From School physics to big engineering challenges: the Story of CASE-IN Ambassador Anastasia Ustyuzhanina

KuzSTU continues to talk about the best graduates of 2026. Anastasia Ustyuzhanina's story is about how her school love of physics turned into deep scientific research, how her first practice opened her eyes to real production, and participation in the CASE-IN championship opened her eyes to the scale of her own capabilities.

In 11th grade, Anastasia firmly decided: she would become an engineer. I studied in a physics and mathematics class, so the technical specialty seemed like a natural continuation. When it came time to choose a direction, there was no hesitation.

"I realized that the electric power industry is an area that will always be relevant. Besides, I saw great prospects for development in this area," Anastasia recalls.

The graduate admits that her expectations from the profession were half fulfilled. Like many students, she did not fully understand what production was. But already during her studies and her first internship, she realized that she was in her place.

Anastasia studied in a special group under the "Target Energy Flow" program from SGK and received two working professions: an electrician for maintenance of third-class electrical equipment and an electrician for maintenance of third-class relay protection and automation devices. The internship took place at the Novo-Kemerovo TPP. Now she knows how the energy industry works, not only from textbooks, but also at the level of equipment that can be touched with her hands.

After completing her bachelor's degree, Anastasia enrolled in the master's program at her alma mater.

Science began to capture the girl from the first year of her bachelor's degree. Now, 6 years later, she is the author of more than 20 articles on the topic of the electric power industry, three of which have been published in journals from the list of the Higher Attestation Commission, and one in the journal of the Higher Attestation Commission—1.

But the main love is the International Engineering CASE—IN Championship, which is held with the support of the Presidential Platform "Russia - the land of Opportunities". Here she is the permanent captain of the champion Kuzbass Express team.

"In the fall of 2024, we took 1st place and became the absolute champions. In the spring of 2025 — 3rd place in the field of "Electric power industry". In the fall of 2025 — 2nd place in the industry-wide direction. And recently we became the absolute champions of the spring cup again! They also won 4 times in a row in the "Breakthrough Solution" and "Best Video Visuals" nominations. Of course, this is one of the most memorable contests, and we always bring a lot of impressions from the finals, which take place in Moscow," Anastasia shares.

Winning the championship is not the only achievement. In 2024, Anastasia took 2nd place in the All-Russian Bachelor's Degree Thesis Competition in Electric Power Engineering. In the same year, her team "Energy of Kuzbass" won the silver medal in the Youth Global Forecast of Energy Development. In addition, she won the Student Startup competition and won 1 million rubles for the implementation of her project.

Thanks to such an impressive number of achievements, Anastasia managed to become the owner of an advanced state academic scholarship, the Andrei Melnichenko scholarship and the scholarship of the President of the Russian Federation.

Since September 2024, Anastasia has been working as a teacher at the Kemerovo Talent Center. She teaches classes for grades 5-8 in physics, engineering, intelligent electromechanics, and Olympiad technology.  Her supervisor helped her find employment.

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