From strings and fields to neighborhoods.
I spent a decade learning how the universe holds together. Now I work on how communities do.
I'm a theoretical physicist by training. I studied effective string theory and quantum chromodynamics at NYU, and I've taught mathematics and physics at the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, NYU and Cooper Union — and these days also teach mechatronics at CCAC and the history of Arabic science at Pitt's Osher Institute. In 2017 I was one of eight people who bought a shuttered elementary school in Wilkinsburg and turned it into Community Forge, a hub for education, entrepreneurship and civic life.
I also serve on four boards: as president of Hagush, as treasurer of the Wilkinsburg School Board, and as a board member of City of Bridges High School and EdTech4Kids.
My work sits where rigorous thinking meets real people: designing programs, building curricula, and making technology and science feel like they belong to everyone.
Careful evidence and honest reasoning aren't academic luxuries. They're civic skills, and everyone deserves to learn them.