SigmaCamp 2019: Faculty

Andrei Antonenko is a lecturer in the Linguistics department of Stony Brook University where he teaches a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses, from introduction to sociolinguistics to advanced seminars in syntax. He received an MS in Applied Mathematics and a PhD in Theoretical Linguistics from Stony Brook University in 2012. His area of specialization is formal syntax, and he works on a variety of languages, including Slavic, Germanic, Austronesian, East Asian, Caucasian, and others.

Alexander Kirillov is a professor in the Math Department of Stony Brook University. His research is in representation theory, quantum invariants of knots and low-dimensional manifolds, and Topological Field Theory. He has been working with high school children, teaching math circles and gifted classes since his own high school graduation. In addition to math, he also enjoys hiking, volleyball, and robotics - he is the coach of Islandbots robotics club.

Alexander Kirillov Sr. was born in Moscow, Russia, and studied at Moscow State University. In 1961 he presented the Ph.D. thesis, for which he received the degree of Doctor of Science. He was a professor of Moscow University till 1994 and worked in the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics till 1990. Now he is a professor of UPenn and a member of the Institute for Problems of Information Transmission (Russian Academy of Sciences).

His research is in representation theory, functional analysis and mathematical physics. He participated in the creation of Gelfand Correspondence School and the Independent Moscow University. Regularly gives lectures in Summer and Winter schools for students and young mathematicians.

Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Director of the Institute for Math Science at the Stony Brook University. Misha has been working on dynamical systems given by simple formulas in low dimensions but exhibiting an interesting chaotic behavior and producing intricate fractal objects. It is concerned, in particular, with the real and complex quadratic family. Fractal objects like Julia sets and the Mandelbrot set naturally emerge in this context. He has dedicated a lot of effort exploring their universal self-similar structure encoded by a scary term (coming from physics) ``renormalization".

Natasha Zayfman teaches math in a public school in New York City. She was always passionate about math and very curious about how mathematical sense develops in young children. Natasha enjoys watching her students discover mathematical concepts every day. Natasha is also a coach for her school's robotics team. She is very excited to be joining SigmaCamp 2018.

Oksana is a physicist by training, graduate of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology with a Master of Science in Engineering Optics and Laser Physics. She currently lives in Setauket, Long Island, NY and works as a Controls Engineer in Brookhaven National Laboratory. Oksana builds beamlines for new NSLS2 synchrotron, an exciting scientific instrument with half a mile in circumference. This instrument is used to peek into atomic structures of new materials and biological samples using the rainbow of X-rays. Oksana also teaches math at School Nova.

Zohar is a Professor at Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook University, NY. He studied at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, where he received his PhD in 2008. Later he joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In 2011 Zohar returned to the Weizmann Institute, and in 2017 joined the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. His research is on Quantum Field Theory, which has applications on a wide variety of fields in physics, including Particle Physics and Condensed Matter Physics.

She was a visiting scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she worked on various projects related to computational materials. Currently, she is a scientific editor reviewing research papers in Physics and Astronomy.

Alexei Tkachenko is a theoretical physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory working on nanoscience and in the field called soft condensed matter. He studies problems that range from from living matter (DNA, proteins, membranes) to nanoparticles, plastics and even sand. He also teaches physics at School Nova. At SigmaCamp, Alexei, together with Tanya Zaliznyak, is responsible for the tastiest of all the semilabs, called "The Science of Cooking".

Igor Zaliznyak is a Physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He uses scattering of neutron particles to study microscopic magnetism in various materials, searching to discover and understand such properties that would lead to future technological advances. In his everyday professional activity, various aspects of Physics and Mathematics, many of which are already taught in high school, are used in a quest to understand how the nature works. Igor is eager to share his passion for science and enthusiasm for experimentation with students, introducing them to various aspects of Physics and Math that are used in his everyday research. Igor firmly believes that physical and mathematical knowledge and erudition acquired at school age, on par with arts and literature, makes for a unique individual, and provides solid foundation for everybody's success in his/her future life. In his free time, Igor likes to read popular Math and Science books and solve problems, puzzles and brain teasers. He also taught 9th and 10th grade Math at School Nova.

Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi is Director of the Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics, Baszucki Endowed Chair of Metabolic Neuroscience, and Professor in Stony Brook University's Department of Biomedical Engineering. She also holds academic appointments in the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology, Program in Neuroscience, and Departments of Neurology, Psychiatry, and Physics. In addition, she is Research Staff Scientist and Lecturer in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging).
Dr. Mujica-Parodi’s research interests focus on the extension of control theory to allostatic regulation of neural circuits and their interactions with other physiological systems, in health and disease.

Igor Rogozin received his PhD in computational biology from the Novosibirsk State University in 1992. After that he was serving as a visiting scientist at the Institute of Advanced Technologies in Milan and completed his postdoctoral training at Penn State University.
For the last 15 years, he has been working on various aspects of molecular evolution and comparative genomics at the National Institute of Health. He is interested in comparative analysis of completely sequenced genomes, population genomics of human diseases, analysis of long non-coding RNAs, phylogenetic analysis of sequences, theoretical analysis of mutagenesis, genome biology of carcinogenesis, analysis of functional regions and signals in biological sequences, and the computational analysis of immune systems.

Director of the Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnologies and Associate Professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Stony Brook University.

Helmut Strey is a Biophysicist who is interested in developing micro- and nanotechnologies for applications in basic and applied research. Specifically, his lab is working on 1) micropatterning techniques for single-cell studies, 2) study of gene circuit dynamics using probabilistic modeling, 3) developing software to simulate the human brain (Neuroblox.org). Helmut received the Dillon medal for research in Polymer Physics from the American Physical Society in 2003. He recently converted to Bayesianism and is passionate about making things, Soccer, Chess and Table Tennis.

Lena is a molecular biologist. The primary subject of her interest is the protein-DNA interactions, and Lena has studied many of them using such state-of-the-art techniques as X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and various spectroscopic methods. However, during her work, Lena came to the conclusion that even the most sophisticated device does not make you smarter: Despite the stunning technological progress, humans’ own brains are still their most powerful tool. The thing Lena likes the most is the company of intellectually like-minded people. Lena and her friends got together every summer to talk about science, art, and music. Then they realized that their group would be incomplete without a young generation, so they invited motivated and talented kids to join their company, which they called Sigma. We are inviting you to become a part of our community!

Tatiana Yurchenko, Ph.D. is a research scientist in the lab of Protist Genomics at the University of Ostrava, Czech Republic. Her way back to scientific research was long and eventful. Having graduated from the Department of Applied Math and Cybernetics at Moscow State University, she never finished her PhD as her family had to move to the U.S. Tatiana spent many years working as a software engineer and project manager in IT and multimedia companies, gaining real world computer science experience. Her passion for science led her back to the student bench. She recently finished her PhD studies in bioinformatics and works happily in scientific research.

Slava Yurchenko is a molecular biologist by education, training and the way of thinking. After spending several years in some of the best universities in the United States, he has recently established his own laboratory in the Czech Republic. His group is tackling some of the fundamental questions of life, such as evolution of eukaryotes. He is also involved in research on parasites and their relationships with the host. Slava has been a faculty of SigmaCamp from its very beginning 9 years ago.

Tanya Zaliznyak is a research scientist in the pharmacology department at Stony Brook University. Her scientific interest lies in the field of structural biology and molecular modeling. She loves to use her knowledge of physics, chemistry and biology in the kitchen, creating tasty dishes that satisfy her passion for cooking.

