Master's student Viktoriya Victorovna Semeshenko has travelled widely both with her family and on her own. The one constant in all of her journeys has been her interest in science.

Home and Away

When Viktoriya Victorovna Semeshenko arrived in Trieste from Uzbekistan in early autumn 2001 to begin the ICTP/SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) Joint Master's Degree Programme in Modelling and Simulation of Complex Realities, it marked her first trip abroad without her family. But that didn't mean she wasn't well-travelled. Indeed Semeshenko has been on the move virtually her entire life.
Born in Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, then a republic of the former Soviet Union, Semeshenko was just one year old when in 1980 her family moved to Potsdam, then in East Germany, not far from Berlin.
"My father was in the Soviet Army but he has a degree in physics from Belarus State University. My mother too has a degree in physics from the same university and my brother is currently studying engineering. So science must be in my genes."
Semeshenko attended primary school in Potsdam. But in 1986 her family moved to Turkmenistan. Five years later they were on the road again, this time relocating to Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, another former Soviet republic. That's where her family still lives.
"During secondary school," she notes, "I was fond of biology. I did well on a special exam for students designed to gauge their aptitude in science. My score gave me an opportunity to take advanced courses in a wide range of scientific disciplines--biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics--that were given by professors from the University of Tashkent."
"At that time I wanted to become a biologist. I thoroughly enjoyed doing experiments in the school laboratory using microscopes, test tubes and other equipment."
But once the special courses in science began, Semeshenko's interest rapidly tilted towards the study of physics. "The physics courses were taught by a very special teacher, Semyon Efimovich Brener, who is now in Israel. Under his guidance, I became captivated by physics. I decided to major in it, instead of biology, in college."
In 1996 Semeshenko entered Tashkent State Technical University and concentrated her studies in electronics and microelectronics. She received her bachelor's degree in spring 2000 and entered the master's programme that fall. "Photovoltaic systems provided the general framework for my studies. My research, however, focussed specifically on modelling of particle behaviour using molecular dynamics method."
"Shortly before completing my master's degree," she recalls, "I came across an announcement for the ICTP/SISSA Joint Master's Degree Programme in Modelling and Simulation of Complex Realities posted on a bulletin board at my university. I decided to apply without telling my parents. Only after completing and sending off the form did I let them know of my intentions to continue my studies in a school thousands of kilometers from home. Although initially concerned about being so far from family and friends--after all, my family had travelled widely but never apart--both my mother and father expressed their encouragement and support."
Semeshenko arrived in Trieste in October 2001. Last summer, as part of her training, she participated in a work-study project to improve the reliability of smoke detectors using neural networks. Sponsored by the Trieste-based firm Pittway Tecnologica, her assignment was co-ordinated by Silvio Franz, a staff scientist in ICTP's condensed matter physics group (see News from ICTP, Autumn 2002, pp. 6-7). Semeshenko is now preparing her master's thesis on optimal control of quantum systems. Her advisor is Ugo Boscain, a researcher at SISSA, the Italian degree-granting institution that is based next door to ICTP and serves as a co-sponsor of the master's degree programme.
Since coming to Trieste, Semeshenko has found time to visit many Italian cities. She likes Florence most of all. This winter she broadened her travels to include a journey to Paris, which she found both beautiful and enchanting. She also visited Potsdam, returning to the house where she had lived with her family as a child. "It's where I began my education in primary school. It was interesting to think about how far my educational journey has taken me and how much farther I will need to go to reach my ultimate destination."

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