Anatolii Kargin

A few words about what I'm proud of

The first driver of Cyrillic for IBM compatible PC. In 1988, the first IBM PC of Model 5150 based on an Intel 8088 microprocessor and used Microsoft´s MS-DOS operating system, appeared at our university. To transfer our software to this platform I gave an assignment as a course project to my undergraduate student Dmitry Gurtyak. Three months later, the resident keyboard and display driver for MS-DOS KeyRus is appeared. Since 1989, it has become the most popular MS-DOS driver in the USSR and other countries of the world that used the Cyrillic alphabet.

One of the world's first unmanned flexible production systems. Under my leadership, the Advanced Information Technologies Laboratory staff implemented an outstanding project: an unmanned system for electroplating manufacturing. It was one of the world's first unmanned manufacturing system and the first experimental unmanned system in electroplating manufacturing in the USSR.

SPRUT is the first embedded AI system. I also participated as the project manager and one of three programmers in the creation of SPRUT, the first embedded AI system. Over a period of two years, we developed the software for SPRUT, an intelligent event-directed control system based on fuzzy classification rules.

Professional skills of graduates. Throughout my career, as the head of various departments and current position, I have trained and mentored up to two thousand bachelor's, master's, and PhD graduates. Many of them have become highly skilled professionals, holding positions ranging from programmers to project managers and serving as company managers or consultants in renowned companies worldwide, such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Siemens, Samsung, and Nokia.   

 Research of intelligent machines 

My scientific research focuses on studying intelligent machines and developing a new generation of automatic control systems for industrial unmanned complexes. Initially, I worked on creating a theory of intelligent machines based on event-directed situational control models. This theory formed the basis for the development of Situational Intelligent Machines technology, which was implemented in the design of fifteen automatic control systems for unmanned productions. In the subsequent phase of my research, I aimed to enhance the autonomy of unmanned systems by incorporating cognitive functions into intelligent event-directed situational machines. I developed models and technology for intelligent cognitive machines equipped with perception, context tracking, and attention-switching functions. These advancements have contributed to the improvement of unmanned systems' autonomy level. Under my supervision, sixteen graduate students successfully conducted research on cognitive machines and were awarded a PhD degree. Some of them have decided to continue their research in this field. The research on cognitive intelligent machines received support and funding from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine through the Fundamental Research Fund. From 1994 to 2016, I led seven research projects that have been successfully completed. Today, as autonomous intelligent unmanned systems take precedence, the significance of the new generation of AI has notably escalated. At this stage, my focus lies on the development of intelligent machines with Feeling Artificial Intelligence.  The cognitive functions of intelligent machines have been enhanced to encompass models of emotion and drives. Additionally, they incorporate a goal-directed control model that is combined with a continuous planning function. The formal framework of all models is based on fuzzy systems, an adherence instilled by Professor Ebrahim Mamdani during my scientific internship.

Dean of the Faculty of Physics and Techniques of Donetsk National University

The Faculty of Physics was a fundamental one, as was customary in classical universities from 1960 to 1980. The faculty scientists conducted over three-quarters of all university research, financed by various sources including contracts with enterprises, the State Committee for Science and Technology, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Academy of Science, and the Fundamental and Applied Research Funds of the USSR and Ukraine. The faculty's contribution to the university's ranking for scientific publications exceeded 80%. As Dean from 2007 to 2016, I maintained these strong traditions of the Faculty. During this period, a major overhaul of the faculty building was completed, with significant sponsorship from faculty graduates playing a crucial role in the restoration of classrooms and laboratories. The faculty premises became akin to those of a European university. Departments and specialties underwent restructuring, modern educational programs were introduced, and the Faculty of Physics was renamed the Faculty of Physics and Techniques.  These years marked the heyday of the faculty. Get acquainted with the Faculty of Physics and Techniques of 2012 here. In 2014, following Russia's invasion of Donetsk, the university was evacuated to the city of Vinnytsia. The faculty lost its laboratories and premises, and the staff were scattered among other universities in Ukraine. However, the hard work of the faculty staff in 2014 and 2015 was not in vain. Training and research were restored, and the faculty successfully competed with local universities. In 2016, the Faculty of Physics and Techniques achieved significant enrollments in most specialties and proposed several research projects for implementation to the city authorities.

