Winter School of Chemistry and Biology was held at MSU
Date /January 28-31, 2019 the Winter School of Chemistry and Biology for the winners of the qualifying stage of the Student Olympiad “I am a Professional” was held at Lomonosov Moscow State University.
The opening ceremony and plenary session took place at the Big Chemical Auditorium at the Faculty of Chemistry. MSU Vice-Rector, Head of the Department of Development Program at Moscow University, Ph.D. in biology Sergey Yu. Egorov told the participants about the history of the first Russian University and its modern achievements.
During the plenary session the organizers held a teleconference with Paris, where the opening of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements proceeded in those days. Also, the students were addressed by the Dean of the MSU Faculty of Chemistry, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Stepan N. Kalmykov. He spoke about how the world scientific community will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Periodic Table, and wished the school participants to become strong and demanded professionals in modern world.
Students learned about the most promising directions in the field of chemistry and biology and how to purposefully realize their research interests from Academician, Professor of Moscow State University Aziz M. Muzafarov; Academician, Head of the Department of Chemistry of Natural Compounds (the MSU Faculty of Chemistry) Olga A. Dontsova; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the RAS Federal Research Center "Biotechnology" Vladimir O. Popov; a member of the Board of Directors of URALCHEM Group Mikhail V. Genkin and Deputy General Director of the the Advanced Research Foundation Maksim S. Vakshtein.
In addition, in the framework of the plenary session, a master class “How to get into a well-known company in profile” was held. Young MSU graduates; Ph.D. in chemistry, Head of the Laboratory of proteins of hormonal regulation of RAS IBCH Alexey Belogurov; Senior geologist of the largest oil and gas company of Norway Equinor (Statoil ASA), participant of joint research projects with MSU Anton Kirillov and Project Manager Executive Search of Support Partners Elena Potekhina shared the ways of effective self-realization with the audience.
According to experts, purposefulness, breadth of vision, a conscious way out from the comfort zone for the sake of self-development are the cornerstones of future achievements. Listeners actively participated in the master class, asking the speakers a lot of questions that significantly expanded the topic of discussion.
School participants were offered an extensive educational program at the Faculties of Biology and Chemistry. According to students, who came to the Winter School from different regions of Russia, master classes of MSU scientists, lectures, round tables and workshops with representatives of leading companies (URALCHEM, BIOCAD, SIBUR, Khimprom and Solvex Group) were informative and fascinating.
Within the framework of the school, a contest of ideas was held. Participants were required to briefly answer the question: Research in which fields of biology and chemistry will be able to provide a scientific and technological breakthrough in our country? The authors of the six best ideas from Moscow, Tula, Tver and Saratov were awarded.
As part of the cultural and leisure activities intellectual game "Quiz. Club of experts" took place. It demanded not only versatile erudition, but also became a test for creative thinking and sense of humor.
On January 30, the Winter School was solemnly closed at the Faculty of Biology. Dean of the MSU Faculty of Biology Academician Mikhail P. Kirpichnikov; Vice-President of the biotech company BIOCAD Roman A. Ivanov, as well as representatives of major industry companies congratulated the participants of the school on the successful completion of the work. After the closing ceremony, all participants received certificates and discussed the information at the gala dinner in the Main building.
