Skoltech is an international graduate research-focused university that was founded by the group of world-renowned scientists in 2011. Skoltech's curriculum focuses on technology and innovation, offering Master's programs in 11 technological disciplines. Students receive rigorous theoretical and practical training, design their own research projects, participate in internships and gain entrepreneurial skills in English. The faculty is comprised of current researchers with international accreditation and achievements.

Tag Archives: Skoltech

Federated Satellite Systems Workshop under the auspices of the EU – Russia Year of Science 2014

When: 13-10-2014 11:00

Where: MSM, Beijing Auditorium

Skoltech is proud to announce it will host the Second Federated Satellite Systems Workshop on October 13-15, 2014. The workshop is a joint initiative of Skoltech (the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology), Cornell University and MIT and will be held for the first time in Moscow. The event will take place under the auspices of the EU – Russia Year of Science 2014, with participants from the US, Europe, Japan and Russia. A keynote speech will be delivered by Mr. Michael Schmidt, the Head of the Studies and Special Projects Division at the European Space Agency (ESA ESOC).

FSS – Federated Satellite Systems Workshop Logo

Led by Skoltech professor Alessandro Golkar and organized by the university’s Strategic Innovations Research Group and the Space Center for Innovation and Research, this workshop will broaden the FSS research community by opening this cross-cutting problem to experts on all related domains and strengthening the links with researchers on similar topics worldwide. The workshop aims to forge links to create a multidisciplinary and international research community that will follow novel approaches to innovate the way in which spacecraft missions are conceived, designed, implemented, and operated. It is through this process that we will create transformational new space science and technology.

Mr. Michael Schmidt, Head of the Studies and Special Projects Division at the European Space Agency (ESA ESOC) – Keynote Speaker at the FSS Workshop

Federated satellite systems have recently been proposed as open satellite constellation concepts for opportunistic sharing of data relay, processing power and on board storage services. FSS architectures operate by exploiting unused telecommunications and processing capacity available in participating spacecraft at any given time. Related topics of interest include, among others:

Heterogeneous spacecraft networks
Distributed space systems,
Distributed decision making and spacecraft cooperation
Satellite Distributed processing
Inter-satellite-link payloads
Optical space communications
Small satellite distributed and collaborative networks
Space communication protocols development and standardization
Free-space wireless power transmission
Fractionated spacecraft,
Plug and play space hardware
Emerging space network concepts. Space internet.
Cloud computing concept transfer
Resource management under uncertainty and network scheduling
Advanced space system concepts and architectures
Business case studies based on space infrastructures

For more information, please contact the FSS Workshop Organizing Committee at

* The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) is a private graduate research university in Skolkovo, Russia, a suburb of Moscow. Established in 2011 in collaboration with MIT, Skoltech educates global leaders in innovation, advance scientific knowledge, and foster new technologies to address critical issues facing Russia and the world. Applying international research and educational models, the university integrates the best Russian scientific traditions with twenty-first century entrepreneurship and innovation.

Faculty Prospectus Available Now Online

04/09/2014

The new edition of the Skoltech Faculty prospectus is now available online.

You are welcome to read through this brochure and learn about members of our faculty and their various research projects: bio-medicinal therapies, computer vision, hydrocarbon recovery and renewable energy, quantum physics and string theory, satellite systems and space exploration, composite materials and manufacturing, innovation and product realization, and many more.

The prospectus outlines collaboration with leading international partners (such as MIT) and Russian institutions, current developments and past milestones. It also provides a look at Skoltech’s vision, as well as at our concrete development plans.
Feel free to share this document, using the social media buttons or provided link. We hope you find the reading as informative and inspiring as our team did.

CANCELLED: Colloquium: Partial Differential Equations Models in the Socio-Economic Sciences

When: 11-09-2014 16:00

Where: CANCELLED

Differential equations. Image courtesy of Wikipedia

We are sorry to announce that The Skoltech Colloquium planned for this week is cancelled and rescheduled for May 2015.

Abstract: Professor Peter Markowich presents nonlinear partial differential equation models for some problems in the socio-economic sciences:

1) a parabolic free boundary problem describing the evolution of the price of a good in an economic market.

