The sunny morning of July 22 turned out to be excellent in all respects: the weather was great and this presented a wonderful opportunity to hold a ceremony of awarding diplomas to the KNRTU best graduates of 2020 in front of building "B" in the open air. As you know, at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, there was no chance to properly congratulate outstanding graduates, but now it is time to catch up.

- Dear graduates, it is a great honor for me to congratulate you on your graduation! I also go out from our University, met friends here, with whom I continue to maintain relations to this day. I am sure that the years spent at KNRTU were the best for you. I wish you to continue the glorious 130-year history of the University with your creative achievements and professional success. I wish you further success and a fruitful career, and the diploma you received will definitely help you with this! – said Acting Rector of the University – Yury Kazakov.

Then the best graduates were presented their well-deserved awards. First, diplomas with honors and letters of gratitude from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation were received by those who achieved special success in science. This is the winner of the all-Russian Student Gazprom Olimpiad of Chemical Engineering profile, a grant-holder of the President of the Russian Federation Grant and a grant-holder of the Government of the Russian Federation Scholarship - Andrey Popkov. Member of the First Youth Parliament of the Republic of Tatarstan, coordinator of ScienceSlamKazan, coordinator of the Total Dictation campaign 2018-2020 in the Republic of Tatarstan - Vyacheslav Shatalov. Winner of the annual "KNRTU Best Student Award – 2018" in the Grand Prix category, winner of the competition in the field of professional skills in Kazan in the nomination "Leader of a Youth Public Organization 2018" - Regina Ermolaeva. Laureate of the 3rd degree of the Russian National Award "Student of the Year of the Republic of Tatarstan - 2019", winner of the city competition of professional skills among employees of the youth policy of Kazan in the nomination "Discovery of the Year", winner of the KNRTU Annual Award" Excellent Student of the Year" in the Grand Prix category - Kristina Zhukova.

Among those who were specially noted by the KNRTU officials for achievements in social activities, sports and creativity and who also received diplomas with honors and letters of gratitude were the following students: Elina Vasilieva (Chair of the Trade Bureau for work with graduate students of the KNRTU Trade Union Organization, holder of the certificate of honor of the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Tatarstan, winner of the 50 Best Innovative Ideas for the Republic of Tatarstan Competition), Alexey Maksimov (four-time winner of the All-Russian Conferences in the section of High-Molecular Compounds, winner and prize-winner of the All-Russian Olympiads in Organic and Polymer Chemistry), Evgeny Kharitonov (winner of a personal scholarship of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation, winner of the Republican Competition "Engineer of the Year - 2019" in the Future Engineers category), Alsina Sabirova (Laureate of the annual prize of the Republic of Tatarstan "Student of the Year", multiple winner and prize-winner of the Freshman Day and Student Spring festivals), Alexandra Chagina (Head of the student pop sketch "Bite of the Sun", the winner of All-Russian festival of student theatres of small forms "Ikariada"), Albert Musin (winner of the 50 Best Innovative Ideas for the Republic of Tatarstan Competition in the nomination "Youth Innovation Project") and Irina Muzafarova (member of the KNRTU National Cheerleading Team - "NCT", prize-winner of the Russian Federation National Cheerleading Competition).

The works of young scientists were also noted. Vice-rector for Scientific Work of KNRTU Alexander Kopylov addressed them with the following words: - Dear friends and colleagues! You are on the right path - you started doing science in this glorious institution, in a beautiful city, in a Republic that values intellectual work. And I hope that each of you will be a part of the scientific elite of our Republic in the near future. You have already taken your first steps in the right direction. I wish you success and good luck on this path!

After that, letters of gratitude were presented to Alexander Krupin (Candidate of chemical sciences, scholar of the President of the Russian Federation, winner of the Republican Competition "Leader in the Field of Polymer Processing in the Republic of Tatarstan" in the nomination "Future of the Industry"), Naira Barsegian (winner of grants of the President of the Russian Federation for state support of leading scientific schools, winner of international and All-Russian competitions and Olympiads), Ruzanna Ziyatdinova (winner of the All-Russian Student Olympiad on the Chemistry and Physics of Polymers discipline, grant-holder of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, grant-holder of the Government of the Russian Federation) and Adilya Kurbangaleeva (Ph.D. in Engineering Science, Associate Professor of the Department of Chemistry and Technology of Elastomer Processing, winner of the 50 Best Innovative Ideas for the Republic of Tatarstan Competition in the nomination "Start of Innovation").