Faculty and Staff
Faculty
Ian Cheung
Ian Cheung grew up right outside New York City, where he first fell in love with both mathematics and math competitions. Ian attended NYMC between 8th and 12th grades and qualified for the USAMO in his senior year. He also captained the Lehigh Valley Fire team in 2018 when they placed third at ARML. That love of contest math followed him to the University of Waterloo, where he achieved an honorable mention in the William Lowell Putnam competition. Having recently graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in finance and statistics, he has supplemented his portfolio work with teaching and tutoring other students in everything from Algebra to Calculus to the AMCs. At NYMC he seeks to inspire students the same way he was, almost a decade ago.
Maggie Feurtado
Maggie Feurtado is a NYC native and a product of the NYC public school system. She received her BS and MS from SUNY Fredonia. She was a public school teacher in Dunkirk, NY and Youngstown, OH prior to working in the NYC public school system. She retired from NYC after 17 years of service. Maggie was a Big Apple award winner in 2014. She taught at NYC Lab MS and HS. She co-founded the accelerated math program at the middle school and taught the accelerated seventh grade math classes. Maggie has NYS gifted certification.
Nic Ford
Nic lives in Brooklyn and is currently working as a private math tutor. He's also been teaching at Canada/USA Mathcamp since 2010 and recently served as academic coordinator for the summer of 2022. In addition, he's done some work in the video game industry: he released a game with a small team at the end of 2021 and has also served as a consultant for some game creators and non-profit investors who are interested in producing games that incorporate mathematical reasoning. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and enjoys linguistics, weightlifting, and writing.
David Gomprecht
David Gomprecht has been a high school math teacher for 16 years, the last 13 of which he has spent at the Dalton School. At Dalton, he is also a student advisor and a class dean. In addition, David is the founder and teacher of the Dalton Math Seminar, a class in which students tackle challenging problems and learn advanced topics in a relaxed atmosphere. David earned a BA in Mathematics and Physics from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. He is married, with three children and a cat, and in his spare time he studies the sitar.
Sheila Miller
Sheila Miller, Ph.D., is a professor of mathematics at City University of New York where she teaches and studies infinity. Born and raised in Colorado, she enjoys the outdoors, writing, reading, and, of course, mathematics. She also teaches yoga and meditation.
In Colorado, Sheila spent Wednesdays at a bilingual elementary school, providing assistance in fifth grade classrooms and with the gifted and talented program. She also ran the after school program, for which she designed the program and materials and ran the grade 3-5 math circle.
Daheng Shen
Daheng Shen has been passionate about mathematics since she was a kid. During her middle school years in China, she participated in math and physics competitions on Provincial level. She received a B.S in mathematics from Stony Brook University, where she had worked as a TA for the Applied Mathematics department for 2 years. Daheng is a recipient of 2014 MfA fellowship and 2019 MfA Master Teaching Fellowship. She is also a recipient of the 2020 Edyth May Sliffe Award from MAA. Daheng is currently a teacher and math coach at New Utrecht High School, and she is also an editorial board member of AMC 8 competition. Before becoming an educator, she was an actuary. Daheng enjoys travelling and photography in her spare time.
Misha Shklyar
Misha Shklyar has taught HSB+ since 2015 and also several workshops, including contest topics classes. He currently teaches at Hunter College High School. Outside of teaching, Misha has a passion for Modular Origami.
Frances Stern
Frances Stern (she/her/hers) has a masters degree in mathematics and, after a career as a systems analyst (including work for American Electric Power Co., NYC’s Depts of City Planning and Transportation) has taught math to teachers at NYU, as a consultant in public and private schools, and to middle school students in a variety of environments including 17 years at a private school in New York City, and Math Circles at schools in East Harlem, the Bronx, and Queens.
She is the co-director of the Bard Math Circle CAMP with which she’s worked since its inception. Her two books for teachers and parents called “Adding Math, Subtracting Tension” (for two different age ranges of children) include tips on how to avoid fights about math homework. She especially enjoys exposing students to math that they don’t see in school. When not teaching, she likes to take walks, draw, bake for friends and family, and read.
