The winners of INSAIT’s 4-year B. Sc. fellowship program EXPLORER for talented students were announced
Eight graduates from the Bulgaria’s leading mathematics schools have been selected to be part of the first EXPLORER (EXcellence Program in technoLOgy and REseaRch) program, which provides them with a 2000 BGN monthly stipend for a period of 4 years. The initiative is of the Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT) and the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics (FMI) of Sofia University and thanks to it some of Bulgaria’s most talented students choose their country over offers from leading universities such as Oxford, ETH Zurich, Technical University of Munich, etc.
In June they were publicly presented in the Aula of Sofia University by the Minister of Education and Science Prof. Galin Tsokov, the Rector of Sofia University Prof. Georgi Valchev, the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics Prof. Maya Stoyanova, the founder of INSAIT prof. Martin Vechev and Executive Director Eng. Borislav Petrov.
“I congratulate you for your choice and I know that it was not easy because you had offers from other good universities abroad”, the Minister of Education and Science Prof. Galin Tsokov addressed the prospective students. He stressed the important place of Sofia University among the elite universities. Minister Tsokov recalled that this year SU has climbed 200 places in the world university rankings. On the other hand, INSAIT is a very important research part of Bulgarian science and develops in close connection with world universities. “Here you will have the academic and scientific environment for your personal and professional development and you will be able to develop as tech leaders. On the other hand, you will be close to your families and friends and this social environment will help you become even better,” said Prof. Tsokov. The Minister also thanked school principals for helping young people to be so successful.
“The programme is an outstanding initiative that keeps the most talented children here and gives them the opportunity to develop,” said INSAIT founder Prof. Martin Vechev. Students at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics will focus on their education while working on projects in innovative areas – large language models, computer vision, robotics, machine learning, algorithms, etc. at the INSAIT. This model is only in place at the world’s most elite technology universities such as MIT and Stanford in the US, Cambridge and Oxford in England, ETH Zurich and EPFL in Switzerland, and is being transferred to Eastern Europe for the first time, he said.
The rector of Sofia University Prof. Georgi Valchev also congratulated the students. “You will feel comfortable here and you will have opportunities to realise your full potential,” he told the young talents.
SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS:
Delian Boychev: member of Bulgaria’s first AI national olympic team, 2024.
Teodora Todorova: co-authored an AISTATS paper, a premier research conference in AI, during her high school years as part of her summer internship at INSAIT. Medalist at various national competitions in mathematics.
Simeon Dochev: received a special fellowship for gifted students from Bulgaria’s ministry of education and science. Medalist at many prestigious national competitions in mathematics.
Nikolay Georgiev: member of Bulgaria’s extended national team in mathematics, member of Bulgaria’s 2024 national linguistic team.
Denimir Dimitrov: medalist in the national olympiad in mathematics.
Maria Drencheva: Gold medalist at the European Girl’s mathematics olympiad with a perfect score (42/42). Part of INSAIT’s 2023 special program for talented high school students.
Nia Dimitrova: member of Bulgaria’s national linguistic team, 2024 and medalist from many prestigious national olympiads.
Yasen Penchev: winner of more than 55 national and international competitions in mathematics, physics and informatics.
The scholarships are provided entirely by private donations: foundation Lead by example, founded by the leadership team of SiteGround Web Hosting Company; tech giant Amazon Web Services (AWS); the 200-year-old UK company Man Group; the Lachezar Tsotsorkov Foundation, the venture capital fund LAUNCHub Ventures and LatticeFlow AI, a 2x top 100 AI company worldwide.