2) a Boltzmann-type kinetic model for opinion formation in human societies under the presence of strong leaders.

3) a mean field (human) crowd motion model consisting of a nonlinear conservation law for the crowd density coupled to an eikonal mean field. The presented systems are based on modeling ideas stemming from statistical physics, adapted to the social science topics.

They feature interesting mathematical/analytical twists, which will be discussed in detail.

What: Partial Differential Equations Models in the Socio-Economic Sciences

Where: Hypercube, 3^rd floor

When: September 11, 16.00

Professor Peter Markowich

Guest speaker: Professor Peter Markowich works in applied partial differential equations, covering modeling, analysis and numerics. His favorite topics are (nonlinear) Schrödinger equations, semiclassical analysis, kinetic theory and the connection of diffusion-convection equations and functional inequalities.

He is Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and currently he is a Distinguished Professor at King Abdullah University of

Science and Technology (on leave from Cambridge). Peter Markowich has received important national and international awards and was plenary speaker at the ICIAM 2003 and invited speaker at the ICM 2010.

If you like to participate and for further information or questions, please Liliya Abaimova
We look forward to seeing you.

Academic Year Opening Ceremony: Balloons, a Tree of Hope and 115 New Graduate Students

01/09/2014

Edward Crawley, Skoltech’s president,, at today’s opening of the academic year ceremony

Some call the first day of the academic year in Russia ‘First Bell’ (‘Первый Звонок’ in Russian), citing the tradition of a first grader schoolgirl ceremoniously carried around while ringing the school’s bell. Others refer to it as ‘Knowledge Day’ (День знаний). We, at Skoltech, are fond of all these historical names. But we also like to look at the present and future of tech and science education. Enter Skoltech’s new students, who officially began today their journey towards a Masters or Doctoral degree in science.

Photos: Aleksei Kalabin, Vitaly Shustikov, Maxim Nazarov, Ilan Goren

With the addition of Skoltech’s 115 new students the university’s community now numbers 400 members, almost half of whom study at the institute. After doubling the number of enrolled students each year since Skoltech’s establishment 3 years ago, the tech and science institute now has 190 MSc and PhD grads in Biomed, Energy, IT, Product Realization, Space, Advanced Studies and Composites.

Skoltech’s president, Ed Crawley referred in his address at the Hypercube Innovation Center’s auditorium to the ongoing growth of a “community of founders”, slated to move into its new home – a state-of-the-art campus building – in 2016. Later, as he took a break from chatting with faculty, doctoral researchers and MS students, he looked around the hall, filled with young and excited faces, and simply said: “they feel something is happening here – it’s called opportunity.”

At the end of the ceremony a young tree was passed from Dmitry Smirnov, a straight A’s senior Energy student and the students’ council founder to Divya Shankar, a freshman MS student in Space technology. Smirnov told the audience he feels the plant symbolizes of continuing growth and responsibility. Judging by the applause, listeners seemed to concur. Then all they went downstairs and had their pictures taken, greeted each other and experimented with the helium-filled balloons. Perhaps this was the students way of reminding themselves that this is, after all, an institute of science and technology.

Some of Skoltech’s outstanding students received accolade – and awards. The Academic Excellence Award was given to Mikhail Barannikov, Alexander Ivanov, Dmitry Smirnov, Boris Urman, Jelena Nadj, Andrii Omelianovich, Vahe Taamazyan, and Alexander Vidiborsky.

The Outstanding Contribution Award was handed out to Dmitry Smirnov for his impact as founding president of Student Council, and to Nikita Rodichenko for his impact as a leader of the engineering club and masterskaya developer. For their impact in running three hackathon events – Vladimir Eremin, Rustem Feyzkhanov, Dmitry Vasiliev, Alexander Ivanov, Vahe Taamazyan, Irina Zhelavskaya – got on stage and received their awards.

Celebrating the opening of the acadmeic year on the 1st of September 2014 at Skoltech

If you like to participate and for further information or questions, please Liliya Abaimova
We look forward to seeing you.

