From March 6, 2016 to April 7, 2016 Prof. Blatov was on a long-term professional trip to Italy where he visited the University of Milan and the University of Padua. During his trip he managed to outline new dimensions of cooperation with European universities, updated the software being developed by the SCTMS staff, performed experimental theoretical calculations and scheduled new scientific publications.Prof. Blatov divides his professional trip into two stages according to the universities he visited. He presented the detailed report on contemporary state of materials science areas, which he was involved in during his work in Italy. “I’d like to present not just a formal report, but describe how cooperation between scientists contributes to global science advancement and how scientific relationships work and develop”, - said Prof. Blatov.
During his stay in Italy, in addition to the research work carried out jointly with the leading advisor of SCTMS Prof. Proserpio, Prof. Blatov held meetings and worked with Dr. Pavlo Solokha (the University of Genoa, Italy), Prof. Michael Anderson (the University of Manchester, UK), Dr. Oliviero Carugo (the University of Vienna, Austria), Dr. Ruggero Gabbrielli (Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale Nullo Baldini, Ravenna, Italy).
Dr. Pavlo Solokha visited SCTMS in 2014. His research interests include intermetallides; some of SCTMS researchers are involved in this field of materials science. Mr. Solokha promised to provide every support to SCTMS researchers, graduate and postgraduate students, in organization of internships and research trips. Moreover, it will be possible to conduct synthesis of targeted substances at the laboratories of the University of Genoa. During Prof. Blatov’s visit, they carried out theoretical work related to normalizers of space groups – a new prospect for materials science.
Prof. Michael Anderson has been cooperating with Vladislav Blatov for a year. Probably he will come to Samara to take part in the International workshop “Applications of topological methods in materials science” and the International scientific school “Combined Topological and DFT Methods for Prediction of New Materials II” being organized by SCTMS. Currently Prof. Anderson is engaged in development of the program for modeling macroscopic growth of crystals. The main difficulty consists in a choice of a structural unit and can be overcome by means of a tiling constructed in the program, which was developed by Prof. Blatov.
Dr. Oliviero Carugo researches proteins. This area is of longstanding interest of SCTMS scientists. Dr. Carugo is an author of several scientific articles dedicated to packing of protein molecules. Prof. Blatov and Dr. Carugo performed trial calculations for the analysis of packings of molecules and their methods proved to be appropriate. Currently, SCTMS researchers and Dr. Carugo are preparing a joint research paper on the present topic.
Dr. Ruggero Gabbrielli is an expert in the field of periodic surfaces. He is going to conclude the agreement of cooperation with Samara State Aerospace University under the program of engaging Ph.D. degree holders from foreign universities in teaching and research work at SSAU. His visit to Samara is scheduled for July, 2016. The cooperation with Dr. Gabbrielli focuses on identification of minimal surfaces relevant for research, synthesis and production of porous materials with useful properties.
In Padua Prof. Blatov worked on development of the software for classification of crystalline substances which can be represented as rod packings. This novel field of structural chemistry and materials science will probably lead to discovery of new families of materials.