Once again about megagrandi

The theme of megagranes was obsessed with their teeth. It seems that everyone who writes about science in Russia has repeatedly spoke out on this subject. The range of opinions varies from sharp rejection to enthusiastic enthusiasm, depending on the author’s personal experience. What new, it would seem, can tell a person about this conflicting program, who left Russia more than a century ago? Nevertheless, I decided to write this note and share my story, which allows you to look at the problem, so to speak, from the wrong side. I hope that my story will be useful to someone.

On the night of December 2, 2020, I was not allowed to sleep continuous phone calls. Just in Sochi, a list of winners of the eighth contest of megagrators was published, and my colleagues from different regions of Russia, forgetting about the time difference, called to congratulate. I was in some shock, because I did not expect such a result at all. This was my third attempt, and I was convinced that nothing has been shining with the Hirsch index with the Hirsch index. Well, such mistakes are only pleasing. Moreover, the winnings turned out to be quite confident-our application with the Institute of Physics of Strength and Material Science SB RAS received 27th place among 43 projects selected for financing (the list of winners was published here [ 1 ]).

Megagran really opens up great opportunities for a person who has been trying to establish scientific relations with his former country for many years. I left Russia, barely protecting the candidate and not having time to take roots in the Russian academic environment. Then, in 1993, for me it was the only opportunity to stay in science. When I visited Russia 15 years later, I felt a feeling of inseparable duty. Debt to my teachers. This is not very easy to express in words, but I realized that I should come to Russia to give lectures, syncium with graduate students (without trying to lure them to me!), To teach them how to write articles, finally! When I saw that those people who were by no means young teachers, in my life by a student of the LSU Mathekh, continue their activities, and my fellow students and I actively teach students in European and American universities, it became for me, as they say, “for the state is insulting.” Therefore, I came without demanding any fees (with the exception of two paid lecture rates for Skoltkh, but this is a slightly different story). This work lasted more than 10 years and was crowned, as it seemed to me in December, a great success - obtaining a megaggrand.

During the first two weeks of December, the working group to create a new laboratory met several times in remote mode and developed a completely implemented, even in the conditions of the pandemic, work plan. I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere of real scientific enthusiasm in our group. It was as if I plunged into the atmosphere of Soviet science of the 1960s, familiar with books and movies. The list of ideas jointly generated during these meetings took several pages. In particular, we planned a program of cooperation with laboratories based on other megagrators, and even started the process of preparing the first such project.

The representative of the directorate of the institute, who took part in two meetings, was not worried about scientific plans, but by scientific indicators. Doubt was caused by the capabilities of the group, including, in addition to me, three more foreign scientists and four Russian doctors of sciences, to publish five (!) Articles in the magazines of the first/second tene during the first year of the project. With great difficulty, I managed to convince the excited woman that five are not a very large number, and such a result is possible for each of the participants in the scientific team separately. I was extremely surprised a few days later, when I was transferred to the director of the institute to submit a list of articles planned for publication during the first year, indicating the authors and relevant magazines. This was probably the first call, but I did not attach much importance to it, and I did not have any other feelings, in addition to surprise. The required plan was presented, but a few days later I was informed that the director of the institute decided not to sign an agreement with the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia. Attempts to contact him did not lead to success, and the letter of the refusal was sent on December 21. There were two formal reasons for refusing: the impossibility, due to the pandemic, to obtain visas for planned trips of graduate students to internship in the United States and the inability to receive additional funding from an industrial partner (although, we note, such funding has already been almost organized). The director of the institute did not bother to discuss his step either with me or any of the employees of the institute participating in the project.

Thus, the scientific project ended without starting. Some conclusions can be drawn from this story. First of all, the winning of the megagagant does not mean its receipt. The process can be easily destroyed by the administration of the institute or university. It would seem that megagran is a new equipment, new graduate students, new opportunities! However, the administration, in addition to these positive factors, may have not related to the science of motivation, which make the decision not quite obvious. The second sad conclusion is the inability to predict the administration’s behavior in advance: after all, the project, when submitted in July, was signed by the director! Well, the third conclusion, most important for me and for those who have left for a long time and happens in Russia only episodically: Russian science has radically changed in recent years. Whether this change is an improvement or deterioration is not for me to judge, but the very feeling of duty gradually fades away.

From the editorial office : We will be ready to publish comments on the administration of the Institute of Physics of Strength and Materials Studies SB RAS, as soon as they will follow.

Igor Sevostyanov, Professor of Mechanical Engineering,
New Mexico State University, USA

Mail for feedback:
igor@nmsu.edu