SigmaCamp 2022: Faculty

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.

Oksana is a physicist by training, a 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 at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Oksana builds beamlines for new NSLS2 synchrotron, an exciting scientific instrument with a half-mile in circumference. This instrument is used to peek into the atomic structures of new materials and biological samples using the rainbow of X-rays. Oksana also teaches math at SchoolNova.

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 living matter (DNA, proteins, membranes) to nanoparticles, plastics, and even sand. He also teaches physics at SchoolNova. At SigmaCamp, Alexei is responsible for the tastiest of all the semilabs, called "The Science of Cooking".

Evgenii Boriushkin is originally from Russia where he earned both his MD and PhD degrees with a research interest in vascular biology, angiogenesis, and cancer metabolism. During his career, he works on hidden secrets of biology and applies this knowledge for the development of new therapies. At SigmaCamp, Evgenii will show how the understanding of nature helps to solve scientific and medical problems. In his free time, Evgenii enjoys soccer, volleyball, and hiking.

Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi is a computational neuroscientist who builds mechanistic, multi-scale models of the brain to advance the diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders. Her research applies and extends control theory to the allostatic regulation of neural circuits and their interactions with the body's metabolic and physiological systems.

She is the Director of the Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics, Baszucki Endowed Chair of Metabolic Neuroscience, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University, where she is also faculty in the Laufer Center for Physical and Quantitative Biology. She is additionally a Neuroscientist in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging), a Research Affiliate at MIT (Picower Institute, CSAIL), and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

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 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!

The focus of Mark Lukin's scientific interest is nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) - the molecules responsible for the 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.

Lilia Frenkel is a CTO at ADS (American Data Solutions), working on the next generation of Interactive Manuals. New approaches in handling electronic instructions enable vendors (ranging from commercial airlines to medical professionals) to apply AI and Machine Learning methods to troubleshooting, automate maintenance, training, and facilitate business-to-business social networking using private communication hub. At SigmaCamp, Lilia hopes to excite campers with building fully customizable smart house models using MicroPython, and setting up a local server/network that enables communication between these models without relying on the internet. Lilia loves to play chess, ping-pong, hike and .. work on IoT projects.

Jaime Ide is a Mechatronic engineer who became a Computational Neuroscientist and Data Scientist. He got his Ph.D. in Artificial 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.

Sofya received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in mathematics and computer science from MIT. She works in the areas of randomized and approximation algorithms and also data privacy. These areas are part of theoretical computer science. Before joining the faculty at Sigma, Sofya taught at Epsilon Camp and C.A.M.P. (Camp for Algorithmic and Mathematical Play). Her best memories of her childhood are from a math camp she attended in Belarus. As far as her hobbies go, recall that she works on privacy.

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.

Adam Smith is a professor of computer science at Boston University. From 2007 to 2017, he served on the faculty of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Penn State. His research interests lie in data privacy and cryptography, and their connections to machine learning, statistics, information theory, and quantum computing. He obtained his Ph.D. from MIT in 2004 and has held postdoc and visiting positions at the Weizmann Institute of Science, UCLA, Boston University, and Harvard. His work received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2009; a Theory of Cryptography Test of Time award in 2016; the Eurocrypt 2019 Test of Time award; the 2017 Gödel Prize; and the 2021 Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award. He is a Fellow of the ACM.

He has volunteered as an instructor at SigmaCamp since 2021.

I earned my Master's degree in Architecture from Moscow State University of Civil Engineering and worked as an architect for seven years, participating in residential, recreational, and urban development projects. Recently, I pivoted my career to User Experience and Interface (UX/UI) design, following my passion for design, technology, and real-world problem-solving. In addition to my professional pursuits, I enjoy teaching art and craft to children. This role enables me to share my passion for creativity with the next generation and inspire them to express themselves through art. In my free time, I enjoy biking, beachcombing, and photographing accidental art.

Hi there! I’m Natalia, a Long Island, NY portrait photographer who helps local small businesses tell their stories through authentic brand imagery.
Outside of my commercial work, there is nothing I enjoy more than capturing the spirit of SigmaCamp.
I have been documenting SigmaCamp since 2014, and I remain inspired by the incredible energy here year after year. My passion lies in capturing genuine human connection, unique personalities, and authentic emotions. I am especially drawn to moments of learning—seeing someone experience the true joy of discovery or light up while sharing their life's passion.
SigmaCamp is absolutely bursting with these meaningful moments, and I can't wait to see you there!

Sasha is a Brooklyn-based artist who has lived in the New York City area since age one, when his family came to the US from St. Petersburg, Russia. Since graduating from the Cooper Union in 2013 with a degree in Fine Arts, he has continuously worked part-time as an art and art history teacher, and he has experience teaching students of all ages from 3 years old to adult. Alongside teaching art, Sasha has held various full-time jobs including being an Art Handler and Installer at a large auction house, being a designer at a firm specializing in awards and trophies, and even working as a lead pre-K teacher. Currently, he works as a graphics designer and event coordinator and has been moving into the world of User Experience (UX) Design. Outside of work, Sasha is constantly trying to find ways to be creative and enjoys writing songs, making music, and designing games. He also gives museum tours at several NYC museums, primarily at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Vicka has a degree in Economics and Art History. Currently, she is working on another Master's in Global Studies. She works with numerous cultural organizations and is involved in various history, art, and anthropology programs. At SigmaCamp, Victoria shows a different angle of life by opening up the world beyond science.