Barry Weng
Barry Weng has been teaching for many years, currently as a math team coach and teacher at his alma mater, the Bronx High School of Science. Participation in the Summer Scholars at City College, Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics, and Budapest Semesters in Mathematics programs have also fostered his penchant for math, which he is now sharing with students through the New York City Math Team and the New York Math Circle. Barry has earned degrees from Brown University and New York University.
Jayson Vu
Jayson Vu's love for teaching started when he began a student lead tutoring/SAT prep program and became Hostos's captain of the Math Team. He continued to appreciate the intricate problems of math competitions even in university as he took the Putnam and coached his former team. He obtained the certificate of Tutor Level 1 from the CRLA at Stony Brook University. After two years, he graduated in 2022 with a Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, and Statistics degree. Jayson is an alumnus of the NYMC, as he studied under Jan Siwanowicz in 2019 and 2020. Also, in 2020, he began as a TA for Maggie Feurtado's MSA course. He prides himself on his adaptability, relatability, and willingness to learn. Aside from math, he enjoys playing video games, anime, and chess.
Executive Director
Kovan Pillai, Executive Director, 2015-
Kovan has taught mathematics in London, Hong Kong and New York and has worked at different times as an astrophysicist, a medical researcher and a portfolio manager, applying mathematics in these different fields. He graduated with a First Class Honors degree in mathematics from Oxford University, also obtaining a Master's degree. He obtained a further Master's degree from the Courant Institute (NYU) and a PhD in Statistics. He has published research articles in General Relativity and Respiratory Science, and still enjoys working as an instructor even though his main role at NYMC is administrative.
Board of Directors
David Garbasz
David Hankin
David Hankin is a very well-respected mathematics teacher with a long and distinguished career. His New York City teaching career spans four decades at both high school and college levels. In addition, he served as Mathematics Department Chair at Hunter College High School, Chair of the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination), mathematics education consultant, prolific problemist and author of competition questions, and is a frequent presenter at Mathematics conferences and events. Mr. Hankin was one of the invited graders of the 2001 International Mathematical Olympiad.
Joy Hsiao
Joy Hsiao is a NYC public school teacher for the past 20 years. As a student at Brooklyn Technical High School, Joy participated in the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics program, competed in various state and national math competitions, and was a semi-finalist in the Westinghouse (now Intel) Science Talent Search for her research in combinatorics. As a teacher she has coached school math teams, judged math fairs, and taught students on all grade levels. During her spare time, Joy enjoys folding origami, paddling with the Arowana Dragon Boat team, and teaching origami and math enrichment courses at local libraries. Joy’s artistic creations had been displayed in galleries and her studies in origami had led to a published article in the Mathematics Teacher in August, 2015. Joy earned her BA in Mathematics and MA in Teaching from the University of Chicago.
Ming Jack Po
Jack Po is currently a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University working on computational biology. He is heavily involved with math competitions, and currently serves as an advisor to the NYC Math Team, Baltimore County Math Team, and Florida State Math Team. He is also an adjunct faculty at the City College of New York's Graduate School of Education, helping new math teachers transition into NYC Public schools through the NYC Teaching Fellows program.
Prior to starting his PhD, he worked briefly at Capital One and Fannie Mae as a business analyst. Jack received his BS in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins, and received his MA in Mathematics from Johns Hopkins as well. Jack graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 2001.
Dmitry Sagalovskiy
Dmitry Sagalovskiy currently works at Grist Labs, a software startup which he co-founded. He previously was a software engineer at Hudson River Trading LLC, a trading firm relying on advanced mathematical modeling and high-performance computing. He worked at Google for several years in the past, and had a brief stint teaching mathematics at his alma mater Brooklyn Technical High School, where as a student he first became enthusiastic about mathematics. Besides volunteering at New York Math Circle since its inception in various roles, Dmitry has volunteered at ScriptEd teaching computer science to high school students, and has taught a home-based math circle for elementary school students. Dmitry received his BA in Mathematics and MS in Computer Science from Harvard.
Japheth Wood, Executive Director, 2012-2015
Japheth is a mathematician who believes that math circles can provide mathematical inspiration and challenge, and thus deepen the mathematical experience and preparation of all students, young or old.
