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The voice of the students: the representatives
What is life like as a student representative? What drives some students to apply? What are the requests they carry forward and how do they reconcile life as a student and that as a representative? We have selected the answers of some of them, for a small collective narrative
When and why did you choose to run as a student representative?
- Lorenzo Ghettini, 1st year of the Master's Degree in Energy Engineering
I chose to apply as Student Representative in February 2021. After a year of pandemic, a whole year locked up at home, I decided that as soon as I returned to the Polytechnic I would absolutely devote as much time as possible to giving everyone what I hadn't been able to have for a year and a half: a university life in attendance. As a representative you learn to work in a team, to manage crisis situations, to discuss continuously with your teammates to find the winning way. ‘Extra-study life is that extra piece that makes the student's puzzle complete, and makes them alert.
What does a typical day look like as a representative?
- Jonathan Wolff, Mobility Engineering, 1st year Master’s
Wake up early in the morning and go to class, a few quick glances at the phone to reply to emails from some teacher or staff member or messages on Instagram, Telegram or Whatsapp from students. Then a break between one lesson and another and one chats with one's classmates, sometimes even about subjects experienced first-hand as a representative (news, meetings, opinions), one resumes the lesson and when it ends one takes out the lunch box and eats in company (in case of forgotten or unprepared lunch box: lunch in some eatery or street food shop). Then coffee, a game of scientific scopone or briscola a chiamata and back to lessons. Other breaks, other exchanges of emails and messages. At the end of the lessons there is always some representative activity: an institutional meeting, a student assembly or a discussion – followed or interspersed with an aperitif – with the list colleagues, finally one goes home for dinner and maybe one meets up with friends. At the end of the day an immense tiredness, but also a great satisfaction! Then there are occasions that take us away from the university, to talk about the university! We were recently in Berlin to participate in the Student Forum, the student representative body of ENHANCE, an alliance of seven leading European technology universities, and which includes two students from each of the member universities. We meet once a month, usually online, except twice a year when we get together in person to face meetings and workshops lasting one or two days in one of the locations. In Berlin we discussed our structure in view of the entry of three new universities into the alliance (Gdansk Polytechnic, ETH Zurich and TU Delft) and the progress of the project in general.
What are the institutional meetings as a representative?
- Eva Parenti, Communication design, 2nd year master's degree
In my case, there are many meetings: I simultaneously hold the position of Board Member and that of Vice President of the Student Council. Among the various meetings, about twice a year I attend the Permanent Student Commission, a body that mainly involves the six representatives of the central bodies, the Rector and the Director General. Here we evaluate and approve, for example, the cultural activities proposed by the student associations of the Politecnico, deciding where and how to invest the annual €500,000 that the Politecnico offers to students through the cultural activities call. But there's more: the Student Council, made up of twenty-six members, is the body where the central representatives meet together with all the faculty representatives. All this is added to the possibility of participating in countless specific commissions, such as the regulations or the building commissions. There is also the honourable possibility for me to request specific meetings with the Rector, Pro-Rector and with all the delegates and department heads who make up the University Governance. Ad hoc working groups are often created to talk about topics such as safety in the University or the problem of spaces.
Read the full story in MAP issue 11
The Gian Paolo Chiusoli Medal goes to prof. Matteo Maestri
"For contributions of particular scientific importance in the field of multiscale analysis of catalytic processes". With this justification Prof. Matteo Maestri – Department of Energy of the Politecnico di Milano - was awarded the 2022 Gian Paolo Chiusoli Gold Medal..
The prestigious award, established by the Italian Chemical Society on the initiative of the Industrial Chemical Division and the Interdivisional Catalysis Group, is awarded to Italian scientists no older than 45 years of age – working in university or industrial research centres – for contributions of particular scientific, innovative or applicative importance in the catalysis sector.
I am very honored and grateful to have been awarded the “Gian Paolo Chiusoli” Gold Medal in Catalysis by the Italian Chemical Society (Division of Industrial Chemistry and Interdivisional Group of Catalysis).
