Summer Internship in Popmintchev Labs 2019

Fundraising Campaign for the Excellence Fellowship Program for Young Physicists-Experimentalists

Popmintchev School for Advanced Ultrafast Laser and X-Ray Science and Technology

Experimental Excellence Program for Talented Young Physicists

Popmintchev Labs, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California

Summer-Fall of 2019 will see the launch of the first summer internship for talented young Bulgarian high school students specializing in Physics and other Natural Sciences, including Computer Science. The internship is organized by Prof. Tenio Popmintchev under the patronage of Teo Foundation, Kazanlak, Bulgaria.

Popmintchev made his first baby steps in the world of Physics under the supervision of Teodosii Teodosiev while in the Natural Sciences and Math High School in Kazanlak. In 2003 Tenio started working in the JILA, a scientific institute at the University of Colorado at Boulder. JILA is a world leader in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics – five JILA scientists have received Nobel prizes in the field in the last two decades. In 2016 Tenio was named one of the top ten most promising scientists worldwide by Science News, USA. In 2018 Tenio started two new laboratories on two continents – Popmintchev Labs at University of California San Diego and at TU Wien, Austria, which focus on novel attosecond x-ray lasers and quantum design of laser light.

In 2019 a new fellowship program has been initiated by Popmintchev Labs and Teodosii Teodosiev’s school for young scientists. The goal of the endeavor is to introduce prospective young scientist to cutting edge technologies through a summer internship and a hands-on experience at Popmintchev Labs in San Diego, California. In this phase, the new fellowship initiative is raising funds for travel, room and board for three distinguished high school students for the summer-fall of 2019. The students will spend three weeks abroad and will be accompanied by Teodosii Teodosiev for a week. The tentative dates of the fellowship for 2019 are 26 August – 14 September. The targeted amount of funding for all three students and their high school mentor is $15,000.

The interns are selected in an excellence search among the highest achievers with medals in national and international competitions in Physics, Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Science. The following interns have been personally interviewed and approved by Popmintchev and Teodosiev:

Alexander Glushkov

Alexander Glushkov

Alexander Glushkov – a ninth-grader at Nikola Obreshkov Natural Sciences and Math High School, Kazanlak. His main focus is in Math and Physics. In his spare time, he plays basketball and experiments with graphical design and arts.

Alexander received top rankings in the National Physics Olympiads, Math Olympiads, Computer Science and Astronomy Olympiads. He has been attending the summer science camps at Teo’s school regularly since fifth grade, as well as other advanced extracurricular classes in Physics, Computer Science, and Astronomy.

Alexander is interested in the internship at Popmintchev Labs because he loves theoretical physics and wants to be also exposed to the practical aspect of experimental Physics today. Physics runs in his DNA – his uncle is a Professor of Laser Physics in Munich, Germany.

Alexander Prodanov

Alexander Prodanov

Alexander Prodanov – a ninth-grader at Nikola Obreshkov Natural Sciences and Math High School, Kazanlak, who specialized is Mathematics. He is interested in soccer and cinematography. He was a co-producer of a historical film about the Shipka mountain pass near Kazanlak.

Alexander has competed in Physics Olympiads (European level), Math Olympiads (International level), Chemistry Olympiads (National level), and Astronomy Olympiads and has been awarded numerous gold and silver medals.

Since seventh grade, Alexander has been attending the weekly and summer camps at Teo’s academy. During his internship at Popmintchev Labs he hopes to have initial experience with technologies he has only heard about. He is interested in lasers. One of Alexander’s hobbies is electronics – he built his own stroboscope. He enjoys deriving physics equations which gives him get a better understanding of the fundamentals of nature.

Stiliyan Ivanov

Stiliyan Ivanov

Stiliyan Ivanov – a tenth-grader at Nikola Obreshkov Natural Sciences and Math High School, Kazanlak. His hobby had been ballroom dancing for many years.

He participated in the International Physics Olympiads, Mathematics Competitions, and Computer Science Olympiads in Singapore and Thailand. He claimed gold, silver, and bronze medals. In the summer of 2018, he started attending Teo’s science academy.

During his internship at Popmintchev Labs he hopes to gain hands-on experience in Physics and explore how modern experimental Physics labs operate.

Contacts

For further information on the internship and how to donate please contact:

For donations via bank transfers, please use the information listed on our “Donation via Bank Transfer” page. Please make sure to specify that the donation is for “Popmintchev Labs Summer Internship“.

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