SigmaNext 2026: Faculty

Alexander Brook is a biostatistician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lecturer in Radiology at 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.

I was born in Russia and moved to the USA when I was 5 y.o. I graduated from UC Irvine with my undergraduate degree and earned my PhD in Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). My thesis was in harmonic analysis. Currently, I teach at Stanford Online High School, Greenwich Academy, Euler Circle, and Stanford Mathematics Camp during summers. I love to play tennis.

Andrey is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford and has been at SigmaCamp since the very beginning. Andrey graduated from the University of Toronto in 2019 and completed his PhD in Mathematics at MIT in 2025. Andrey is always open to chat about math, physics, or computer science! He greatly enjoys board games and dancing. Andrey's research is in quantum computing and quantum information theory. He is studying large classes of highly structured quantum error-correcting codes known as mirror codes as well as fault-tolerant circuits and protocols.

Hi I'm Tarika! I work in finance making pricing and predictive models. I have a master's in CS and bachelor's in mathematics from the University of Chicago and I like games + puzzles!

Krerley Oliveira holds a Master's and Ph.D. from IMPA (www.impa.br), which he completed at the age of 22. He is a Full Professor at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL), Brazil, where he founded and coordinated both the Mathematics Olympiad Program and the Graduate Program in Mathematics. He was also an Affiliate Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. His research interests include Dynamical Systems, Ergodic Theory, Machine Learning, and Data Science.

In addition to his academic work, Krerley coordinates the Excellence Center for High School Students in Mathematics and Computer Sciences (NES), which nurtures and trains talented students in these fields. He has supervised postdoctoral researchers, Ph.D. candidates, and numerous master's students at UFAL. He has also delivered courses and lectures at institutions worldwide, including year-long appointments at Penn State University and the University of Paris-Sud (Orsay). His publications include several articles and books, most notably a publication on the foundations of ergodic theory with Cambridge University Press.

Currently, he leads the Data Science and Statistics Laboratory (LED), where he applies machine learning techniques to various real-world problems. . He was in the team that received the Gran Prix Louis D., of the French Academy of Sciences.

Boris is a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), more than fulfilling the stereotypical physicist mold of branching out to other fields. Boris obtained his PhD in theoretical physics from Cornell University with a focus on applications of information theory to modeling complex systems. Some of his recent projects have included the evaluation of NBA basketball player positioning and reformulating the mathematical underpinnings of residential segregation. Boris is (virtually always) happy to argue, debate, or discuss anything!

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 :-)

I obtained my PhD in 2022 in plasma physics and now I spend my “work” days as postdoc thinking about astrophysical fluid dynamics of planets, stars and compact objects. I love the Sigma energy and am excited to return this year. Back on our home planet, I enjoy hiking, improv comedy, and playing soccer under reasonable gravitational and thermodynamic conditions.

Anar is a neuroscientist. His background in physics and mathematics helps him solve computational problems arising in the 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.

Dr. Galkin received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2001 from 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's research lab studies the energy metabolism and mechanistic details of cellular injury during cardiovascular diseases or neurodegeneration.

Alina received her PhD in synthetic organic chemistry with twice-Nobel Prize laureate K. Barry Sharpless in 2006. Her work on organic azides and click chemistry was part of Sharpless' 2022 Nobel Prize and has been applied worldwide in such diverse fields as drug discovery, materials science, and electronics. Since 2008, Alina has been working as a patent agent in a law firm, helping pharmaceutical, chemical, and biotech clients patent their inventions.

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.

Hi everyone! I’m Nano — a computer scientist, hacker/maker, pilot, and YouTuber in my free time. I’m currently doing a PhD in Applied Math and Data Science at EMAp-FGV. Before that, I studied Computational Physics at the University of Brasília and got my Master’s at the University of São Paulo.
My work focuses on modeling, simulation, and machine learning, especially applied to epidemiology and public health. I also teach programming at NES, a program that brings Math, AI, and Data Science to high school students.
In between grad school, I also worked as a flight instructor, and I run a YouTube channel called nanoTech, where I share projects around tech, electronics, and maker content. If you ever want to nerd out about anything from electronics to aviation or space exploration, come talk to me.
I’ve been involved with Sigma for couple of years now — I was a counselor at the very first Sigma Brazil and came back as an instructor for the second one. This will be my second time at Sigma in the US, and I’m really excited to be back!

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.

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.