First Impressions

They leave the comforts of home behind and travel to a new country with new people, languages, sites, and experiences. They are this year's distinguished ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme students and they have just embarked on their 12-month pursuit toward scientific success.

For most, this is their first time at ICTP while for some, they are happy to be back. Each exceptional student, no doubt, has a story to tell, and we were lucky enough to gain some insight into four students' first impressions of ICTP, their past experiences and future goals.

Janeth Veronica Valverde Quispe (High Energy Physics, Peru)

Janeth Valverde Quispe recently earned a bachelors of physics degree from the National University of Engineering based in Lima, Peru, her home country. As a Diploma student, she will be focusing on high energy physics with aspirations to earn a PhD in cosmology and analyze the vast, enigmatic mysteries of our universe.

A handful of professors at the Peruvian university where she studied have visited ICTP either as postdocs or former Diploma students. Their inspiring stories and words of encouragement helped motivate Valverde Quispe to apply for the programme, and she's glad she did.

"I attained a very good education at the university, and one thing new I'm learning here is how the mathematics I'm studying applies to real-world examples in physics," she says. "That's what I enjoy the most about this programme."

For Valverde Quispe, ICTP is like a paradise for knowledge and education. She enjoys the fact that she can access the library's online databases at any day and time and that the professors make themselves available for questions in and outside of classes. Moreover, she's learning about different cultures from fellow students and sharing aspects of her own.

"There are many sad and beautiful histories we can learn from each other," she says. "I'm just starting to realize how big of an opportunity this is, and I would like to thank professors, especially my former advisor H. G. Valqui and my professors A. Bernui, C. J. Solano and E. Salinas for helping me get here."

Juan Rodriguez Zuluaga (Earth System Physics, Colombia)

Rodriguez Zuluaga is following in the footsteps of his former advisor, who once was an ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme student herself. For the last five years, he has been working with the Colombian Geological Survey at GEORED project, which is part of the government research institutions.

This is second time Rodriguez Zuluaga has been at ICTP. The first was about a year ago when he attended a workshop for ionospheric studies and he is glad to be back.

"I love this place because I find so many surprises here," he says. "While I'm here I want to learn and also to discipline myself. I enjoy many things like art, but right now I want to concentrate my energy into one point and just focus on science."

Geomagnetic storms caused from solar winds are just one of the atmospheric phenomena that Rodriguez Zuluaga hopes to study while at ICTP and later as a graduate student. While at the Colombian Geological Survey he used Global Navigation Satellite System data to investigate solar influence on Earth's atmosphere.

"Space weather in Colombia is a new topic and so this was the perfect time for me to come to ICTP because I want to study aeronomy and geomagnetism, but I needed to go outside of Colombia in order to get more knowledge," he says.

Ultimately, Rodriguez Zuluaga hopes to return to his country and conduct research. But before that happens he says that he will have to work very hard in the classes here at ICTP that he just began a couple of weeks ago. Despite the long hours of study ahead, he enjoys the classes so far because of the professors' passion and expertise in the topics they teach - a passion Rodriguez reflects in his own goals for the future.

"What I really want is to generate a better structure of communication through science," he says. "Science is a useful tool that can bring people together and generate knowledge for humanity. It can put order where it is required."

Tahiry Rajaonarison (Earth System Physics, Madagascar)

Rajaonarison recently earned a masters degree in geophysics, completing his masters project in GPS Geodesy, from the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. He first learned about the Postgraduate Diploma Programme through his former academic advisor, who is a senior associate at ICTP. He says that ICTP is unlike any place he has visited and he especially enjoyes the readily available resources such as the electronic search engines of the library, access to scientific journals and fast-paced lectures.

"The lectures here are very good and the professors can teach a concept in one lecture that might take a month to teach at other institutes," Rajaonarison says.

Rajaonarison will be studying Earth System Physics over the next year. After completing the diploma programme, he hopes to work toward a PhD where he would like to study the tectonic activity that is slowly changing the face of his home country, Madagascar. His sites are set to study abroad at MIT in Massachusettes, USA.

"When I came here, everyone was very kind and I think that this is the most important thing at ICTP," he says. "The Postgraduate Diploma Programme is a group of students from many different countries and cultures and we're helping each other and making relationships, which makes life easy and enjoyable."

Runako Abdalla Williams (Mathematics, Bahamas)

Williams is not one to back down from a challenge. In fact, that's what he likes most about the ICTP Postgraduate Diploma programme so far.

"I feel challenged here. I'm working hard and I feel like I'm progressing in my studies," he says. "I'm excited to begin some serious research while working closely with some of ICTP's world-class scientists."

Before starting the programme, Williams was working toward his masters in mathematics at the University of West Indies in the Jamaican city of Kingston. Once his thesis is published, he will have a masters degree to add to his bachelors in actuarial science from the same university.

He first learned about ICTP's programme from his academic advisor, an Italian scientist. While he has lived amongst the tropical Bahama and Jamaican islands for most of his life, Williams has had ample opportunity to meet people from other parts of the world. Since coming to ICTP, he has been able to continue this through interacting and working with students of diverse backgrounds.

"Meeting people from different cultures has broadened my perceptions and perspectives on certain things," he says. "I find myself learning about new cultures and realizing that some of my preconceptions of certain cultures were wrong."

Williams conducted applied mathematical research for his masters but hopes to delve into more complex, abstract theoretical mathematics during his time at ICTP. The relationship between math and physics is a fascinating topic for him and he hopes to investigate the topic further over the next year and as a graduate student.