SigmaWest 2026: 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 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.

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.

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.

Sasha Abanov is an associate professor of physics at Stony Brook University and a deputy director of the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics. His research is in theoretical condensed matter physics and in mathematical physics. He is mainly interested in systems whose properties are defined by the laws of quantum physics. Some examples of such systems are superfluids, superconductors and Quantum Hall effect systems. Sasha enjoys teaching physics and mathematics at different levels. He has a lot of experience in teaching school students in various summer camps and math circles.

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.

I am a Physics student starting graduate school at UofT. I spend much of my free time studying piano, reading about the history of science and organizing outreach events at UofT.

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".

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.

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!

I am a computational biologist and bioengineer fascinated by how cells age and how we might slow—or even reverse—the process. As a postdoc at UCSF, I study the signals aging cells send to their neighbors and explore ways to reprogram those signals to extend healthspan. My background blends math, physics, computer science, and biology, and during my PhD at Georgia Tech, I combined CRISPR, RNA sequencing, and computational modeling to study how cells move, grow, and adapt. This is my fourth SigmaCamp, but my first year as faculty, and I’m excited to bring hands-on genetic engineering to the classroom! In my semilab, we’ll use CRISPR to rewire bacterial DNA, stepping into the role of bioengineers to explore real-world applications of gene editing. I’m always up for chatting—whether it’s about science, cool experiments, or a completely unexpected topic—because the best part of Sigma is having fun discussions and learning something new from each other.

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.

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!

Anna is a mathematics professional, software developer, and author with a long-standing passion for teaching. Anna holds M.S. degrees in Mathematics and in Computer Science from the University of Washington. After a career in software development, she chose to focus on education and founded Prime Factor Math Circle, where she designs and teaches advanced mathematics and computer science classes for school students.
Anna is actively involved in a variety of mathematical programs and projects. Her books "Mathematical Circle Diaries, Year 1: Grades 5 to 7" and "Mathematical Circle Diaries, Year 2: Grades 6 to 8" were published by the American Mathematical Society in the Mathematical Circles Library series. She is also an enthusiastic supporter of thinker-style math Olympiads, computing contests, and other activities that connect mathematics and coding with creative problem solving.

Hi, I'm Andrei! I am a math major with 30 years of experience as a software developer, having worked at companies like Microsoft, Google, and Adobe. I have been teaching extracurricular math and coding for over three decades as well and I am excited to bring that experience to SigmaCamp! Outside of the classroom and the tech world, my favorite hobbies include playing and designing board games, studying languages, and reading and translating poetry.

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!

Hi there! I'm Nikita, a software engineer at Audible.

In my day job, I work on bringing audiobooks to people through voice assistants like Alexa. With recent advances in AI, it is incredibly exciting to be a part of the transformation of our day-to-day life from the inside.

I have a degree in Computer Science and Maths from Saint-Petersburg University, where I specialised in game theory and language processing. I'm also a skilled juggler and slackliner, and I love to share my knowledge and skills with others.