He earned his BA in Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, his MA and PhD in Mathematics from UC Berkeley, and has held academic positions both around the US and internationally. While in high school, Japheth benefitted from the technical challenge of math competition, was inspired by his participation in the Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics program, and was hungry to read mathematics, including Martin Gardner's columns, the short-lived Arbelos math journal, and Hoffman and Kunze's Linear Algebra.
Dan Zaharopol
Dan Zaharopol is the Executive Director of the Art of Problem Solving Foundation, where he founded the Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM) program, which helps underserved students access advanced study in mathematics. He previously helped to found and was CEO at Learning Unlimited. Dan enjoys teaching all kinds of math at programs across the country. He has a bachelor's degree in math from MIT, and dual master's degree in math and in teaching mathematics from the University of Illinois.
Jie Zhang
Ms. Zhang has recently taken the position of superintendent of New York Military Academy, after serving for 4 years as the Principal at Stuyvesant High School, considered one of the finest high schools in America.
Born and raised in China, Ms. Zhang majored in Electrical Engineering at Tongji University in China. After earning a bachelor’s degree, she came to NYC to continue her education and received a Master’s degree in applied mathematics. Subsequently, Ms. Zhang has spent her entire career in education. She began her career teaching incarcerated women at Riker’s Island, and continued teaching Mathematics at Forest Hills High School in Queens. Following her years in the classroom, Ms. Zhang became an administrator. In 2006, Ms. Zhang was selected to serve as the Principal of the Queens High School for the Sciences at York College, one of the Specialized High Schools in New York City.
With this appointment she became the first female NYC Principal who grew up in mainland China. After serving there for five years, Ms. Zhang became a Network Leader for Children’s First Network 201, which supported over 30 high schools with a combined population of 50,000 students. In 2012, Chancellor Dennis Walcott named her the interim acting Principal of Stuyvesant High School. She was officially appointed as the permanent Principal 6 months later.
Ms. Zhang’s journey through the New York City educational system has been impressive. She is a successful and very well respected educator. After 28 years of service to public education, she is proud of and excited by her new role as Superintendent of NYMA.
Lawrence Zimmerman
Larry Zimmerman is a well-known and well-respected teacher who has been teaching mathematics for over 40 years. Until 2004 he taught at Brooklyn Technical High School, one of New York City's specialized secondary schools. Throughout his career, Mr. Zimmerman has been deeply involved with Math competitions and has coached students at all levels. He was one of the two primary authors of the ARML and NYSML competitions from 1983 until 1994 (NYSML until 1992) and was a grader of the 2001 International Mathematical Olympiad. Many of his former students have enjoyed distinguished records of achievement and include Intel (formerly Westinghouse) Science Talent Search finalists and USAMO and IMO participants.
Past Faculty and Staff
In Memory of Jan Siwanowicz
Jan Siwanowicz was a member of our faculty from 2009 until he passed away in 2023. Jan was a brilliant mathematician and an inspirational teacher.
After twice winning the ARML national championship as a member of the NYC Math Team, Jan Siwanowicz came back as coach to the team in 1998, and remained involved in coaching students for high school mathematics competitions such as NYSML, ARML, HMMT, and PUMaC. Jan was a 1994 IMO Bronze Medalist for Poland and a Putnam Fellow. From authoring problems for the NYC Interscholastic Math League to teaching the Stuyvesant High School mathematics research program, he enjoyed passing on to students his experience and joy of mathematics.
Jan had a gift for uncovering the essence of every problem and sharing its hidden beauty. His puzzles often wove together math, trivia, and clever connections to the world beyond the classroom. Many remember his role in creating our summer program’s Friday activities, which challenged, entertained, and most of all brought students together.
Jan is deeply missed.
Jim Cocoros
David Hankin
Aziz Jumash
Gilbert Kessler
Leah Khevelev
Susie Ko
Eliza Kuberska
Anna Kudlash
Amy Lee
Pei-Hsin Lin
Paz Macias-Fernandez
Mila Martynovsky
David Price
Thomas Redis
Henry Ricardo
Heather Sable
Amy Starks
Sebastian Stoenescu
Patricia Yee
Jamie Yellen