SigmaCamp 2024: Faculty

This will be my 8th year as a SigmaCounselor. My favorite part of the camp is interacting with all of the campers and staff, and I also love that Sigma is a learning experience for campers and staff alike. Every year I learn so many new things from lectures, tournaments, workshops, and just from talking to other people.

In 2021, I graduated from the University Chicago, where I studied math and computer science, and I currently live in Chicago and work as a trader. At my job I get to work on interesting projects of my choosing and I constantly apply principles of calculus, statistics, probability, and my (sadly pretty weak) programming skills to my work. Outside of work, I like to do gymnastics and I also volunteer as a cheerleading coach for my former college team. I also enjoy playing soccer, volleyball, and tennis, though I’m not very good at any of them.

Alexander Brook is a biostatistician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lecturer in Radiology in Harvard Medical School. He has a PhD in Applied Mathematics, and used to work in computer vision. Currently, his job is to work with clinical researchers to help them design their research, collect and analyze their data, and report the results.

This is going to be my third year at SigmaCamp as a counselor and I'm excited to join this wonderful community! I'm studying theoretical physics at YITP in Stony Brook. My research interests include mathematical physics, black-hole perturbation theory, and phenomenological string theory. I practice a very hands-on approach and like to use programming as a way to tackle some hard mathematical problems. In my spare time, I like to stay active (strength training, BJJ) and sometimes cook. I did play different musical instruments in the past, including cello and drums (hopefully I will do it again in the future).

I am currently a grad student studying quantum gravity and string theory, primarily based at Stanford University but also spending a lot of time at the University of Cambridge in the UK. My primary research interests are in how the fabric of spacetime emerges from strongly interacting chaotic quantum systems, and in the nature of black hole microstates within these systems. At Sigma this year I will teach two semilabs - one on Cosmology (the study of the history and eventual fate of our universe) and one on black holes and how we think about them from both a classical and a quantum perspective.

I am always very approachable, especially if you want to chat about physics or hear me rant about tennis :-)

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.

My PhD work was related to making nanoscale optical structures and manipulating quantum states of individuals atoms, with the goal of contributing to the world-wide effort on making optical quantum computers -- I'm continuing along the same lines now as postdoc. When I go to Sigma, I like to bring with me various tech contraptions so we can take them apart. I don't know yet what we will breaking into this year. Together with Melissa Guidry, I teach the Optics semilab. This year, we will be using light to do measurements and computations, in particular, image processing using Fourier transforms.

Boris is an accelerator physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). He got his PhD from the Stanford University Department of Applied Physics. His expertise is to design, build, and operate large particle accelerators. These are mostly used as colliders for high energy and nuclear physics research, or serve as light sources that provide powerful X-ray beams to researchers in many different fields of science. Having spent two decades working with light source accelerators at BNL and elsewhere, Boris recently joined the Electron-Ion Collider project at Brookhaven, which will be building the most powerful collider-accelerator in the US. As you might guess, Boris’ job has a lot to do with all aspects of electricity and magnetism, and this is exactly the topic of the Semilab he is teaching at Sigma. For fun, he really enjoys fishing as well as playing ping-pong.

Anar is a neuroscientist. His background in physics and mathematics helps him solve computational problems arising in human brain at scales from a single neuron to the entire brain network. He also tries to predict what will happen to our brains as we age. In the past, he taught the Codes and Ciphers semilab. This year he will be teaching a semilab on games and how to play your best against the best possible opponent.

Hello! I am excited to come back for another great year of Sigma! I am a BIO-ECE PhD student at UT Austin. Outside of my studies, I am interested in material science and additive manufacturing. I play the violin, like to enjoy bad movies, and build janky contraptions. I can't wait to see everyone at the next Sigma Camp.

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.

I am delighted to return to Sigma for my seventh year on the SigmaStaff, and ninth year overall. My academic interest falls at the intersection of marine science and microbiology - I split my time between studying marine vesicles and determining the key bacterial taxa and their contributions to chemoautotrophic and heterotrophic processes in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone. Otherwise, I spend time thinking about viral gene transfer in the oceans or the role oceans play in the global carbon cycle. If that sounds interesting, feel free to find me and we'll talk. In my 'copious' free time, I enjoy making detailed abstract drawings, dancing, or training for the next spartan race. I’ve picked up ballroom dancing (after 12 years of ballet), and I'm down to try anything artsy or active. Looking forward to meeting everyone this year!

