Category Archives: Exciting! News and updates

Ironman Triathlon

I did it! The face of a person at the finish line of their first Ironman: I found the Ironman different from all the races I’ve done before.  After ~20 major races and more than 50 races in total, I … Continue reading

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50 Races Completed: Reflections

As of this weekend, I have finished a total of 50 races. My first race was a May 2009 Jersey City 10K run. My 50th race was a Harriman State Park olympic distance triathlon (1500m swim, 40km bike ride, 10K … 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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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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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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Microsoft Research Presentation Video

A video of a talk I recently gave at Microsoft Research Seattle is now available online. In this talk I introduced the Energy Harvesting Active Networked Tags Project and talked about my contributions to the project and to the overall … Continue reading

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Philadelphia Marathon

It never ceases to amaze me how deeply personally satisfactory it feels to do something you thought you could never do. Having had knee troubles for many years (me and my knee troubles go back years, all the way back … Continue reading

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Escape from Alcatraz 2012

Long before I even started exercising, I caught, randomly, a Canadian TV special dedicated to the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon race.  It seemed insane — people swim over 2km from the Alcatraz Island to the San Fransisco shore, then bike … Continue reading

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