On April 3-5, 2025, the XII International Youth Scientific School-Conference "Modern Problems of Physics and Technology" was held at MEPhI. Several hundred participants from different universities of the country took part in it full-time.
The school is designed to introduce students to "live" public speaking (after a break in the pandemic, many of them have difficulty leaving scientific communication online) on scientific topics, instill in them a culture of writing reports and articles, a culture of publications in scientific journals, and generally show the way for a young scientist. It was a rewarding experience for all participants – undergraduate, specialist, undergraduate, and even graduate students. In total, more than 300 people from FEFU, UrFU, MAI, MEI, MGTU, Moscow Polytechnic University, Lomonosov Moscow State University, HSE, NSTU named after R.E. took part in the school. Alekseeva, MISIS, NSU, St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, I.A. Bunin Yelets State University, M.G. Meshcheryakov LIT.
Oleg Nagornov, First Vice-rector of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, congratulating future colleagues on the opening of the school, recalled that once it began with narrow issues of physics (therefore, such a historical name remained), and today the school highlights the issues of training young scientists not only in physics, but also in medicine, biomedicine, IT technologies, applied electronics, digital analysis of economic systems, etc.
The school opened with a plenary session, at which the reports were presented by the heads of institutes and departments of MEPhI, as well as representatives of scientific partner institutes of MEPhI.
Ekaterina Blinova, Head of the Department of Fundamental Medicine at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, made a presentation "Science for the Young: from idea to product creation", in which, using a specific example of the implementation of one scientific idea – an innovative drug for difficult-to-heal wounds using nanomaterials and nanoparticles, she showed the path that a young scientist is taking today: problem, idea, hypothesis, experiment, prototype, registration. The report was held in the form of a discussion – the students listened and answered questions.
The Deputy head of the Kurchatov Synchrotron-Neutron Research Complex (SIC "Kurchatov Institute") spoke about modern synchrotron and neutron research in Russia, their scientific status and prospects Roman Svetogorov. He emphasized the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in modern science, and gave examples of the use of the most powerful modern X-ray sources in medicine, archaeology, cognitive research, molecular biology, crystallography, and materials science, among other disciplines. Let's say you found an old parchment, but you can't unwrap it – it will crumble. It can be read using X–rays (scanning with a small beam) - the text will have a different absorption capacity than the material on which it is applied. Or, for example, you need to get inside an archaeological artifact (an encyclopion cross or a mummified crocodile) without destroying it - with the help of a synchrotron, you can see what is hidden from view, this is a universal tool. "The easiest way to do synchrotrons is to complete a classical student internship at the Kurchatov Institute Research and Development Center," the speaker answered the listener's question on how to get into the synchrotron group. In a few years, there will already be many synchrotron radiation sources in our country (they will be added in Novosibirsk, on Russian Island, in Protvino), so there will be enough work.
Andrey Kuznetsov, director of the MEPhI Laplace Institute, told about "Neutron Stars at the MEPhI center". Despite the fantastic title of the report, it is justified. The main question is: is it possible (in a peaceful way) to somehow approach the temperatures and pressures on Earth that exist inside neutron stars? Yes, it is possible – laser experiments can create such pressures and temperatures. When lasers appeared, no one thought that they would make a revolution, including in the field of extreme materials science. The ELF megajoule laser installation is under construction at MEPhI, and it is currently at the stage of installing the main modules. ELF will allow conducting experiments that will explore not only materials science and astrophysics, but also tasks related to the creation of new sources of charged particles. Speaking about the future of laser research (and where today's students can apply their knowledge), Andrey Kuznetsov noted: "There is a well-known formula E = mc2, and we know that nuclear reactors work because mass is converted into energy. But turning energy into mass (by focusing radiation directly into the void) is also possible, and I think we will most likely see this in the next 15-20 years."