This medal is bestowed upon an Italian scientist, with a maximum age of 45 years, who has made contributions of particular scientific relevance in catalysis. This award is the result of the last ten years of work on multiscale analysis of catalytic reactions. I am very thankful and indebted to the colleagues and collaborators that I had interacted with during these research activities and, in particular, to the several brilliant, and motivated students that I had supervised on these topics at the Politecnico di Milano.
says the professor on Linkedin.
The award was presented on 7 November during the XXII National Congress of the Italian Chemical Society, Industrial Chemical Division held in Catania.
Something you didn’t know: 3 things invented by polytechnic alumni that you use every day
There are some celebrated polytechnic inventions and works – such as Natta’s discovery of isotactic polypropylene, which won him a Nobel Prize – and the others that are more unknown and date back many years, but are fundamental to everyday life, as we know it today. We have chosen three, but we await your comments so more can be added to the list. Let’s start!
VIDEOCONFERENCING | GIORGIO CORALUPPI
To put it simply, it is thanks to the alumnus and engineer Giorgio Coraluppi that we can so smartworkingtoday. In fact, it was he who invented the algorithm for videoconferencing, which today allows us to speak to our colleagues on Teams and Zoom, and to communicate with friends on WhatsApp. Going back in time, in the 70s and 80s, Coraluppi’s algorithm also made it possible to connect thousands of technicians and engineers automatically, to plan the launch of the Apollo and NASA Space Shuttle missions..
It is not rhetorical to say that Coraluppi - adds Wired in an article following his recent death - was one of the key people in the development of digital innovation.
"AMUCHINA" DISINFECTANT | ORONZIO DE NORA
Over the last two years, disinfectant has become a permanent feature in our bags and pockets. What not everyone may know is that behind the famous sanitiser liquid lie the intuition and research of Oronzio De Nora, an Alumni of electrotechnical engineering, who filed the relative patent in the German archives under that very name in the early 1920s. He then sold it to focus on other things, and in 1923 he founded the Italian multinational company De Nora, which specialises in electrochemistry, and is today a leader in sustainable technologies for the green economy.
Due to a strange twist of fate, almost 100 years later, back at the Politecnico di Milano experiments were being carried out in the Chemistry Department laboratories, leading to the production of Polichina, a liquid sanitiser compliant with the WHO (World Health Organization) recipe that was donated to regional healthcare authorities, civil protection units in Lombardy and prisons in Milan, to reduce the spread of Coronavirus.
MILAN UNDERGROUND SIGNAGE AND FURNITURE | FRANCA HELG AND FRANCO ALBINI
If you have travelled by public transport during your time at the Politecnico, then the subway signage will certainly be familiar to you: but did you know that there are two Alumni behind it?
The first train was lowered into the tunnels of the Milan underground on 10 December 1962. In the meantime, Franco Albini (1905-1977) and Franca Helg (1920-1989), with help with project management from the company Tekne, were entrusted with the task of designing the stations.
In contrast to many foreign underground systems, the architects’ design was characterised by uniformity and repetition. The vertical walls and ceilings of the stations were clad in a removable modular system that was easy and not too expensive to repeat.
As regards the rail signage, an innovative element was the repetition of the station name on red metal strips, easily visible through the carriage windows. The consistency between architecture and graphic communication is the result of close collaboration with the graphic designer Bob Noorda, who was involved in the project from the initial phases. The underground project won the designers the Compasso d’Oro award in 1964.
Source: AA. VV., “Made in Polimi. Since 1863”
Best of Convention 2022
Let's review the best moments of the 11th Convention in our #Bestof2022: here is the video with highlights from the event that brings together, challenges and inspires the Alumni Community every year!
The Convention is one of the many initiatives created by Alumni Politecnico di Milano. If you like this initiative and the other ones dedicated to the Alumni community consider donating.
A year in the Poli laboratories
Telling you about all of our researchers’ achievements would clog up the internet, so here is a brief overview of the projects that made the headlines (or almost did).
