New Faces in Science

This week the graduation ceremony on awarding postgraduate diplomas took place at Samara University. This year, 56 graduates received their graduation documents. Mikhail Kovalev, Vice-Rector for General Affairs, addressed the young researchers with his welcoming speech. He wished the graduates further development, professional success and new scientific discoveries.

Yulia Kozlova, a graduate of the Department of Geoinformatics and Information Security, defended her Candidate dissertation even before graduating from the postgraduate school. She studied in the area “Computer Science and Engineering” under the supervision of Professor Vladislav Myasnikov, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics. Her scientific work is dedicated to creating a parameterized avatar of a human head based on the neural network rendering model. “Today is a truly happy and important day for me. A week ago, I received my diploma of Candidate of Sciences, and now I have got my postgraduate diploma. I feel very grateful to the University, the university teachers, and especially the Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Department for their support at all the stages, including psychological support: when it was difficult, they always found words of support and encouragement”, noted Yulia. “I am very lucky to have such mentors. Science is an opportunity for discovering new things, communicating with colleagues all over the world and feeling part of a large community”.

Gennady Algashev, a postgraduate student of the Department of Information Systems and Technologies, became the winner of the All-Russian Engineering Competition in 2025. His scientific supervisor is Aleksander Kupriyanov, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Director of the Institute of IT and Cybernetics. Gennady’s dissertation is devoted to detecting key points of partially overlapped objects by using deep neural networks and synthetic data.

“As for me, graduation from the postgraduate school is not just a result, but an important stage that opens up new opportunities. Studying there used to be difficult and interesting, but overall it was very intense. It was due to this experience that I felt myself to be a part of a large scientific community and realized that I was ready to move on, towards defending my Candidate dissertation and solving new professional tasks. The main thing is not to stop, not to be afraid of trying something new and to believe that your work can really change the world for the better”, shared Gennady.

In 2025, there are foreigners among the graduates. Hoang Van Hung, a postgraduate student from Vietnam, whose supervisor is Professor Valery Komarov, Doctor of Technical Sciences, studied at the Department of Aircraft Construction and Design. Hoang Van Hung passed his final certification ahead of the schedule, received his postgraduate certificate, and has already defended his Candidate dissertation “Automating the Selection of Schemes and Parameters of Aircraft-Type Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by Using Multidisciplinary Optimization”.

Elena Rodionova, Head of the Postgraduate and Doctoral Studies Department, emphasized, “For me, awarding diplomas to postgraduate students is always a very exciting and happy moment. We are proud of each graduation: there is a lot of work, growth and true scientific maturity behind it. But receiving the diploma is not the final point, but only a new step on the way to defending the Candidate dissertation. This year, we are pleased with our graduates’ successes: three postgraduate students have already defended their Candidate dissertations ahead of the schedule, and three ones have been granted the prestigious scholarship of the President of the Russian Federation. This is not only high assessment of their achievements, but also the serious financial support for young scientists. Postgraduate school always means development, inner growth and interest. Studying there is difficult, but incredibly interesting. Even if not everything works out at once, this experience is invaluable: it changes thinking, expands the mind and opens up new horizons in the profession and life. We sincerely believe in our graduates, support them at every stage and wish them not to rest on their laurels, go to defending the dissertation, open new horizons and truly love their work”.

Photo by: Viktoria Staroselskaya