The focus of Mark Lukin's scientific interest are nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) - the molecules responsible for storage and transfer of hereditary information in living organisms. How does DNA get copied? What happens when DNA molecules breaks? To answer these, as well as many other questions, Mark needs to prepare artificial (modified) nucleic acids and their building blocks, the crazy compounds that normally do not exist in nature. The only way obtain them is to do a chemical synthesis, the thing Mark likes the most. Besides that, Mark loves music, history, Greek philosophy, and science fiction. When he was young, he loved to do simple but spectacular chemical experiments. Recently, he realized he still loves to do that.

Eugene Pinkhassik graduated from Kazan State University in Russia and obtained his PhD in Chemistry in the Institute of Chemical Technology in Prague, Czech Republic. After a visiting scientist stay in Parma, Italy and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado, Boulder, he began an independent faculty career. He is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut. His research interests focus on making nanomaterials and nanodevices with new and superior properties to address current problems in energy-related technologies, medical imaging and treatment, and environmental sensing.

Eugenia Poliakov obtained her Master degree in chemistry from Moscow State University, Russia in 1996, doctoral degree in Chemistry from the Case Western University, Chemistry Department, Cleveland, OH in 2001. She completed her postdoctoral training at the National Eye Institute, NIH. She joined LRCMB, NEI as staff scientist in November 2006. Her major scientific focus is beta-carotene oxygenases 1 and 2 and their role in carotenoid (fat-soluble vitamins) metabolism and vitamin A biosynthesis. She is focused on the design of small molecules inhibitors for carotene oxygenases and closely related enzyme RPE65 isomerase which is required for human vision.

Intelligence from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and received his training in MR imaging at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University. Broadly, he is interested in the application of Bayesian methods, computational modeling, and machine learning in cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging, and decision-making, as well as in real-world predictive and reinforcement learning problems (autonomous vehicles). He is passionate about robotics, chess, and table tennis.

Yuri Salkinder’s career spanned academia, telecommunications and financial technology. Yuri started in research in human-computer interaction, then moved on to help create software development tools for Voice response systems. He participated in creation of some standards in wireless messaging. Nowadays Yuri is dealing with technology that fuels financial markets. Yuri loves art, music, movies and good math puzzles. Yuri has been a member of the Sigma Camp staff since 2013 and is returning this summer.

Vicka has a degree in Economics and Art History. She worked with numerous cultural organizations and was involved in various history, art, and anthropology programs. Victoria still spends a lot of time on arts and history. At SigmaCamp, Victoria wants to show a different angle of life by opening up the world beyond science.

Anya Cartwright is currently working as an Art teacher at SchoolNova at Stony Brook, as well as her "Running with Colors" Art studio. Her education, work background and present projects include photography, computer graphics and illustration. Anya's interests include alternative photographic processes, concept art, ceramics and woodwork. A special place in Anya's heart belongs to wildlife. She loves hiking, birdwatching and interacting with animals.

Eremenko graduated with Honours in mathematics from Moscow State University and from VGIK film school in Russia. Her films were co-produced and broadcast by leading European TV Channels, such as BBC, ARTE, ZDF, RBB, MDR, YLE, ORT, Swiss TV, NHK etc. and obtained many prices at international film festivals. Since 2012, with Colors of Math, Eremenko focused on producing science films, particularly about mathematics and physics. From 2015 Eremenko is making short films for the Abel prize Ceremony, sponsored by the Norway Academy of Science and Letters. Eremenko has worked at Technical University Berlin since 2013.

Hello, I am Natalia, a portrait photographer on Long Island, New York, and image creator for small businesses and services.
I am proud to photograph SigmaCamp from 2014.
I love capturing human relations, characters, and emotions, especially when people learn new things, experience the joy of discovery, and share their life's passions.
All of those are abundant at SigmaCamp, that’s why I’m so excited to be part of it.

Marina Kreydina has a degree in Physical Education and Sports Management. Nowadays she is engaged in medical business management. Marina loves specialized summer camps and has been a staff member of a number of them. She has been a member of the Sigma Camp staff since 2013 and is returning this summer.