“Welcome new mentor!”

“Examples are more useful than rules when studying science”.

The second week of the “Microcontroller Devices” program is in a full swing. Students are creating programs and imbedding them in the microcontroller with the help of our new mentor Mikhail Fesenko.

At 30 years old, Mikhail is the Chief Engineer at the Institute of Transport Systems and Technologies at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He has dozens of innovative products in his portfolio, from climate control systems to geodetic GPS receivers. He is eager to share his knowledge and experience with the students of the Noosphere Engineering School.

We interviewed Mikhail to learn more about him and his activity.

Tell us about yourself: where did you study? Where do you work at the present?

I graduated from the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Lyceum in the Residential Care Facility and specialized in Physics and Mathematics in 2002. After that, I joined the Faculty of Physics, Electronics and Computer Systems of O. Gonchar DNU, where I graduated from in 2007. Igor Vladimirovich Homilko(Head of Laboratory of Robotics and Electronic Engineering) was my Graduate Supervisor. My specialty is in radio engineering. I am currently in my 4th year working at the Institute of Transport Systems and Technologies at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and I now hold the position of the Chief Engineer.

What projects have you done yourself?

I was engage in many projects in different industries, but I'll tell you about the most significant one. A climate control system for the driver's cab of an electric locomotive was the essence of the project. The equipment had to work in temperatures ranging from -50 / + 50 ° C, with high vibrations and must be resistant to any kind of radio interference. While working on this project, I gained valuable teamwork skills in a short period of time.

In addition, I was engage in the development of the locomotives` air-conditioning system. Now I develop a monitoring system for nuclear power plants which will have to gather information from sensors and store data.

What got you interested you the Noosphere Engineering School? Why did you agree to be a teacher for it?

I was looking for students with new initiatives, new approaches in my team, but it turned out that many people do not have enough skill and not everyone wants to study. Igor Vladimirovich told me about the Noosphere Engineering School and that besides programming, there is an opportunity to turn project ideas into reality. I liked the philosophy of the school and the idea of that it is necessary to train people while they are young and to share knowledge. That's why I decided to participate as a mentor. I hope my knowledge and skills will be useful for the students!

What do you plan to tell the participants of the school?

I am going to tell them about how to prepare for a production, in particular, how to create a plan, PCB layouts and related documentation.

What areas of electronics do you think will be most relevant in the future?

I think that robotics is a promising direction for the future. A lot of development will be focused on the advancement of artificial intelligence. We can already see the first inclinations. Cars manage to drive and park using computers. The size of processors is decreasing and their power is growing, so you can make a small, compact "smart" devices.

What do you wish for our students?

I hope they think up a cool project and execute it. They must look forward and know that unsolvable problems do not exist!

We are pleased that experienced professionals have shown an interest in our initiative and are willing to share their knowledge with students of the Noosphere Engineering School. We hope that participants in the “Microcontroller Devices” program, under the leadership of Mikhail, will learn a lot of new concepts and will be able to bring their ideas to life.