NU SEDS students won the International Olympiad in Electrochemical Materials Science
The team «Ions» consisting of Assel Serikkazyeva, Yerkezhan Yerkinbekova, Aktilek Akhmetova (Master students) and Nurbol Tolganbek (PhD candidate) participated in the International Olympiad in Electrochemical Materials Science. Participants were from Israel, France, Russia and Kazakhstan.
This contest was organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan and conducted by the Laboratory of Technologies of Electrochemical Production of the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University. They won the first place by solving three electrochemical and material science related experimental works during 4 hour online teleconference.
The Organizers informed us that our students did an excellent job doing even more than required. That is amazing especially considering that they learned about this competition only a few days before the Olympiad.
All members of the team «Ions» work in the Battery Group of Nazarbayev University led by Prof. Bakenov and study at Chemical and Materials Engineering in School of Engineering and Digital Sciences at Nazarbayev University.
We asked a few questions to team members about competition.
Nurbol Tolganbek: Actually a team was formed a few days before the competition. As we were working with batteries where we synthesize materials and characterize through electrochemical measurements, it was not that difficult.
As our university and Battery group have everything what we needed, we did not find any difficulties regarding chemicals and equipment, we appreciate that.
There was no challenge, but we stressed when we got confused about the time of event. But it turned out well.
Overall, we were sure about winning the competition, as we completed all tasks. Having four members helped a lot, as we divided tasks and writing report. At the end we had the best report, we also won the best report contest.
Aktilek Akhmetova: Previously I have never been doing any task together with Nurbol, Assel, and Yerkezhan, therefore, I did not know whether our teamwork would be smooth. However, it turned out that 4 people aiming to win could organize and distribute the tasks effectively. So, it was an honor to be in one team with my industrious and ambitious colleagues.
The main challenge was to sort out all knowledge of electrochemistry and materials science. It would allow choosing the most applicable methods for solving tasks of the olympiad quickly. That was a bit hard when we were restricted in time.
Congratulations to our excellent engineering students on such an achievement! We are proud of you!
