Board of Directors

Alex Feinstein – President of the Board
Email: feinstein(at)schoolnova.org

Alex has a degree in Computer Science from NY Institute of Technology, NYC and works as Project Manager/Integration Specialist/Quality Assurance Analyst/Business Analyst/Tester Coordinator. He is a parent of three students, who have been at SchoolNova since 2009.
 

Andreea Dragut – Vice-President of the Board
Email: dragut(at)schoolnova.org

Andreea graduated from the School of Mathematics, University of Bucharest in 1997 with a Bachelor degree in Applied Mathematics. She received a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Eindhoven in 2003. She worked from 2004 until 2014 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Theoretical Computer Science of Aix-Marseille University and currently works as a Cryptography Consultant. In Romania, as a student, Andreea loved to work with gifted children in the framework of a Romanian mathematical publication for children called Gazeta Matematica.

Marina Polonskaia – Executive Director
Email: polonskaia(at)schoolnova.org

Graduated from the Krasnoyarsk State University (Russia) with M.Sc. degree in physics and teaching. Received her Ph.D. in theoretical biophysics from the Institute of Biophysics in Krasnoyarsk. When her family moved to the US, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate and research scientist at UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago), HMS (Harvard Medical School) and Stony Brook University. Marina has been running the SchoolNova enrichment program since the opening of the program in 2004.
 

Sayan Chakraborti – Director
Email: chakraborti(at)schoolnova.org

Principal Researcher in Quantitative Finance, Renaissance Technologies LLC. I work in the field of Quantitative Finance. I have also been a Management Consultant and used to be an Astrophysicist before that. I got my PhD (2006-2012) at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. I was a Junior Fellow (2012-2015) at the Society of Fellows and an ITC Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics, of the Harvard University. My area of research involved, massive stars which explode as Supernovae at the end of their lives.

Christi Kim – Director
Email: kim(at)schoolnova.org

Christi Kim, MD, FACP, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) at Yale University School of Medicine, Adjunct Assistant Professor at Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, and a member of Yale Cancer Center’s Developmental Therapeutics Research Program, has been appointed as a member of the NRG Oncology Committee. She is a Yale Institutional Review Board member and an investigator in GOG and NRG clinical trials and serves in Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) Clinical Practice Committee to promote advances in gynecologic cancer treatment, prevention, and awareness. She completed her Residency, Chief Residency, and Fellowship at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. 
 

Maria Nida – Director
Email: nida(at)schoolnova.org

Maria is an attorney who currently works as the Deputy Bureau Chief for the Suffolk County Law Department, focusing on municipal and administrative law. Before joining the Suffolk County government, Maria worked in private practice in New York City. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Columbia University and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. Maria has a child taking and enjoying SchoolNova classes and is grateful to be serving the SchoolNova community.

Dorene Price – Director
Email: price(at)schoolnova.org

Dorene Price is Chief Intellectual Property Counsel at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). She received both her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Binghamton University, where she studied chemistry and industrial engineering (at the Watson College of Engineering) respectively. Ms. Price completed her M.Sc. degree with thesis while working as staff scientist in an advanced technology and validation group focused on automating quality control and other analytical test methods at a pharmaceutical company before attending Albany Law School where she received her J.D.  She also has teaching experience (Physics and Calculus) at Broome Community College in her early career, and legal experience at a law firm in Michigan and a cosmetic company in New York before joining BNL.

Qiong Wu – Director
Email: wu(at)schoolnova.org

Scientist, Accelerator Physics, Electron Ion Collider Directorate, Brookhaven National Laboratory.