According to the results of the international Mirror Lab Contest in mathematics announced at NSU, three projects are to be launched this October.
A 芦mirror禄 laboratory is a laboratory created in collaboration with foreign research groups and headed by a scientist who has a similar research base in another scientific center, in particular, at a foreign university. Actually, the scientist duplicates the laboratory he is working at on the NSU ground. The Head of the laboratory, under the terms of the competition, is to work in Novosibirsk for at least two months per year and, in addition to doing his research, is to give a course for students. The laboratory staff are also supposed to supervise NSU postgraduates and students.
The competition was announced in August and attracted three entries. Each of them was carefully considered by a special contest committee and an independent evaluation group of prominent Russian and foreign scientists. Ivan Logashenko, the coordinator of the contest, reveals that the initial idea of creating only two laboratories failed as 鈥渁ll the entries were given highest points with experts recommending them as excellent projects worth every support. Thus, all the three projects are to be launched.鈥�
Therefore, NSU welcomes the Laboratory of applied probability, the Laboratory of boundary value problems in Continuum Mechanics and the Laboratory of nonlinear processes in Hydrodynamics.
The scientific advisor for the Laboratory of applied probability is Prof. Sergey Foss (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK). The local advisor is Prof. Alexander Sakhanenko (Sobolev Institute of mathematics, Head of the Laboratory of probability theory and mathematical statistics, Novosibirsk, Russia).
The Laboratory of nonlinear processes in Hydrodynamics will be headed by Prof. Sergey Gavrilyuk (Aix-Marseille University,France) and Prof. Alexander Chesnokov (Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics and NSU, Novosibirsk, Russia).
The Laboratory of boundary value problems in Continuum Mechanics will work under the supervision of Stanislav Antontsev (University of Lisbon, Centro de Matem谩tica e Aplica莽玫es Fundamentais (CMAF), Portugal) and Professor Dr. Pavel I. Plotnikov (Corresp. Member of RAS, Head of the Applied Mathematics Chair at NSU, Novosibirsk, Russia).
Although the results of the contest have just been announced, the scientists have already started doing research. For instance, the staff of the Laboratory of nonlinear processes in Hydrodynamics is busy with theoretical and applied research in the areas of naval hydrodynamics, oil and gas production stimulation and hemodynamics. 鈥淭wo of our colleagues are now working on a research ship in the Atlantic Ocean measuring deep water currents which dramatically influence the climate,鈥� says Prof. Alexander Chesnokov. 鈥淭he data obtained will allow us to construct more accurate mathematical models and study wave patterns resulting fr om the nonuniform flow-bottom topography interactions.鈥�
Creating 鈥渕irror鈥� labs is another step in jumping up in the international rankings. Here we deal not only with joint research in collaboration with foreign partners followed by publications in journals, wh ere NSU will be mentioned as a place of affiliation. Additional training courses are to be conducted as a part of the agreement, as the scientific advisors shall give at least one course per academic year for NSU students.
The first of such courses for 4-5 lectures is scheduled for early December and will be conducted by Prof. Sergey Gavrilyuk, the Head of the Laboratory of nonlinear processes in Hydrodynamics. He is going to touch upon the modern multiphase flow modeling via Hamilton's principle.
The next course is scheduled for February 2015, when the Head of the Laboratory of applied probability Prof. Sergey Foss (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, U.K.) is to give an elective course on 鈥淚ntroduction to mathematical methods used in stochastic communication systems鈥�. The course will take two months with some parts of it delivered in English.
In addition, the lab staff will supervise postgraduate students and give advice on students鈥� theses. After their first year of active work, the labs are to engage at least one post graduate and two graduate students annually.
As for financing the new labs, it is the responsibility of NSU in the frameworks of the 鈥淭op-100鈥� program. Full financial support has been given to, in experts鈥� opinion, the strongest project, the Laboratory of applied probability. The other labs will obtain as much support as 70% of the funds for the winner. The labs can attract third-party sources for conducting their research, of course. 鈥淭he number of grants obtained and additional funds attracted is another independent indicator showing the Laboratory鈥檚 success,鈥� says the contest coordinator Ivan Logashenko.
The new research grounds are to report on their results annually. At the end of 2015 they will go through a procedure of independent verification and validation for the correct allocation of funds for the years to follow.
