The supervisor's review of the master's thesis
CRYOCONITE AS A STORAGE AND SOURCE OF POLLUTANTS IN THE HIGH-ALTITUDE AREAS OF THE CENTRAL CAUCASUS
By Ivan Kushnov,
Master student of CORELIS master program
Ivan Kushnov started doing science immediately after enrolling in a CORELIS master's program. At the beginning of his first semester, he joined the laboratory of the Department of Applied Ecology and became interested in the topic of glacier degradation in the polar and mountain regions of the Earth. At this time, the department was beginning to work on the surface composition of glaciers in the Central Caucasus, Russia, in particular, on the study of cryoconites as a factor of glacier degradation. Ivan Kushnov showed himself to be an active young researcher, fitting in with the team, while at the same time being distinguished by his communicative abilities. In 2021 he participated in the implementation of the RFBR-Micromir grant on the subject: “The role of micropaticles of organic carbon in degradation of ice cover of polar regions of the Earths and in the process of soil-like bodies formation”. In this project he was responsible for field survey and laboratory analyses. He co-authored three articles in Scopus journals. He has presented several times at conferences, including international conferences. In 2021 he personally participated in an expedition to the Bezengi glacier in Kabardino-Balkaria for 1 week. In the laboratory he mastered all the necessary methods of research of cryiconites and soils. 
Ivan Kushnov proved to be an executive scientist with high motivation. His work on his master's thesis is assessed as excellent.


Scientific supervisor
Evgeny Abakumov
Doctor of biological sciences, professor, professor of Russian Academy of Sciences