Biography

I was born in Moscow, Russia, on Feb 23, 1981, and was wisely whisked away to the Big Apple at the nadir of Ed Koch's mayoral tenure, stopping off in Houston, TX, for a few years, before settling in Philadelphia, PA, where I had the benefit of five years of Cheltenham public schooling, and two years at the Germantown Friends School, a Quaker outfit. After seven years in Philadelphia, I moved to Los Gatos, California, where I went to middle and high school. After that, I did my A.B. at Princeton University and a Master of Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy of Oxford University, where I focused on the philosophy of science.I enjoy reading fiction and history. I am an avowed classical music nut, but enjoy many different styles. When time permits, I enjoy playing cello, participating in the Chamber Music Program at Caltech, taking pictures, and venturing out for the occasional hike. I believe the city of Los Angeles is much maligned. While it is a traffic planner's nightmare, you'll find unmatched diversity (Boyle Heights, K-town, the Armenian neighborhoods of Glendale and Pasadena, San Gabriel), great music, interesting museums, deserts, beaches, and mountains. There's nowhere like it! That said, other places are nice too. I've enjoyed traveling to Rome and London best.

Photos

Princeton, 2002-3, Photo Album 1 Photos from the Princeton University Orchestra Tour to Prague and Vienna, Photo Album 1
Photos from the Princeton University Orchestra Tour to Prague and Vienna, Photo Album 2
Los Gatos High School Graduation, 1999
San Jose Symphony Youth Orchestra Tour to Bavaria/Austria,Summer 1999
Photos from my year in England, travels in Europe (2003-4), and first two years at Caltech
Les Houches (Summer 2006)

Writing

POETRY

Like most maladjusted teenagers, I wrote long, poorly constructed, self absorbed poetry. Most of it is terrible. I've also written a few poems, both in the past and in recent memory, that I think are not bad. I'll let you decide if any of these are interesting.
Spade
Winter
Ward D3
Untitled
Poetry is...
Glasses
Elegy
Descent
A Day in the Life...
Winged Fury
Neapolitan Tirade

Humor
This humorous essay got me a full ride at U of C as an undergrad, though I blew my parents' money in New Jersey instead.

Undergraduate Work
Looking back at my undergrad work, I'm proud of a few things I wrote during those four years:
My undergraduate Senior Thesis on galaxy bias in the halo model of large-scale structure
My first undergraduate Junior Project, on Lyman Limit Systems
My second undergraduate Junior Project, on Black Holes and the "No Hair" Conjecture
A Philosophy paper examining the question of whether or not ignorance of wrongdoing exculpates, applied to bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I wrote this paper while taking Gideon Rosen's philosophy class on "Free Will and Responsibility", one of my favorite courses at Princeton.
A paper discussing Robespierre's motives, written for Robert Darnton's Course on the French Revolution, another one of my favorite courses.



Last updated on September 4, 2009