Dr. Galkin received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2001 at Moscow State University and completed postdoctoral studies at Frankfurt University and University College London. In 2009 he established his research group at Queen's University Belfast, UK. In 2017 he moved to the US and currently he is an Associate Professor in Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Galkin research lab studies the energy metabolism and mechanistic details of cellular injury during cardiovascular diseases or neurodegeneration.

Spending every summer growing up at the Mediterranean coast in Spain led to my passion for the ocean and becoming a biological oceanographer. I obtained a bachelor degree in Marine Sciences at the University of Cádiz (Spain), a master’s degree in marine microbial ecology at the University of Stirling (Scotland), and a PhD in marine virus ecology at the University of Plymouth (England). I investigate microbial host-virus interactions in marine environments. Viruses are the most abundant biological agents in the ocean, but still one of the most unexplored reservoirs of genetic and functional diversity. My overall goal is to understand the genetic basis of viral infections and how they affect life in the ocean. I am constantly awed by new discoveries that reveal the mighty impacts tiny viruses have in modulating life the way we know it.
I am honored to join SigmaCamp again!

I've been coming to Sigma since the beginning, and I'm really excited to be here for another year. I’m a grad student at MIT studying biological engineering. Outside of STEM, I'm interested in history, mineral water, and linguistics. I also really enjoy playing racket sports, my favorite being Wii Sports tennis, and I'm looking forward to organizing the ping pong tournament at Sigma again. I’m also looking forward to another season of swimming - I’m a big Silver Lake enthusiast. Can’t wait to see everyone this summer!

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!

Victor has a Ms.C. in physical chemistry and is an enthusiast of academic competitions, in which he competed at international level as a student. Currently, he is a chemistry teacher at Colegio Etapa, in Brazil, and an academic advisor for Chemistry Olympiads. He was the Brazilian team leader in three International Junior Science Olympiads and two Iberoamerican Chemistry Olympiads, and personally trained students that collectively won 37 international medals. Besides chemistry and teaching, Victor is also a cat aficionado. Don’t hesitate to ask him about his cats.

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.

Tim Pinkhassik is originally from Newton, MA. He is pursuing a B.S. in Chemistry. Tim works on synthesizing copper—oxalamide precatalyst complexes to catalyze the Goldberg reaction. Beyond his research, Tim enjoys organic synthesis for fun and profit, film photography, learning languages, and playing piano and balalaika.

Lilia Frenkel is a lead software developer 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.

Julia has a PhD in Mathematics and Computer Science and MS degrees in Math and Physics. In the first decade of her research activity she has worked in quantum computation and information, studying algorithms for quantum computers. She has then worked nearly a decade finance before returning to academia, where she is now working at the interface of data science, machine learning and science, while directing NYU's Center for Data Science. Julia has been to Sigma Camp three times: twice as a guest lecturer on crypto and bitcoin, assisted by her daughter Emma, and once teaching the semilab "A Glimpse Into Quantum Computers".

I have been a camper or counselor at Sigma Camp since its inaugural year and hopefully for years to come. Throughout the years I've attended Sigma, I have graduated high school, attended Cornell for my undergraduate degree and started a PhD at Stony Brook University in the Computer Science department. I work with robotics or programming semi-labs and set up sports and events like Chessball. I look forward to meeting you all and don't hesitate to come talk with me about any of your scientific or sporting interests.

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.

Adam is a computer scientist at Boston University, where he is a founding member of the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences. His areas of research include cryptography and information privacy. He is known, along with Cynthia Dwork, Frank McSherry, and Kobbi Nissim, as one of the co-inventors of differential privacy, for which he won the 2017 Gödel Prize.

He taught a semilab at SigmaCamp in 2021, and has returned each year since!

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 Interface and User Experience Design, following my passion for design, technology, and real-world problem-solving. In addition to my professional pursuits, I also teach art to children from first to third grade at SchoolNova. This role allows me to share my love of creativity with the next generation and inspire them to express themselves through art. In my spare time, I enjoy biking, beachcombing, and taking pictures of accidental art.

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.

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