For the fourth year in a row, the FIT faculty hosted internships for students from French engineering schools. Last summer, 13 people had their internship at FIT.
Russia does not have a tradition of compulsory foreign internships. In France, a University student must spend at least 9 months abroad on an internship. For their first trip, a student can go anywhere because their goal is not only to engage in scientific activities, but to learn how to integrate into the unfamiliar environment of another country. Of course, students most often choose work that somehow relates to the focus of their studies and since there is a mystique to Russia and Siberia for Europeans, Akademgorodok is a good choice.
One of the large-scale projects that French students took part in was described by Alexey Romanenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Informatics Systems, Deputy Dean of FIT for International Relations, “Specialists fr om Novosibirsk State University together with colleagues fr om the Institute of Physics and Mathematics SB RAS, the USA and Japan have long been engaged in developing mathematical models for predicting various tsunami wave parameters in real time. When there is an earthquake, we have only the coordinates of the place wh ere it happened, and the magnitude (that is, the characteristics for the amount of energy released). But it does not tell us anything about how, for example, the plates moved relative to each other. This information appears much later and only in the form of estimates. Accordingly, it is not known what happens at the bottom of the ocean or what initial displacement of the water surface this generates. Hence, possible inaccuracies in the calculation of wave propagation. However, there are indirect ways to model the picture. For this, deep-sea hydro-physical stations (DART stations) are located in the ocean. These can be located at a depth of up to 6 kilometers and are able to measure the pressure of the water column above it to within a millimeter. After the tsunami wave passes over the sensor, its profile is recorded, and from this profile it is possible to estimate the initial displacement of the water surface in the zone of the tsunami source. Then, based on the bias obtained, it is possible to calculate the wave propagation and estimate its parameters near the protected coast.”
Throughout the projects existence, the participants developed various mathematical algorithms that have made it possible to very quickly solve various problems associated with modeling a tsunami wave. Subsequently, this will help people promptly decide whether to take measures to evacuate the population and protect the infrastructure. These algorithms have already been tested on synthetic data, but in order to confirm they work, they must be tested on real data. Students from France were invited to study various elements of the system so they could test them with measurements.
“The French students were involved in solving parts of small problems. For example, Hermann Guidi transferred one of the programs written in MatLab to the C / C ++ language so it was not tied to the package and could perform data processing more quickly. Other students under the direction of Professor Andrew Marchuk, implemented algorithms that allow us to calculate more accurately the time for wave propagation to specific points from a given epicenter. I am satisfied with the students work because their efforts helped move us forward in our big task” explained Alexey Romanenko.
Guillaume Beaufort
I like traveling a lot. It's easy to visit the Western part of Russia as a tourist. But the opportunity to go to Novosibirsk was an incredible opportunity that I did not want to miss. Akademgorodok is an extraordinary place. First of all, I was struck by the fact that it is in the forest, and next to it there is a beach and even small lakes. Most of all, I was pleased that I met people from many countries that I do not meet at home. France is a cultural center, and there is fairly large movement of people from the countries that surround it. Russia is also bordered by a large number of countries, but since there is a research center in Novosibirsk, it is logical that people from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China, Iran and many other countries come to study and share their experiences here. It's great!
In France, we usually solve technical problems related to production processes. At NSU it is interesting to apply your knowledge to solve scientific problems. Previously, I didn’t have any experience doing that. In the framework of the tsunami project, I was engaged in testing the proposed algorithm for recreating the tsunami with real data.
Yes, I would like to come back here someday. Maybe even in winter although they say you have temperatures of minus 20 degrees. For me that’s too harsh! (Laughs) When I was going to Novosibirsk, I took a jacket that I wear in France even in the coldest weather in the winter. This jacket helped me several times in August and even then, it was still a bit cool.
Hermann Kevin Guidi
When it came time to choose a place for the internship, the professor showed us a website with several proposals. Many decided to go to England, the USA or Australia. But when I saw that there was an opportunity to go to Siberia I thought, why not? In addition, the theme related to the tsunami seemed very interesting. My main task was to transfer a program previously developed by another student from the language MatLab to C / C ++ in order to improve performance. Working at the University was very comfortable. We met with our supervisor Alexei Romanenko every 2-3 days. And I had time to work independently, to think, and to ask any questions I had during our meetings. There was also time for walking around the city and meeting with friends which is also very important.
Before I went to Novosibirsk, I studied the weather forecast and was convinced that in the summer it would be cold, 5 degrees. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that this was not true. In Akademgorodok, and in general in Novosibirsk, there are very friendly people. Even in the center of the city if you ask passers-by how to get somewhere, someone will definitely stop and try to explain the way. I really liked it in Akademgorodok. If there is an opportunity, in a few years I would like to return here for study or work. Perhaps on my next visit I will be able to learn Russian.
Nicolas Brun
Last year friends from my university went to NSU for an internship. They told about what they were doing, and I wanted to go. I really like Akademgorodok, especially the nature because there are a lot of trees. The place wh ere I live in France is very different, there are a lot of buildings and almost no greenery.
My scientific adviser at NSU was Professor Andrey Marchuk. The main task he assigned me was to implement a program that assesses the arrival time of a wave after an earthquake to shore. In addition, I needed to create a graphical interface for it. It was very comfortable; the professors do not try to control us all the time. We meet every few days, ask questions and share intermediate results. Free time can be spent any way we want. I really like traveling, that's why I have already visited Altai and Tomsk.
Louis Huneau
I never wanted to have an internship in Europe. Therefore, my first thought was that I would go to Japan. Then, there was an opportunity to go to Russia and I decided it would be much more interesting. So, I wrote my future scientific advisor Alexei Romanenko, sent him my resume, and he invited me.
As part of my scientific work, I was engaged in analyzing literature on the options for recording a tsunami wave and repeating previous experiments related to optimizing the location of DART stations. For me, the task was to find the optimal location of GPS buoys on a given coast. To implement this task, I decided to start developing my own version of the software.
I met a lot of people and made many friends. There are stereotypes about Russians that have developed in European society but many of them broke down when I came here. The most common misconception is that everywhere they drink vodka. Not everywhere, and not always, and often not even vodka. (Laughs) In reality, all the people I talked to turned out to be very friendly and always happy to help us.
Yannick Planas
