All-Russian contest: "I am a Professional" in photonics: the first light

Abstract

The contest "I am a professional" is an all-Russian contest that includes many competitions in various fields: from the humanitarian sciences to the technical fields (sociology, economics, psychology, IT, physics, etc.). Several fields already tried this format, but for the photonics it was the first trial. The goal of such contest concludes in the massive involvement of undergraduate and graduate students into solution of tasks from various areas of modern photonicsfrom material science till light design and AR/VR systems. Despite main part of the contest is provided by the ITMO University and its regional partners, a set of leading industry companies supported the contest. Their motivation is in direct communication with talented studentsfuture professionals. This challenging project poses many tasks and makes the organization committee and the team who prepares the event to solve many tasks: organize network collaboration between many universities and industry companies to prepare the content for the event, notify the potential participants, motivate them (both sides), hold the contest in the same time with many participants over the big country and check the tasks in various fields by the experts. We present our experience in organization of such an event and discuss some features, results and perspectives.