JANUARY
- A study by Poli is published Nature Communications which analyses the social and economic consequences of competition for water resources in local communities in the Global South, caused by transnational acquisitions of agricultural land
- Thanks to a study analysing satellite images, the secrets of Japan’s Daisen Kofun, one of the largest monuments ever built on earth, are revealed for the first time. Published in Remote Sensing
- Researchers build a a battery which, following the laws of quantum physics, has a recharge time that is inversely related to the battery capacity. The study is published in Science Advances
- The study that reveals how DNA protects itself from mutations caused by ultraviolet lightis published in Nature Communications: it will have important consequences in nanotechnology and pharmacology, such as the fight against skin cancer
- By experimenting with new analytical and predictive procedures combined with the use of satellite platforms and machine learning techniques, the D-DUST project analyses the impact that emissions from agricultural activities and livestock farming have on our health.
- For those who have lost their sense of smell: the ROSE project combines nanotechnology, microtechnology, biotechnology, mechanical design, neurosurgery, clinical olfaction, neuroscience and cognitive psychology to test the feasibility of a miniature olfactory prosthesis that combines odour microsensors and neural stimulators.
FEBRUARY
- A study by Poli is published Nature Climate Change that correlates climate change mitigation policies designed on a global scale with the potential side effects that they may produce on a local scale on African river basins
- Researchers from the CHARM project are developing a high-speed, low-cost medical device for distinguishing cancerous cells from healthy cells without the need for chemical staining, using digital imaging technology and artificial intelligence.
MARCH
- ERC Consolidator Grant awarded to Massimo Tavoni: with the EUNICE project, he addresses the problem of uncertainties in climate stabilisation pathways and current climate-energy-economy models
- ERC Consolidator Grant awarded to Sara Bagherifard: with the ArcHIDep project, she deploys a revolutionary solid state deposition system in order to obtain heterogeneous materials with architecture structured on three levels of scale (micro, meso and macro)
- Published in the prestigious Angewandte Chemie International Edition , a study by Poli highlights how halogen bonding can help improve the performance of perovskite solar cells, making it possible to achieve high efficiency and stability
- Researchers are trying to create an accurate model of the human cerebral cortex using state-of-the-art 3D printing techniques, in order to uncover the molecular causes of the onset and development of neurological diseases, including in particular Pitt-Hopkins syndrome
- A study shows demonstrates unprecedented control over the optical properties of graphene. The study is published in ACS Nano
- Paving the way for a new type of material: a new type of phase transition in a bizarre quasi-crystal made of laser lightis discovered and observed in the laboratory. The discovery is published in the journal Nature
- Hybris, a design for a hybrid-electric aircraft equipped with structural batteries, wins first place in the aerospace category of the Intellectual Property Award. Sinergy, a metal-polysulphide flow cell battery that uses inexpensive, abundant and non-toxic materials also wins an award (in the ‘alternative energy’ category).
APRIL
- An ERC Advanced Grant iss awarded to Manuela Raimondi for her BEACONSANDEGG study that combines mechanobiology, bioengineering, oncology, genetics, microtechnology, biophysics and pharmacology to develop a new method for treating breast cancer
- An ERC Advanced Grant is awarded to Daniele Ielmini for his ANIMATE project that aims to create a new computing concept to reduce energy consumption in machine learning, which requires 5,000 times less energy than digital computers of equal precision in terms of number of bits
- Guidelines created for modelling and data sharing for the restoration project of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
- The first "quantum artificial neuron" promises to become the missing link between quantum computing and artificial intelligence. The ground-breaking study is published in Nature Photonics.
MAY
- New programmable materials are coming: the study by Poli published in Royal Society Open Science proposes mathematical techniques to design materials capable of adapting their shape to external stimuli
- A Politecnico study published in Science explains how to save the Mekong Delta from rising seas
- A study by Poli is published The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America the results of an experiment comparing the sound of different violins and identifying the combination of sound quality that makes the sound of a Stradivarius more pleasant.
JUNE
- An accelerator for the production of neutron beams, designed for clinical research on particularly complex tumours, is installed for the first time in Italy at CNAO
- An innovative technological device for industrial use is developed for the study of new drugs to treat brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease.
