January 26, 2024 | 15:00
Remote laboratory: platform uniting Armenian and foreign mathematicians
In the Ghent Analysis and PDE Center (Belgium), founded at YSU, three foreign researchers are conducting a series of research within the framework of post-doctoral education, which, along with the other opportunities, will also provide the scientists with the opportunity to predict natural disasters.
The laboratory was founded in 2023 thanks to the grant programs of the Higher Education and Science Committee of the RA MoESCS and the "FAST" Foundation. In the laboratory, researchers are working on two main projects: one is devoted to partial differential equations, and the other to mathematical analysis on groups.
Senior researcher Monire Michael Nia arrived in Armenia from the Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (Zanjan, Iran) and works at YSU within the framework of the "Advance PI" research grant program of the "FAST" Foundation. She started her work in Yerevan in September last year.
The researcher, presenting the project she is working on, informed that it refers to partial differential equations (PDEs)- the solution of frequently encountered problems in everyday life: "In this project, we consider PDEs in pretty general settings. In this way, we may obtain weak solutions for PDEs that lead us to solve the general forms of PDEs. Imagine that solving a single partial differential equation may help scientists predict an impending earthquake or other phenomenon by analyzing the signals coming from the earth before they happen.''
The projects carried out within the framework of the remote laboratory are managed by Professor Michael Ruzhansky and Dr. Zhirayr Avetisyan of the Ghent Analysis and PDE Center.
Dr. Zhirayr Avetisyan emphasized that 10 researchers from RA and abroad are included in the laboratory's activities, representing different educational levels, from master's to post-doctoral. "Researchers work in our offices of the YSU Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics. The faculty supports the remote laboratory as a host. In the near future, we will announce 2 more vacancies for researchers. So we have one of the largest research groups in mathematics in the entire Middle East (and perhaps beyond).''
Professor Michael Ruzhansky, speaking about his earlier cooperation with YSU, emphasized that back in 2016, they cooperated with Professor Martin Grigoryan, the Head of Higher Mathematics Chair of the YSU Faculty of Physics, who had taught mathematical analysis to Dr. Zh. Avetisyan decades ago, when he was still studying at the Faculty of Physics. "Martin Grigoryan continues to be our main partner in the field of mathematics in Armenia."
Dr. Zhirayr Avetisyan and Professor Michael Ruzhansky are sure that this is a great opportunity for the Ghent Analysis and PDE Center to attract talented mathematicians from Armenia and abroad, as well as to expand the community of mathematicians.
Karen Keryan, Assistant at the Chair of Function Theory and Differential Equations, Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, YSU, and Doctor of Physico-mathematical Sciences, emphasizing the importance of the project jointly implemented by YSU and Ghent University, noted that it is effective for YSU from the perspectives of expanding research directions, increasing the number of researchers, as well as the opportunity to work with young researchers. "The program offers a wide range of opportunities: international cooperation, research on current topics, training courses for both YSU researchers and the researchers working in YSU and Ghent University in parallel, short-term visits to Ghent University to continue the ongoing research studies there."
One of the foreign researchers, Karina Navarro Gonzalez, from the University of São Paulo, is working on a project related to mathematical analysis on groups. She was involved in the works within the framework of the grant "Program for the Establishment of Remote Laboratories-2023" of the Higher Education and Science Committee of the RA MoESCS. Karina Gonzalez will work on the project for about 5 years.
Zahra Keyshams, a researcher who arrived in Yerevan from the University of Isfahan, is at YSU within the framework of the grant program of the "FAST" Foundation.
The topics presented by Zahra and Monire were financed as a result of the competition "PostDoc" Program of Foreign Scientists in Scientific Organizations of the Republic of Armenia 2023/2". They have four years to complete their research.
It should be noted that researchers from YSU (professor, post-graduate and graduate student) are also involved in the work of the remote laboratory.
