MathMods :: Joint MSc

Congratulations to our students who graduated at the same time on the same day (Thursday, September 15, 2016) but in two different places:

• L'Aquila (Philip Chan, Evans Etrue, Rodrigo Malavazi, Amr Ibrahim)
• Barcelona (Mael Guiomard, Thimjo KOCA, Boris PFAHRINGER and Boris Polcik )

Now that's a consortium! All the best for your future!

Here are a few photos from the excursion we made today (Sept 13, 2016) on mount Gran Sasso with our first and second-year students from MathMods and InterMaths (there were almost 80 of us!).

We took an "EASY" path from Campo Imperatore up to Rifugio Duca Degli Abruzzi. Then we had an arrosticini barbecue at Fonte Vetica (we're sure everyone has fallen in love with them by now!). Later in the afternoon we stopped by in the medieval village of Santo Stefano di Sessanio, where we made our way through its narrow cobbled streets.

We hope you all enjoyed the trip as much as we did! See you on the next trip.

A terrible earthquake struck central Italy at 3.36 this morning, August 24th 2016. We would like to express all our sympathy to all the people who are suffering in Amatrice, Accumoli and other nearby villages. At the same time, we wanted to reassure all our students that, although it might seem relatively close to L'Aquila from a non-Italian viewpoint, the hit area is actually at around 1 hour's drive from here. And, besides that, the geological fault affected by the earthquake is different from the one running underneath L'Aquila. Therefore, as far as this specific earthquake is concerned, it is not strictly related to the city of L'Aquila, although several shakes were clearly felt even here. 

Once again, let us express our condolence to the all the people who lost their beloved in this terrible disaster.

This year our "Welcome Day" (October 16, 2015) featured a visit to the stunning Stiffe Caves in the morning as well as a superb lunch in a typical country restaurant, Fattoria Antica Forconia. Later in the afteroon we visited the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), the largest underground laboratory in the world for experiments in particle physics, particle astrophysics and nuclear astrophysics located between the towns of L'Aquila and Teramo - about 120 km away from Rome. There was an introductory lecture + guided tour led by Prof. Roberto Aloisio from GSSI, whom we wish to thank for having hosted us.

The presentation was held in the headquarters of the LNGS, located in an external building near "Assergi" motorwary exit. We then moved to the actual underground facilities, located on a side of the ten kilometres long motorway tunnel crossing the Gran Sasso Mountain. According to LNGS website, the laboratories lie beneath 1,400 metres of rock and "consist of three large experimental halls, each about 100 m long, 20 m wide and 18 m high and service tunnels, for a total volume of about 180,000 cubic metres".

We hope everybody enjoyed it as much as we did!