Seminar: Stress-Responsive Sestrins Regulate mTOR Signaling via Two Parallel Pathways

When: 08-09-2014 13:30

Where: Beijing-1 Auditorium, China cluster, Skolkovo School of Management

Scanning electron micrograph of the Drosophila melanogaster sestrin-null mutant used to study pathways involved in oxidative stress and aging. Sestrins are a family of proteins that play key roles in regulating aging and metabolism. A sestrin-null mutant exhibits an age-dependent response to oxidative stress. Image by Thomas Deerinck, NCMIR Courtesy of cellimagelibrary.org

Which genes might protect us from aging and age-related diseases like diabetes? Meet the Sestrins, and the person who knows them up close and personal: Dr. Andrei Budanov is our guest speaker at the Skoltech seminar.

Title: «STRESS-RESPONSIVE SESTRINS REGULATE MTOR SIGNALING VIA TWO PARALLEL PATHWAYS»

When: September 8, 2014; 13.30 – 15.00

Where: Beijing-1 Auditorium, China cluster, Skolkovo School of Management

SEMINAR ABSTRACT:

Sestrins are a family of stress-responsive genes involved in the regulation of cell viability and metabolism. In his research Dr. Budanov and his collaborators have demonstrated that the major activity of Sestrins involves the regulation of mammalian Target-of-Rapamycin (mTOR) kinase, the critical controller of protein and lipid biosynthesis, cell growth and metabolism.

As they described, Sestrins work via activation of AMPK kinase and TSC1:TSC2 protein complex. As a result, Sestrins protect from aging and age-related disorders. They have recently identified a new mechanism of mTOR inhibition by Sestrins via regulation of lysosomal mTOR localization.

Dr. Andrei Budanov

SPEAKER INTRODUCTION:

Dr. Andrei Budanov is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human and Molecular genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University. His Ph.D. project on the characterization of the Sestrin2 gene was conducted in the laboratory of Peter Chumakov at the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology and the Cleveland Clinic.

In the following postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Michael Karin Dr. Budanov found that Sestrins control the activity of mTOR kinase, protecting from aging and diabetes. His ongoing research focuses on the mechanisms of mTOR regulation by Sestrins, and their role in cancer and stem cell biology.

If you like to participate and for further information or questions, please Liliya Abaimova
We look forward to seeing you.

Skoltech’s Academic Year Opening Ceremony

When: 01-09-2014 09:00

Where: Hypercube building, Skolkovo Innovation Center

Edward Crawley, Skoltech’s president (right), Mats Hanson, Skoltech’s dean of education and students attend the Academic Year Opening Ceremony in 2013

On September 1, Skoltech opens its doors for the new batch of Russian and international students.

The official opening ceremony of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) new academic year will be held on September 1, 2014 at 9 am at the Hypercube building. The university invites all to join us at the ‘Ringing the Bell’ event, which is by now a tradition (after being held for the first time last year).

More than 150 students from around the world will begin their studies at the university – or return to school. This year five educational programs of the University are officially open. Students will be studying in the following “tracks”: Energy, Space, IT, Biomedicine and Manufacturing.

As always, the institute will focus on world class education. Professors from MIT (USA), University of Cambridge (UK), University of Illinois (USA), University of California, Los Angeles (USA) and other leading institutions will teach at Skoltech As for the students, they all hold bachelor and specialist degrees from leading Russian universities such as MIPT, MSU, Bauman MSTU, St. Petersburg State University, and others. A number of students are graduates of foreign universities with an outstanding reputation – University of Pennsylvania (USA), Vienna University of Technology (Austria) and others.

Currently, the total number of Skoltech master and PhD graduates is 176. More than a third of the students are women, and 18% are international students hailing from 15 countries: Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Canada, Vietnam, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Italy, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Thailand, India and Kazakhstan. In total, more than 100 new students join Skoltech this year.

As part of the program, a special award ceremony will take place at Hypercube on September 1 to mark the achievements by outstanding students. The opening ceremony will start at 9 am at the Hypercube (Skolkovo Innovation Center).

