I was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. In 2015, when I was 18, I graduated from the state lyceum "The Second School" and moved to the U.S. to study mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In the summers of 2018 and 2019, I participated in research programs at San Diego State University and in IPAM at UCLA, which influenced my decision to continue my education in machine learning. After graduating in 2019, I moved to New York and started as a Ph.D. student at the Center for Data Science at NYU. I received U.S. citizenship in 2021.

I used to take tennis classes when I was a kid and I am trying to get back to it after many years. I am a professional tennis fan though; the peak of my career is the semifinals of Miami Open 2023 where I (almost) caught the ball hit by Daniil Medvedev. Fun fact: Daniil and I attended the same high school in Moscow in 2010-2011!

I am very enthusiastic about Preferans—a Russian card game that used to be very popular in the Soviet times. Preferans is quite similar to Bridge, and some even say that it is a dumbed down version of Bridge (I don't approve of this statement). My lifelong dream is to go on a week-long train trip across Siberia and play Preferans with my friends all along.

I occasionally play the guitar. It's very relaxing, although I easily get frustrated with myself when it doesn't come out right. Some of my favourite songs are written by Boris Grebenshikov, Yuri Shevchuk, and Leonid Fedorov.