Summer School for INRTU graduate students, pumping soft-skills and preparing for the thesis defense

The Summer school of INRTU graduate students took place in the sports and recreation camp «Polytechnic» on June 25–27. Young researchers learned to speak publicly, develop soft skills and get acquainted with trends in the field of machine learning.

According to the head of the Department for Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Yulia Pomernyuk, the project has been implemented for the fourth time. The main task of the institution is to motivate Polytechnic students to engage in research activities and defend their PhD thesis.

«There are those who limit themselves in passing the candidate’s minimum. However, the university is interested in graduate students achieving a final goal and defending themselves on time. To help students navigate issues related to education, preparation of publications, speaking before the commission, we are holding the Summer School. 25 people, including foreigners, showed interest in the field intensive course. This season, representatives of interdisciplinary majors have gathered in the camp, which opens up additional opportunities for researchers. Communicating in an informal setting, they can unite to write a joint article. For example, one will consider a mathematical model, and the other will be responsible for the descriptive part," Yulia Pomernyuk said.

The training started with a master class by Elena Struk, the head of the Department of Sociology and Psychology, on the topic of public speaking. Vice-Rector for Research Alexander Kononov gave a lecture «The course of a young fighter: how to graduate from postgrad school and not to be disappointed in science.»
Nikolay Murzin, a graduate of the School of Subsurface Resource Managment, spoke about the difficulties before graduate students completing their studies. In 2022, he finished postgraduate course in Geology, exploration and development of minerals. Last Thursday he defended his PhD thesis on the substantiation of the technology of the dredge development of man-made placers. Nikolai has passed a serious path in science. He has work experience in the design bureau «Miner», participation in research initiatives related to the reclamation of disturbed lands.
From his speech, the Intensive Course participants learned about some terms from the past world of science. These include «black and white balls». This is the name of the secret method of voting, when making a decision on protection, the members of the Discussion Council used a ball of a certain color.
Dmitry Shadrin, a junior researcher at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, gave a lecture on machine learning. The speaker shared the trends in the industry, focusing on intelligent systems and big data processing.
On the final day, the participants were offered to pump soft skills. During the training game, situations on negotiating and establishing communications were worked out. The interactive was conducted by Nikita Faytkevich and Alyona Lozhkina, employees of the Easy School educational center.
The fourth-year graduate student of the School of High Technologies Olga Safonova was interested in Intensive Course. Earlier, she studied courses in the sociological and energy directions at INRTU. Now she is conducting research with the guidance of Professor Pavel Lontsikh. She examines in her dissertation the topic «Optimization of the methods for analyzing technical risks in the development of quality management systems for production systems».

According to the student, the Summer School left positive emotions:

«The lecture of the vice-rector Alexander Kononov charged for further work on the dissertation. Thanks to this, many issues related to protection have been clarified. The head of the Department of Scientific Activity Elena Panasenkova shared useful information about the preparation of articles, their publication in peer-reviewed publications. The program was intense. Despite the large flow of information, everything was presented in clear language and evenly. The experience gained through mentors will be useful to me in building a scientific career.»

Dmitry Bublik is a first-year student of postgraduate studies in «Computer Science and Computer Engineering». A graduate student is developing a welding process control system using artificial intelligence.
As Dmitry admits, he especially remembered Elena Struk’s master class. The INRTU student was impressed by practical tips on capturing the attention and keeping the concentration of the audience.

«I will definitely apply the recommendations from Elena Nikolaevna in my teaching activities. I was also interested in a lecture on machine learning. This is a specific material that I have to comprehend in order to focus on application in various subject areas," Dmitry emphasizes.

To sum up, we should add that 270 people are currently studying in postgraduate school of INRTU.