If you like to participate and for further information or questions, please Liliya Abaimova
We look forward to seeing you.

The Best Defense Is… Skoltech holds its first ever PhD Thesis Proposals Pre-Defense

26/08/2014

PhD students in Biomed present and defend their thesis proposals for the first time in Skoltech history. Supervisors from Skoltech, Harvard Medical School, UMCG – Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen oversaw the proceedings.

“This is very ambitious”. “Your target is to understand the entire animal kingdom”. “You have a lot of lab work ahead of you”. These are some of the appraisals, analysis and critique that Skoltech’s biomedicine doctoral candidates were subjected to on a clear autumn afternoon in a Moscow.

There was even a Frankenstein-like inquiry whether one of the students “really wants to dissect brains.” But this was the only half-joke during a long afternoon when supervisors from Skoltech, Harvard Medical School and the University of Groningen (the Netherlands)gathered in a small room – or participated via Skype.

For the first time in the university’s short history of three years, seven PhD students in Biomed (4 of whom were women) presented and defended their thesis proposals. Students will learn individually whether and how they proceed with the research projects that could earn them a PhD in biomedicine. But even without knowing the opinions of committee members – professors Konstantin Severinov, Anton Berns, Philip Khaitovich and Director of Students affairs, Bram Caplan- one conclusion can already be drawn: the best defense is defense.

Proposals for investigation in the proposals vary from ‘viruses arms race against hosts’ through the functions of brain areas to so called ‘genetic noise’ and its role as a defense system.

If you like to participate and for further information or questions, please Liliya Abaimova
We look forward to seeing you.

Seminar: ‘Host-Pathogen Interaction: Understanding The Immune Surveillance To Harness The Therapeutic Potential’

When: 28-08-2014 13:30

Where: Beijing-1 Auditorium, China cluster Skolkovo School of Management

MRSA antibiotics resistant ‘superbug’ bacteria. Image courtesy of mfablog.ca

The immune system is a complex, fascinating machine that keeps our bodies safe against external and internal enemies. Can we find new ways to harness the molecules it deploys to treat infectious diseases or autoimmune and inflammatory conditions? Prof. Srinivas Kaveri , our guest lecturer at the Skoltech seminar, has a few answers to this life and death question.

When: August 28, 2014 13.30 – 15.00

Where: Beijing-1 Auditorium, China cluster, Skolkovo School of Management

SEMINAR ABSTRACT:

Everyday, in our body, millions of cells take birth, communicate with each other, generate many substances and sometimes die. All this is done to ensure the maintenance of the homeostasis of the organism. Some of these cells have an important task – that of sentinels. The immune system through its cells and molecules protects the host against infectious pathogens (bacteria, virus, fungus, parasites) and unwanted internal invasion, such as emergence of cancers, at the same time ensuring that it does not attack the self tissues and organs.

Despite this powerful check, some pathogens can cause serious infections by escaping the immune surveillance. What strategies do these pathogens use to escape the immune surveillance?

The same system of sentinel sometimes is dysregulated and turns out to become aggressive against our own organs – leading to most dreadful autoimmune diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, hepatitis, multiple sclerosis. What are the causes for this dysregulation? How can one harness the very molecules of the immune system to treat infectious diseases or autoimmune and inflammatory conditions?

Prof. Srinivas Kaveri, our guest lecturer at the Skoltech seminar

SPEAKER INTRODUCTION:

Srinivas Kaveri received his basic formation in Veterinary Medicine in Bangalore India, and Ph.D. at the Pasteur Institute, Paris. He carried out post-doctoral research training with Professor Heinz Kohler at IDEC pharmaceuticals and University of California, San Diego, USA

Currently, Srinivas Kaveri is leading a research team at the Centre de Recherche des Cordeliers University of Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. His team has been involved with the basic and applied aspects of research on immunopathology and immunotherapy. His research interests include: i) host-pathogen interactions, ii) exploiting the therapeutic potential of antibodies in the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory disease, and iii) immunogenicity of therapeutics molecules such as Factor VIII.

If you like to participate and for further information or questions, please Liliya Abaimova
We look forward to seeing you.