Author Archives: admin

Ode to the 5th Week of a Training Program

Being a total data geek, I keep detailed digitized training logs that go back to December of 2009. I write down what I did – in running, cycling, hiking – everything, – and how it felt, keep track of benchmark … Continue reading

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Visualizations: my CV and my Research Statement as Word Clouds

As far back as I remember, I was a fan of clear, catchy, and entertaining visual data representations. Like those that often appear in the National Geographic or the Economist – the engaging ways of presenting scientific facts and data. … Continue reading

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Mount Washington Road Race

Last weekend I conquered Mount Washington Road Race, which has long been on my bucket list. This well-organized, unusual race did not disappoint; I would highly recommend it to folks that are up for its challenges. While only 7.6 miles … Continue reading

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Beautiful Pervasive World: Wearable Devices

Having seen nothing but my dissertation in the last 6 months, I have been tremendously enjoying an opportunity to scale back on writing and to catch up with the state of the world of innovative pervasive and mobile technology. Oh, … Continue reading

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Convocation and Commencement

Our Columbia graduation ceremonies took a substantial part of this week and were amazing. I love graduating from Columbia. Growing up in the direst poverty and deprivation in the 1990s Russia, I could not dare to dream of getting to … Continue reading

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Proud Academic Heritage

Thanks to the Mathematics Genealogy Project, my labmates and I have recently compiled a chart of our academic ancestors, which traces Ph.D. advisor-advisee relationships back to the 1600s. We compiled the chart and got it framed for our advisor’sĀ Gil Zussman‘s … Continue reading

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WimNet’s Columbia University Electrical Engineering Department Awards

My research group (that is, professor Gil Zussman‘s WimNet lab) has had a very good day today, at the Columbia University Electrical Engineering Department BBQ where this year’s graduate student awards were announced. Saleh Soltan received the Armstrong Memorial Award, … Continue reading

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Mentoring Students

While much is written about various approaches and activities grad students can use to keep engaged and motivated and to succeed (such as wonderful advice provided here, here, here, here, and in many other articles and posts), one particular useful … Continue reading

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My favorite collection: running countries and states

When I was in grad school, I started a bit of a game with myself, keeping track of countries, states, and provinces where I went running. The rules of this game are simple: a country, a state, or a province … Continue reading

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Ph.D. Dissertation Defended

Yes, I did it! Wednesday April 24th, 4pm EST, following a presentation attended by many of my fellow WimNet group members and coauthors from other groups, and following an intense and engaged period of questioning by the committee, I was … Continue reading

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