Head of Computer Technology department of Donetsk National University

The department was founded in 1972 thanks to the initiative of D.Sc., Professor Tymoshenko G.M. (at that time Rector of Donetsk State University). From 1972 to 1974, Prof. Tymoshenko G.M. served as the first head of the department, which was initially named the "Control system hardware department". Subsequently, from 1974 to 1991, the department was led by Ph.D., Associate Professor Miroshnychenko V.V. From 1991 to 2016, I served as the head of this department. In 1979, the name of the department was changed to "Cybernetics and Computer Engineering", and since 1998, it has been known as the "Computer Technologies" department. Considering the evolving trends in the information technology industry and the demand for specialists, the department underwent three changes in the specialties for which students and postgraduates were trained during this period. The department's emphasis on training programmers necessitated comprehensive support, including the re-equipping of the laboratory facilities (replacing old computers with modern ones such as PDP-11 and establishing modern computer classes based on them), developing new training courses (such as programming, operating systems, and architecture of mini-microcomputers), and providing retraining for staff members. The first "Young Cybernetic" school in the Donbas region was established, with Tatyana Petrenko as the organizer and permanent head. Later, Petrenko became an Associate Professor in the department. Additionally, the department established a branch and conducted the specialization of programmers at the Research Institute of Controlling Computing Machines "Impuls" in Severodonetsk, the main institute in the USSR for developing software for minicomputers series. The next stage in the development of the department was the transition in the training of specialists from applied mathematics to computer sciences, which was carried out in 2001 by my initiative and due to my efforts. I conducted the organization and methodical works to license new "Computer science" specialty, as well as "Intelligent decision-making systems", and "Administration of computer networks" specializations.  At the same time, the programming, as a pivot education program of the department, has been preserved and further developed headed by Associated Professor T. Petrenko. As a result, from 2004 to 2012, the Donetsk National University's sports programming team won a prize place in programming competitions of different levels. The team was headed at an early stage, PhD, Associated professor T. Petrenko, and afterward PhD, Associated professor A. Paramonov; both graduated PhD thesis under my supervision. The team was prepared on the basis of the Computer Technology Department. In 2011 it became the silver prizewinner of the World Championship of Sports Programming, Orlando, USA. The high professional level of graduates from the Computer Technology Department enables them to hold various positions worldwide, from programmers to project managers and company management advisors, at renowned companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Siemens, Samsung, and Nokia. The specialization in "Administration of Computer Networks" played an important role in the informatization of enterprises in the Donbas region. Some department staff members (A. Kargin, G. Lomonos, Yu. Kozhemyakin) obtained IBM and Cisco certificates in computer networks and led numerous projects creating local and corporate networks, actively involving students in the process. From 1990 to 2016, the department trained 17 PhD candidates in the specialty of "Information Technology," with 15 of them under my supervision and 2 under Associate Professor T. Petrenko. The majority of this PhD went on to become Associate Professors at the department and continued their research.

After the university was evacuated to the city of Vinnytsia, the Computer Technology Department successfully restored its training and research activities within one year.

Head of Information Technology department at Ukrainian State University of Railway Transport

The Department of Information Technologies was established in 2016 at the initiative of the university's rector, Professor Sergey Panchenko. At that time, I was the dean of the Faculty of Physics and Technology at Donetsk National University, Vinnytsia, and was offered the position to head the department. The team of the new department brought together the experience and professionalism of professors from other universities with long-standing traditions in training IT specialists, along with the energy and enthusiasm of postgraduate and master students who had graduated from the Ukrainian State University of Railway Transport.  The graduates of the Radio Engineering Technical School in Kharkiv, with whom the department staff had conducted preliminary learning, formed the foundation of students entering the department in its initial years. 

From 2016 to 2018, three degree programs—bachelor's, master's, and PhD—were developed, licensed, implemented, and the master's program was accredited accredited. These programs, for the first time in Ukraine, offered Information Technologies at the intersection of the following domains: Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Smart Machines, Programming, and Electronics.   To achieve this goal, two new learning principles were proposed. The "Lab in a Box" principle is as follows: Each student is provided with a personal "box" containing all the necessary hardware components, including a wheeled robot, microcontroller, sensors, and others. This "box" is utilized by students in different sets throughout all lab workshops across various courses such as Programming, IoT, SM, Electronics, IM, etc. The second principle postulates learning at individual trajectories. The leading Associate Professor T. Petrenko of the IT department developed a methodological package for all 5 courses projects starting from the second year of study, incorporating 3 practices and the bachelor's graduation thesis. In this approach, students gradually expand the capabilities and intelligence of the system under design using the lab box. The same principles were applied to the master's degree program. This approach was adapted to address challenges posed by Covid and wartime by enabling students who did not have their own box at home to utilize the modeling capabilities of the Node-RED framework.

The utilization of the "Individual Learning Trajectory and Lab in a Box" learning approach yielded positive results. Both bachelor's and master's graduation thesis featured completed projects showcasing various IoT or SM components integrated with AI, implemented in both hardware and software.

Other activities

In 2004, I spearheaded the establishment of a specialized academic council for the defense of PhD theses in the field of "Information Technologies" at Donetsk National University. I served as the head of this council from 2004 to 2016 per the decision of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Since its inception, the council has successfully overseen the defense of over 40 PhD theses. The progress of this specialized academic council has significantly contributed to the training of highly skilled research workers not only for Donetsk National University and Donetsk National Technical University but also for other regions of Ukraine, including Priazov State Technical University, Eastern Ukrainian National University named after Volodymyr Dal, Donbas State Machine-Building Academy, and the Institute of Technology of the East Ukrainian National University.

 From 1991 to 1996, the ITER Ltd enterprise operated as a division of the Computer Technology department at Donetsk State University, with me serving as the executive director. ITER Ltd held the official status of an "IBM Business Partner" and specialized in implementing local and corporate networks on the IBM platform for numerous enterprises in the region. Projects were successfully completed for various organizations, including the Donetsk regional administration of the Tax Inspection and the Regional Administration of Internal Affairs, Donetsk regional branches of "Oshchad" bank of Ukraine, "Prominvest" bank, and other commercial banks, as well as the Donetsk administration of railway transport "Ukrzaliznytsia" and enterprises in the coal industry. On multiple occasions, ITER Ltd was recognized as the winner of the competition for the "Best Ukrainian Business Partner of IBM."

At various points in time, I served as a member of special academic councils for the defense of Doctor of Science theses in the specialty of "Information Technology" at Ukrainian State University of Railway Transport, National University of Radio Electronics in Kharkiv, and Donetsk National Technical University. 

From 2003 to 2011, I served as a member of the Expert Council on Computer Science at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

Currently, I am a member of the editorial boards of several Ukrainian scientific periodicals, including the Journal "Information and Control Systems on Railway Transport" (published by USURT), the Journal "ASU and Automation Devices" (published by NURE), and the Magazine "Problems of Information Technologies" (published by KhersonNTU).

I have been honored with the title of Academician by both the Ukrainian Technological Academy (UTA) and the Transport Academy of Ukraine.