Student Research Group: new opportunities for young scientists

On November 21, 2018, the first meeting of Student Research Group was held at MAI. 28 students took part in the event. The Student Research Group is a peer-enabled platform for MAI students to discuss, formulate, take forward research ideas into purposeful scientific outcomes and seek scientific advice. The idea of foundation of the Student Research Group (SRG) came to graduate of MAI, who is now working at the university, Praveen Sankaran and a second-year student of Master’s degree program in Spacecraft Engineering Aravind Arumugasamy.“Most of students with academic interests have the thought of scientific group organization, not only me. It all clicked together when Aravind came up with this concept of a minimalistic approach which made the creation and realization of this group at a faster rate,” – said Head of the SRG Praveen Sankaran.

According to Praveen Sankaran, since there were minimal opportunities for students who do not speak Russian, such a platform's necessity was justified.  The first meeting of the SRG had an organizational and interactive nature. Under the guidance of Praveen Sankaran participants discussed the concept of the group, the directions of its development, timetable of next meetings, etc. Everybody shared on what they are expecting from the SRG: some expressed their interests to get involved in the scientific community, some to work on interesting topics and some would like to get ideas from the SRG, others join to meet new friends and interesting people. 

“For me it is a good platform to develop my research skills, to do something interesting. I expect appropriate environment, culture and study here. Everyone would like to benefit from this group and realize their projects, ideas and dreams,” – said Esua Fidelis, MAI student from Cameroon. 

Whatever may be the motivation of  SRG's participants, they all share a love towards research. During discussion on what is “Research”, most participants came to the point that it was nothing but exploration and realization of an idea.   At the end of the meeting, happy and satisfied students came to the decision to meet every week and to develop different research directions, in which they are interested. “The meeting went very well with so many eager future engineers, who would like to do something valuable outside of their curriculum. I hope with time, the research group will get consolidated and get attention from Russian students too,“ – noted Praveen Sankaran. We wish the Student Research Group fruitful work and gain all the goals!