The resources for research

It's a challenge to get the education needed to be a scientist. Even in the developed world, it takes a lot of work and dedication. But budding scientists in developing countries often don't even have the opportunity to get their graduate education through hard work -- the resources just aren't there.           

Cuba, for example, once had strong condensed matter programmes, but that was largely because of the country's alliance with the Soviet Union. But with the Soviet Union gone Cuba puts what resources it has into its basic schools and undergraduate programs, leaving an education at the Ph.D. level unavailable.

Being a scientist in Cuba is also difficult because of the struggles with everyday life. "In Cuba we have many problems about living accommodations and housing and transportation," said Javier Pardo Vega, a high-energy physics diploma student from Cuba currently studying at ICTP. The country is also short on resources, and the Internet is at best very slow.

When Vega, as a student at the University of Havana was unable to do much research, he knew he had to study elsewhere. So Vega came to ICTP, where he found the resources he needed to flourish as a scientist and realize he wanted to be a researcher instead of a teacher for the rest of his career. "When I came here I felt like I could enhance my possibilities because I only had to focus on science and physics," said Vega. "I didn't have any problems to worry about. ICTP created an environment where we have what we need."

Vega wants to research high energy physics to explore nature at its deepest level and is excited about topics such as string theory. "High energy physics allows us to ask more fundamental questions about nature," said Vega. "You can, without having all the details or knowledge of the phenomenon, have a general understanding of the physical content of things."

Vega's dissertation is on a branch of string theory studying the connection between conformal field theory and string theory. This relationship provides a new way of thinking about strange phenomena, such as how a single quark cannot be isolated, which is not normally possible -- quarks typically come in groups of three and make up particles such as neutrons and protons. Finding a string theory that behaves closely to the field that describes how these quarks interact is an active area of research in high-energy physics.

Vega has been admitted to SISSA where he will continue his work after graduating. "I've always known that I wanted to dedicate myself to an academic career, but I didn't know exactly if I wanted to do more research or teaching," he said. "But now I really feel very motivated for research with new energies and very passionate for researching topics like string theory."