Finally, the moment has come!
I have defended my Ph.D. thesis!
At the beginning of 2020, I had a plan to swiftly collect the results from my papers and compose the thesis in a few months — stupid me. I could not imagine that it would take me about 10 months. Half of the initial results and plots were modified. And the manuscript exceeded 200 pages. As my professors warned me, writing a thesis could be similar to giving birth to a baby.
The thesis is definitely the greatest achievement of my life so far. I am grateful to everyone who supported me during these years.
The defense itself was also a challenging event. It took me weeks to prepare the speech and address the reviewers’ questions. Half of the jury members connected via Zoom, which created an unusual atmosphere. I did not see some people I was talking to. By the way, Skoltech recorded the entire defense:
The thesis and additional materials can be found here: https://www.skoltech.ru/en/education/phd-defenses/2020-2/andrey-churkin/
I want to mention the contribution of the external reviewers. I was lucky to have world-class scientists joining the defense:
◦ Prof. Javier Contreras, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
◦ Prof. Benjamin Hobbs, The Johns Hopkins University, USA
◦ Prof. Ross Baldick, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Their thoughtful comments and suggestions helped me to improve the latest version of the work significantly.
It was a pleasure to speak in front of such intelligent people. The subsequent discussions of power systems planning and Game Theory created a truly scientific and inspiring atmosphere. This photo captured a share of it:
Once again, thank you all for your guidance and support!
Andrey Churkin (Андрей Чуркин) 2020
