Building and advising emerging tech startups and researching and deploying intelligent systems has led me to pursue the transformation of our ability to adopt and deploy these technologies for the world’s critical challenges.
I question the policies, assumptions, and failures that undermine our approach to science and technology, interrogate the lessons of the geopolitical past, and attempt to shape our understanding of the technological future.
I got my start in tech entrepreneurship, working in product and design strategy. I took this ethos to Renaissance Philanthropy, which builds philanthropic funds in science and technology. These function much like startups. At Renaissance, I start new funds and translational research programs across science and climate, focusing primarily on new approaches to bio, climate interventions, and policy.
I’m also a proud Bukharian Jew and first-generation American. My parents immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1990. My grandparents were career musicians and music educators; I’ve picked up several over the years. I’m currently learning doira and duduk, but my favorite has been the cello. In my spare time, I practice Persian and Uzbek, engage in amateur bookbinding and calligraphy, travel, photograph my friends, make electronic music, read, and learn.
My favorite trip was to Japan in the Summer of 2024, where I made a photo book on the interface (and tension) between tradition & modernity in Japanese urban space. I hope one day to visit Uzbekistan, where my family is from; I’ve been cooking the national dish since I was tall enough to reach the stove.