Mikhail M. Rovnyagin

The HPC Group scientific group (as HPC Lab was then called) was created by Mikhail Mikhailovich Rovnyagin at Department 12 of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI in 2014 as an ideological continuation of the Hybrid Supercomputer Technologies scientific group, founded by Nikolay Petrovich Vasiliev, PhD in Engineering and Associate Professor of Department 12 — the first group at MEPhI to work on hybrid supercomputer technologies.

Mikhail Mikhailovich graduated from MEPhI in 2012, entered graduate school and began teaching, and in 2015 defended his PhD thesis on "METHODS AND MEANS OF SOLVING PROBLEMS OF SEARCHING AND PROTECTED DATA STORAGE USING HYBRID COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES" in the specialties 05.13.11 - mathematical and software support for computers, complexes and computer networks and 05.13.19 - methods and systems of information protection, information security and took the position of associate professor of Department 12. His scientific interests, laid down during the period of participation in the development of the Elbrus processor (since 2010), ideally formed the basis of the future laboratory, combining fundamental knowledge in the field of information security and high-performance computing. Under the leadership of Mikhail Mikhailovich Rovnyagin, the Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data (HPC Lab) was officially established in 2022, which quickly became a center for advanced research in the field of hybrid computing technologies. Already in the first years of its existence, the laboratory achieved significant success, creating several key projects that became the hallmark of the scientific direction.

Particularly important was the work on the "KubeSmart" project - an intelligent orchestration system for Docker containers for PaaS, which in 2022 became a finalist in the Kama Flow innovative projects competition. This project, based on the use of machine learning methods to optimize the placement of microservices, directly followed from the scientific interests of M.M. Rovnyagin in the field of hybrid high-performance algorithms and became one of the flagship developments of the laboratory.

No less significant was the "Fluid Storage" project - a decentralized data storage system that solved the problems of secure storage of information in heterogeneous networks. This development was a logical continuation of Mikhail Mikhailovich's dissertation research in the field of secure data storage and received international recognition, in particular, at the Data Storage Technologies Forum organized by Huawei in 2023.

In 2023-2024, under the leadership of M.M. Rovnyagin, one of the most ambitious projects of the laboratory was implemented - the autonomous voice assistant "Zina", presented at the International Military-Technical Forum "Army-2024". This development, combining advanced technologies of large language models and autonomous operation without an Internet connection, became a striking example of the embodiment of Mikhail Mikhailovich's scientific ideas in practical solutions. "Zina" demonstrated a unique approach to processing the Russian language using an adapted Mistral model and provided complete autonomy due to the use of the built-in NVIDIA RTX graphics accelerator.

Participation in the hackathon "Leaders of Digital Transformation 2023" - under the leadership of M.M. Rovnyagin. The team of the HPC Lab of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI "The Path of Samurai" successfully reached the final of the largest hackathon in the country. In a short time, the team developed a recommendation service based on Spark, PostgreSQL and Next.js, deployed on the domestic processor Baikal. In the final, held in the Lomonosov cluster of Moscow State University, the team took an honorable 7th place among 63 finalists and 1103 participants of the first stage, which confirmed the high level of training of the laboratory specialists.

The cooperation of the laboratory with JSC AvtoVAZ deserves special attention. The interaction of MEPhI and JSC AvtoVAZ is carried out within the framework of the grant for the creation and development of the Research Center for AI in the field of transport and logistics of the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI. In July 2024, the first visit of the university delegation to the main production site of AvtoVAZ JSC in Tolyatti took place, where Mikhail Mikhailovich, as part of the delegation, visited the enterprise's workshops and held a series of meetings on the launch of new joint projects in the field of using AI in the tasks facing AvtoVAZ JSC.

In 2024, Rovnyagin M.M. spoke at the Russian-Kyrgyz Educational Forum, where he spoke about the Laboratory's use of machine learning methods, mass service theory and large language models to improve the productivity of AvtoVAZ automobile assembly lines.

In December 2024, for the second time in a year, HPCLab employees visited AvtoVAZ, paying special attention to the processes of intra-plant logistics at the largest automobile assembly plant in Europe. During this visit, the implementation of projects for the Intelligent Production Planning and Logistics System was worked out, and work plans for 2025 were coordinated. The complexity of the tasks lay in the need to supply parts "in sync" with the operation of the main automobile assembly conveyor and auxiliary subassembly lines with gigantic production scales.

The scientific interests of Mikhail Mikhailovich Rovnyagin have always been aimed at solving practical problems using advanced technologies. His experience in companies such as Huawei, EPAM, NetCracker, Sberbank and Raiffeisenbank (where he holds the position of Business Technology Development Manager and Senior Vice President) allowed him to establish close ties between academia and industry. Thanks to this, the Laboratory was able to participate in such significant events as the Army-2024 Forum, the International Technology Congress and forums of the Rosatom State Corporation.

Mikhail Mikhailovich paid great attention to educational activities, reading courses on hybrid supercomputer technologies, Big Data, DevOps and Highload at MEPhI (Moscow site and branch in Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan) and Sirius University, which allowed training highly qualified specialists in these promising areas. Many employees of the Laboratory underwent training and scientific preparation under his supervision, including postgraduates and master's students, who later became key developers of projects.

In 2025, after a significant contribution to the development of the Laboratory and the formation of the scientific school, Mikhail Mikhailovich Rovnyagin decided to leave MEPhI and handed over the leadership of the laboratory to his student, senior lecturer of Department 12 Dmitry Mikhailovich Sinelnikov. This decision became a natural stage in the development of the Laboratory, ensuring the continuity of scientific traditions and continuing work on key areas: intelligent orchestration for cloud infrastructures, hybrid high-performance algorithms, supercomputer technologies and heterogeneous data storage and processing networks.

The HPC Lab created by Mikhail Mikhailovich Rovnyagin continues to develop, preserving his scientific ideas and approaches, and remains one of the leading research centers in the field of artificial intelligence and big data in the Russian academic community.