Aram, a recent alumnus of Yerevan State University, and Hayk Sargsyan, a popular physicist in the world of science, crossed each other’s paths during the 44-day war. Aram had participated in the “I Have Honor” program and had gone to serve in the army as an officer, and the professor had gone to the border as part of the general military call-up during the days of the war. The young physicist recognized and approached the professor, and this laid the foundation for a new friendship in spite of the age difference.

“The days of the war were a turning point. I gained a good student. At that moment, it was already clear that Aram had a great, solid and clear-cut mindset, just like a physicist,” Professor Sargsyan recalls.

The professor realized that Aram has potential, and he promised himself and Aram that they would start dealing with Aram’s studies when they returned home safe and sound after the war. This is exactly what happened — they returned, considered the steps to take and decided that the “Quanta” Master’s Degree Program in Quantum and Mesoscopic Physics, which was newly established by the “My Step” Foundation, was exactly what they were looking for.

“There was an opportunity to gather a team of specialists and invite leading specialists from different countries due to the fact that the Foundation provided funding for the visits of those professors to Armenia. Those specialists would deliver and still deliver rather important lectures for our students. Even today, the Program continues, and the major goal is to help form a certain team or kind of army of specialists in Armenia who will be ready to not only operate, but also share new ideas about quantum physics in the future,” Hayk Sargsyan says.

The specialist, who is taking his first steps in the big world of physics, says physics is like a language and learning and understanding it requires hard work. According to him, the “Quanta” Master’s Degree Program serves as a great source of knowledge and an opportunity to listen to exclusive lectures by renowned professors in Armenia and abroad and meet erudite and smart people. Aram says studying with these people is also great luck.

“Within the scope of the Program, the plan was for the Master’s thesis to be published in a journal, and my Master’s thesis has already been published in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia,” Aram Nahapetyan said.

Aram is currently a junior researcher at the Institute of Applied Problems of Physics. As for Professor Sargsyan, he is head of the physics laboratory for nano and meso systems at the Institute. Aram is currently working on two different projects and deepening the scientific collaboration with the professor.

The “Quanta” Master’s Degree Program in Quantum and Mesoscopic Physics has been around since 2022. At the end of the Program, students are conferred a Master’s Degree and a diploma licensed by the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport. A maximum of 15 students can participate in the 1.5-year Program. The students pay tuition, which is reimbursed by the “My Step” Foundation in the form of a scholarship.