I Want to Return to Russia for Other Projects or a Master’s Degree

Yogender Singh and Samarth Singh are second-year undergraduate students at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Without official partnership between the two universities, both Yogender and Samarth took the initiative to apply to HSE themselves. This summer, they are completing two-month research internships at the HSE International Laboratory of Decision Choice and Analysis, under the wings of Professor Fuad Aleskerov.

I'm pursuing my Bachelor of Technology degree with Mechanical Engineering as my major. Here I'm working on a machine-learning model that may increase the prediction accuracy of floods in India over conventionally available methods. The model is based on the selection of choice functions and their superposition with the basic optimization technique. This was used in big data analysis and prediction of tornadoes in the U.S. where it showed increased accuracy by 39%. That's a giant leap. I will collect data from the India Meteorological Department in order to apply the same flood prediction model in India

Yogender Singh
IIT Bombay (India) undergraduate student

 Professor Aleskerov is a very good mathematician. He thinks of problems in a different way. There was one thing I learned from him: simple observation provides solutions to complex problems. I am very grateful that I’ve got to work under him, because he took great care of me. He was pretty much as excited about the project as I was. After returning to India I will try to keep in touch with him and come up with something. I think Professor Aleskerov is also a very cultured person. He once said that “a mathematician is nothing without culture.”

HSE is a very good university that attracts many foreign students. I met some students from Hong Kong who came here for summer school. They were studying some interesting topics about decisions and choice.

I learned a bit of Russian before but I can only answer people with  «Да», «Нет» and «Спасибо». Nevertheless, life in Moscow is pretty amazing. The people here are looking crisp all the time. They always think that they should have good demeanor when going outside. The culture here is very different from what we have in India.

The buildings and heritage sites here show that Russians preserve their history a lot. Even if you go and walk in the city, you will enjoy the scenery. I like the Red Square and the glass bridge at the Zaryadye Park. I like the weather here too. In summer, it gets to about 50 degrees in India; here in Moscow, it is not even 30 degrees. I love Russian summer. "

 

 At my home university, I am studying towards a Bachelor of Science in Economics degree. My research interest is environmental economics. I am working on a model to find the most efficient nature conservation strategy for any region. This is based on the work of Professor Aleskerov. Here I understand the model, and when I go back to India, I will use this model in one of the regions in India. Professor Aleskerov would be interested in the results. He would even get a visa to go to India for this – just kidding! The great thing about Professor Aleskerov is that he is very open-minded. He has interest in many areas, like the environment and politics

Samarth Singh
IIT Bombay (India) undergraduate student

I chose to come to Russia because Russia and India have really good relations, and HSE is definitely the top university in the economics field. That’s why I applied here. I wrote an email to the international relations office, and they forwarded my email to Professor Aleskerov, who said he was happy to help me out. Then Anna Pavlova, Manager of the International Laboratory of Decision Choice and Analysis, helped me a lot throughout the whole process, like getting the visa and accommodation. She also helped me acclimatize to life in Moscow, telling me even where the metro is. Professor Aleskerov once gave us tickets to a ballet performance in Kremlin, because he wanted us to experience the Russian culture. It was a very good experience.

Now I have a bit of curiosity to learn the Russian language, because here in Russia, it is the first time in my life that I cannot always speak English. I don’t speak Russian so I can only use Google Translate. Luckily people in Moscow are always helping. There was one time when I asked someone to show me the direction to a restaurant. It was a group of three people, and they led me there. Another person even gave me a souvenir.

In the future, I definitely want to return to Russia for other projects or a master’s degree."




Prepared by Nicole Leung, Prep Year alumna and IO summer intern