Delovoy Peterburg (St Petersburg Business): from a student at St Petersburg University to a professor at Princeton – the young mathematicians conquer science and quantum computing

Teams from St Petersburg University and ITMO University have won mathematical Olympiads and the ACM/IC PC Programming World Contest more often than teams from other universities around the world. In 2022, St Petersburg will host the prestigious International Congress of Mathematicians. Every four years, it presents the Fields Medals, the so called 'Nobel prize in Mathematics'. So far, our country has only hosted this scientific ‘world cup’ once – in 1966 in Moscow.

The Russian school of mathematics holds a leading position in the world, and big business relies on a new generation of young scientists.

To count to Princeton

By the beginning of December, 77 young scientists from St Petersburg had won the Mathematical Progression Award, a joint project of St Petersburg University and the Gazprom Neft corporate social responsibility project 'Home Towns'. Students and postgraduate students of the University received personal scholarships and grants for successful research.

Despite their young age, the project participants have already managed to establish themselves in the scientific world. One of the laureates, for example, is Ivan Bochkov, a first-year master’s student. 'Ivan solved Valent's hypothesis put forward in the 1990s. It is a task about the probabilistic aspects of birth and death. It derives from the hypothesis of a well-known mathematician Andrey Kolmogorov. Under the supervision of Associate Professor Roman Romanov, Ivan succeeded in solving this hypothesis, and the work was published in one of the leading journals. It is wonderful that students, even at a very young age, without a higher education diploma, can become involved in scientific life,' said one of the coordinators of the Chebyshev Laboratory, Associate Professor Sergey Tikhomirov in an interview to dp.ru.

One of the founders of the Mathematical Progression Award is the head of the Chebyshev Research Laboratory at St Petersburg University and a holder of the Fields medal Stanislav Smirnov.

'This project has revitalised mathematical life in the city and has led to outstanding results. Our students receive the most prestigious awards and their work is recognised by specialists for its contribution to science. Most importantly, thanks to the support of Gazprom Neft, we were able to reboot mathematical education at St Petersburg University and bring it back to be world class,' said Stanislav Smirnov.

Aleksandr Logunov is one of the first graduates of the Mathematical Progression Award. After graduating from St Petersburg University, he won the Clay Research Award (the second most important award in Mathematics) and is now a professor at Princeton University.

Hype train of the future

In September, St Petersburg University, Gazprom Neft and Yandex jointly founded a new Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Sciences. The first 100 students have been enrolled in its state-funded places in bachelor’s programmes in 'Mathematics', 'Modern Programming', and 'Mathematics, Algorithms and Data Analysis'. Another 25 students were accepted into the master's programme ‘Advanced Mathematics’ for talented mathematicians from Russia, Eastern Europe and Asia.

We are bringing up a new generation of mathematicians. These young people are the ones who are currently changing the manpower in Russia. We are interested in them because they are one of the strongest, if not the strongest specialists in the world. Moreover, with the launch of a new international master’s programme at St Petersburg University, we now see more international students coming to study.

Alexander Dybal, Member of the Gazprom Neft PJSC Management Board

Alexander Dybal said that the investment in joint cooperation with St Petersburg University and the Chebyshev Laboratory has paid off after four years. The mathematicians are now developing the digital models of fields and algorithms for the analysis of big data sets for estimating new oil reserves.

Associate Professor Sergey Tikhomirov was among those who decided to continue their career in Russia. 'I left in 2009 and came back in 2016. I was not the only one who did so. The situation has changed dramatically over the years. About half of our senior employees have returned from abroad. I can't say that the labour outflow process has finally reversed, but there is a positive trend. For me personally, the Chebyshev Lab played a key role in making this decision. Now we have foreign professors, we have a master’s degree course in English, and we have international students coming to study, including students from Germany and France,’ said the scholar.

According to Sergey Tikhomirov, the 'Mathematical Progression Award' enables students and young researchers to concentrate on their studies and research work. Among the most popular courses that have attracted interest in recent years is the introduction to quantum computing.

'We have to understand that full-featured quantum computers are not yet available, although information on progress in this area does appear in the news. Quantum computing, however, is not even a fad, but the hype train to the future. Data analysis and machine learning are popular now, and we are talking about what will become real in the future. Students are getting to grips with these trends very clearly and quickly,’ added Mr Tikhomirov.

Only the most talented people can join the project. The main criterion for selecting the best of the best is quality, or as they say in English – excellence. 'You have to understand that the selection is done through an open competition. This creates an effect of competitiveness, honesty and changeability. This approach enables us to go beyond some small parts of mathematics and cover various fields of science. No matter what field you come from, if you are a great scientist, you can join us,' says Sergey Tikhomirov.

Over the past three years, a huge number of applications have been submitted by winners of all-Russian Olympiads. Also, some people have been selected based on the results of their Russian State Exam. Competition has been growing annually. Thus, about 1,000 people applied for a programme that has only 25 places.

Science hipsters

The profession of scientist is again becoming popular, prestigious and fashionable. Mathematics finds a wide application in various spheres of life and every year it is increasingly in demand by business.

'When I was a post-graduate student and then a young scientist, I was very much concerned about the prestige of the profession. Mathematics was often associated with some Mrs Grundy in her glasses, who scared schoolchildren with incomprehensible formulas. Mathematicians and scientists have become respected members of society again. A lot of work has been done and valuable words have been said about the digitalisation of the economy, which have once again made the professions of scientist, engineer and researcher important and popular. The scientist is now associated not with a twisted man at a desk, but with a young hipster on a scooter,' added Sergey Tikhomirov.

Ekaterina Shchetka, a research engineer, became one of the laureates of the Mathematical Progression Award 2019. Her scientific interests include spectral theory of ergodic Schrödinger operators, asymptotic analysis, theory of difference equations on the complex plane, and the theory of random processes.

‘I am interested in the spectral theory of the almost Mathieu operator. I received an award for it,' said Ekaterina Shchetka. 'Physicists, especially in quantum physics, describe all systems by operators. Any physical system is compared to some operator by spectrum. Spectrum is, roughly speaking, the value that the system can accept. Once physicists know the spectrum of the operator, they more or less know everything that happens in the system, how it behaves, whether it will be a conductor or an insulator, or whether there will be diffusion processes. These physical systems are described by operator matrices. The almost Mathieu operator is a very beautiful case. In this case, the spectrum is a fractal set, very complex and self-similar. I study the geometry of the spectrum, the way it is structured. It's a beautiful task with very deep mathematical concepts that have important physical implications.’

Ekaterina Shchetka confirms that young scientists have begun to see more prospects in staying and developing their talents in St Petersburg without leaving Russia forever.

‘I am a witness to this process. When I started my bachelor studies eight years ago, I didn't see any prospects and it was incredibly scary. I thought I would have to leave. It was a challenge to stay and the future seemed unclear. Then I found that the Chebyshev Laboratory is the top spot in St Petersburg. Many people from the most remote regions already knew about it. Muscovites keep asking me questions about the laboratory and its news. It's a great place, there are a lot of activities. There are lectures, guest scientists, and various types of courses,' said Ekaterina Shchetka.