Making the Grade

An unforgettable year of scientific and personal growth has concluded for the 42 students of ICTP's Postgraduate Diploma Programme. The young scientists have successfully completed an intense 12 months of physics and mathematics studies and received their diplomas at a graduation ceremony held on 28 August. 
 
This year's graduates come from 25 countries; 38% are female. More than half will continue their studies at the masters or PhD level at universities in Europe and the United States. 
 
A handful of students received special recognition for having achieved top performance in their respective sections:

• Anis Bousclet, Algeria (Mathematics)
• Andres Felipe Villacob Hernandez, Colombia (High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics)
• Lloyd Llena Villanueva, Philippines (Earth System Physics)
• Cristopher Ricardo Erazo Vallejos, Ecuador (Quantitative Life Sciences)
• Minh Nhat Pham, Vietnam (Condensed Matter Physics)

Last year, ICTP announced a special prize funded by and named for long-time friends and supporters of ICTP, Qaisar and Monika Shafi. Two students in the 2024 cohort were named as recipients of the prize: Anis Bousclet and Cristopher Erazo Vallejos. 
 
Students' perspectives
 
“It was a tough year. Sometimes we studied non-stop for several days and weeks in a row, but I enjoyed the whole process, because the topic and the lectures made it all fun,” says Arwa Al Rashdi of Oman, who studied earth system physics, adding, “I am really grateful for this opportunity. One year ago, I would have never expected that I would learn so much!”.
 
Colombian student Juan Castellanos feels that his experience at ICTP has opened new doors for him. “Right now, I feel part of a community. I see some of my fellow students going to Japan, Denmark, and I realize that here I have built important connections with people that I hope to continue working with in the future,” he comments.
 
“Coming here was a very big change in my life. I left everything – my family, my friends, my pets. At the beginning, during the first month, I admit I felt a bit lost,” says Salim Davila of Venezuela, who had never left his country before, and it does not take him long to add, “but at ICTP I found a group of friends and I am very happy to be here. Here you meet people from all over the world, I think this is what makes ICTP so special.”
 
University placements of this year's Diploma graduates include: 

• Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden 
• Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany 
• SISSA, Italy
• Tohoku University, Japan
• University of Colorado Boulder, USA
• University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• University of Göttingen, Germany
• University of Maryland, USA
• University of Montpellier, France
• University of Paris, France
• University of Pavia, Italy
• University of Stuttgart, Germany
• University of Toulouse III, France
• University of Trieste, Italy

A video recording of the Postgraduate Diploma graduation ceremony is available on ICTP's YouTube channel (starting at 01:39:00, after the ICTP Prize ceremony).