She touched upon the problems of neural network learning in her report "Artificial Intelligence. Large Linguistic models" graduate of the Higher School of Economics, graduate student of the IICS of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI and specialist in neural networks and artificial intelligence of the Astra Group Elizaveta Bobrova. This technology is changing the world dramatically, and it would seem that neural networks have already begun to "understand" us. To make sure of this, it's enough to play a simple game – guess who wrote the text: a person or neural networks? Almost none of those present guessed, but there are already neural networks composing continuations of famous works of classical literature. "Today, the neural network is very good at adapting to what it is taught, but it often cannot distinguish truth from fiction and does not differ in logical thinking – an example of this is the famous incident with the recipe for "pork wings", which the neural network instantly issued upon request," the speaker emphasized. Is it better to train neural networks on high–quality fiction or on Wikipedia? Alas, on Wikipedia. Elizaveta Bobrova also told whether it is possible to calculate the accuracy of the answer to a given question mathematically, what reinforcement learning is and how it helps neural networks to be more accurate in their answers, how difficult it is to create your own neural network and whether it can be trained on synthetic data, and how quickly new network architectures can appear.
Anastasia Ponomareva, Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations at the IMO National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, spoke about promising areas of scientific and technological cooperation between Russia and the BRICS+ countries. She highlighted the main areas of mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and the key BRICS countries and the states that joined the union in 2024. As Ponomareva noted, the politicization of science, a new round of which we are witnessing today, is expressed, among other things, in an attempt by a coalition of Western countries to isolate Russian science from global science. Based on data from a joint study by the IMO of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI and the Data Mining Laboratory of the MGIMO Institute of International Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the report presented an assessment of the potential of Russian science to overcome the negative effects of isolation from Western developments through cooperation with BRICS+ partners.
Useful skills courses and master classes for students were organized within the school:
- "Scientific articles. Why and how do we publish?" – Anton Smirnov, Deputy Head of the Center for Information and Library Support of Educational and Scientific Activities at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, told the participants about the necessity, rules and possibilities of publications in scientific journals.
- A master class on writing a scientific grant application was conducted by Evgeny Soldatov, Associate Professor of the Department of Elementary Particle Physics at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI;
- The Institute of Nuclear Physics and Technology of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI organized Master classes on the virtual launch of the IRT-MEPhI
On the second day of the school there were sections: "Nuclear Physics and Technology", "Applied Physics and Mathematics", "IT technologies, intelligent systems, cybersecurity", "Engineering and physical approaches in modern medicine and Biology", "Applied Electronics and Radiophotonics", "Cyberphysical Systems and Technologies", "Digital Analytics of Economic Systems", "Business Informatics and Management", "International Scientific and Technological Cooperation", "Digital and System Engineering". 268 participants of the school conference made their presentations, and 20 more participants presented poster presentations.
For example, Konstantin Storozhun, a 4th–year student at the R.E. Alekseev NSTU, presented at the stand his research on heat transfer during phase transitions in relation to cooling elements of systems with high specific heat generation - servers, lasers, etc. At his university, within the framework of this research, studies were conducted to determine the heat transfer coefficient during condensation and boiling of FC 5-1-12 liquid on a copper plate. The paper shows how two-phase immersion cooling using dielectric low-boiling liquids is used in those electronic devices where there is a problem between the small size of the device and an increase in its energy output.
And 2nd year Master's degree students at IFTIS MEPhI (Student Design Bureau SKIB -18) S. Pankratov, M. Tarabanovsky, D. Valeev, B. Fomenko, A. Shonin and D. Gabaraev presented a universal self-propelled platform for cargo transportation. The platform can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h, carries up to 200 kg of cargo, and is powered by four motor wheels and servos for precise control. Its spring suspension increases cross-country ability, and two pivoting axles realize a "crab stroke" and minimize the turning radius. Its versatile design and modular approach make it possible to adapt it for various tasks, from industrial logistics to autonomous monitoring, and data transmission via a web interface simplifies operation and makes remote control possible from any device. Avtovaz has already shown interest in the development.
