the fact that today, there is a branch of the largest university in Russia in Dubna," Grigory Trubnikov emphasized. "Thanks to the long history of fruitful cooperation between our organizations, scientists of the Joint Institute, together with students of the Physics Department, have the opportunity to successfully implement many projects in both Russian and foreign scientific centres, using the scientific infrastructure of JINR."

MSU Vice-Rector Stanislav Bushev also congratulated the students, noting that Dubna has a unique combination of high scientific potential and a comfortable urban environment for living. He expressed confidence that each student will be able to become part of the staff and contribute to the development of science. "There is everything here for you to grow and to become true professionals in your field," the MSU Vice-Rector concluded.

After the speeches, Grigory Trubnikov, Eduard Boos and Alexander Olshevsky held a ceremonial awarding of student cards to first-year students of the branch. To learn about the scientific infrastructure of the Joint Institute, an excursion to the Laboratory of High Energy Physics of JINR was organized for all students and teachers, where they visited the site of the NICA accelerator complex.

By developing a range of educational practices, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, as an international and intergovernmental organization, gives students of the Moscow State University branch in Dubna the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to implement one of the most important tasks of current scientific education, that is, to establish international relations. It will allow students not only to join the work of scientific groups, but also to subsequently participate in large international collaborations, implementing major scientific projects.

With reporting by JINR Press Office