- A large survey and digitisation project is launched in the Appia Antica Archaeological Park areaaiming to create a modern geographical atlas which serves as a '4D living digital twin'
- New nanomaterial for precision medicine and ecological transition: a superfluorinated gold nanocluster is synthesised for the first time. Study published in Nature Communications
JULY
- The CRADLE Project, which is coordinated by Politecnico di Milano, aims to make asteroid exploration more robust and self-sufficient through innovative solutions for collecting dust samples from asteroids and comets
- Optical wireless: the new frontier for self-driving vehicles and portable devices in a chip. Study published in Light: Science & Applications
- I3LUNG, a project to implement personalised medical care based on artificial intelligence in lung cancer patients
SEPTEMBER
- Thanks to the use of X-rays, nanometric filters are more efficient and safer. The study is published in Nature Communications
- A study by Poli aiming to develop innovative materials by exploiting the potential of carbon atomic wires
- Researchers discover a new two-dimensional semiconductor: it exhibits the highest non-linear optical efficiency at nano-scale thicknesses. Study published in Nature Photonics
- LICIACube witnessed the NASA/DART impact test with an asteroid: Poli researchers contribute to this success
OCTOBER
- The European project UN-BIASED (UNcertainty quantification and modelling Bias Inhibition by an Agnostic Synergistic Exploitation of multi-fidelity Data), seeking to develop new modelling techniques for complex aerodynamic systems, kicks off
- As part of the SOS-Water Project, the Environmental Intelligent lab will study the limits within which our planet will continue to be able to compensate for changes and provide us with life support
NOVEMBER
- The European project ECOSENS (Economic and Social Considerations for the Future of Nuclear Energy in Society) kicks off: its aim is to analyse citizens’ opinions and perceptions on the risks, benefits and potential of using (current and future) nuclear technologies in relation to the main social challenges
- Following the success of ‘phase A’, Politecnico di Milano and the European Space Agency are developing ‘phase B’ of the LUMIO (Lunar Meteoroid Impacts Observer) mission. The goal is to monitor the far side of the moon in order to detect flashes of light associated with meteor impacts.
- Published in the journal “Nature Chemistry” the study that highlights a new class of chemical reactions whose speed is controlled by quantum phenomena.
DECEMBER
*to be updated*
Read the full story in MAP issue 11 starting from December
Water wars: causes and possible solutions
AMBITION: supporting education of young professionals across Europe and Africa
Diagnosing prostate cancer using an “electronic nose”
New play area opened in Milan’s San Siro neighbourhood
Polimi Sailing Team: prototypes of sailboats that take flight
SINCE 2007 they have been designing and manufacturing racing sailboats to participate in international competitions. They are the girls and boys of the Polimi Sailing Team: in the last edition of the SuMoth Challenge, held this summer, they won first place in the design and second place in the regatta with their prototype Teti, competing with over one hundred and fifty teams from four corners of the world.
Teti is a champion of innovation: at this link we can see her take flight over the waters of Lake Garda. Evaluation is based on the sailing skills during the regatta, on the engineering and design component and on sustainability.
'Those of the SuMoth Challenge were stimulating, tiring but wonderful days’, says Beatrice Rimoldi, team leader. She is attending the last year of a master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering. ‘We were able to really team up because everyone believed in the goal we were there for - to win - and didn't hold back. The guys on the team worked late into the night to fix boat breakages that occurred in the water so that Teti was always ready to take to the race course the next day. Getting on the podium was the recognition for months of intense work’.
Marta Zattoni, in charge of logistics, in her first year of a master's degree in Biomedical Engineering as well as helmsman of Teti, remembers some moments of those months of work:
‘During the tests we had problems because it is a prototype made with recycled materials, therefore easily subject to breakage; you get out of the water and count the things that are broken. For me, who was born as a sailor and experienced sport as something solitary, it was wonderful to see that when I returned to shore there were twenty, thirty people ready to help me, who couldn't wait to get their hands on the boat and fix it. It was really like being on the water with the whole team because we were all involved’.
Then, she recalls the turning point: ‘The most critical phase when sailing with foiling boats is the take off, that is the moment in which you pass from a displacement gait with the hull on the water to a foiling pace with the hull detached from the water and only the appendages immersed. When using a prototype there is always the unknown, you always ask yourself: ‘Will it fly?’. It was exciting when I was able to fly with Teti for the first time because it was the moment in which we all understood that the prototype was working’.
Read the full story in MAP issue 11 starting from December