Faculty

Directors

Vitaliy Kaurov

Academic Director

Vitaliy Kaurov joined the Technical Communications and Strategy group at Wolfram Research in 2010. He has given numerous talks at universities, research labs, companies, and conferences around the world, educating people on how Wolfram technologies empower academics and industries, governments, and individuals. Vitaliy is involved with international business development, oversees Wolfram Community, writes for the Wolfram Blog, is a faculty member at the Wolfram Summer School, and helps with many other Wolfram initiatives. Vitaliy received his PhD in theoretical physics from the City University of New York in the area of ultra-cold quantum gases, and also worked in the fields of complex systems and nonlinear dynamics. He collaborated in National Science Foundation–sponsored research, was a professor at the College of Staten Island, and served as an organizer and chair at American Physical Society conferences. Wolfram technologies helped Vitaliy to discover novel scientific ideas and develop innovative educational solutions.

Shadi Ashnai

Program Director

Shadi Ashnai joined Wolfram in 2008 as a developer after receiving her MS in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is currently the manager of image processing for Wolfram. Her team is now responsible for the development of image and signal processing capabilities in the Wolfram Language, as well as for educating individuals and organizations on how to solve their real-world problems. Shadi has also helped build and grow a remote development team in Armenia, and is actively involved in activities that will create better and tighter collaborations with various institutes overseas.

Mikayel Egibyan

Event Director

Mikayel Egibyan joined the Wolfram Image Processing team in 2014 as a developer.  He has a master's degree in visual computing (2013) from Rostock University in Germany. In addition to his development tasks, he puts his efforts into promoting Wolfram in Armenia, including the establishment and strengthening of relations with universities, schools, and the Ministry of Education. In 2015 he assisted Wolfram Research with the recruitment and training of a team of interns in Armenia, and since then has been supervising Armenian interns working on the Image Processing team, along with running the Wolfram development office in Armenia. Mikayel has participated in the annual Russian Wolfram Technology Conference since 2015, and has been involved in the organization of several Wolfram events in Armenia, including the Armenian Wolfram Technology Conference in 2015. He intends to support this tradition. His spare time, when he has any, is devoted to Ping-Pong, strike ball, billiards, and simply going out.

Anush Mehrabyan

Program Coordinator

Anush Mehrabyan participated in the Wolfram High School Summer Camp in the United States as a student in 2015. She believes that it was one of the best experiences she has ever had. Her project was about sea level rise and the devastating effects it can have on coastal habitats. In 2016, Anush published this work at the Wolfram Demonstrations Project. She is currently studying at Robert Bosch College in Germany. She is interested in mathematics and social sciences such as economics and geography. Anush enjoys traveling and exploring different cultures, participating in a variety of projects and programs, and volunteering for social work. In the summer of 2014, she participated in the International Summer Camp organized by UWC Dilijan. In the spring of 2015, she participated in a project week with international students in Scotland, where they had a meeting with Prince Charles.

Instructors

Giulio Alessandrini

Giulio Alessandrini participated in the 2012 Wolfram Summer School as a student, and joined Wolfram Research afterward. He now contributes to the development of image processing functions for the Wolfram Language, with a focus on computational photography and color science. He graduated with a master's degree in physics at the University of Rome "La Sapienza". His studies comprised mainly statistical mechanics and its applications in different fields, such as neural networks, disordered systems, and biological systems. His last academic project revolved around the statistical analysis of bacterium E. coli's central carbon metabolism. His interests span from natural sciences to Karate-Do, across Italian cantautori (singer-songwriters), science fiction, and politics.

Davit Baghdasaryan

Davit Baghdasaryan joined the Wolfram Research Image Processing team as an intern in 2015. He has a master's degree in semiconductor physics at the Russian-Armenian University (Armenia). Currently he is a PhD student at the same university. His studies focus on the investigation of optical and electronic properties of semiconductor low-dimensional quantum nanostructures. Davit was involved in the organization of the Armenian Wolfram Technology Conference 2015, and looks forward to participating again in 2016. His interests range from natural sciences and playing the guitar to literature and philosophy.

Carlo Barbieri

Carlo Barbieri holds a PhD in physics from ENS in Paris. His current research interests are on the boundary between physics, biology, and informatics. During his thesis "Inverse Problems in Biophysics," he worked on developing algorithms to extract biologically relevant information from biophysics experiments such as DNA micromanipulation and neural activity recordings. He spent one year as a visiting PhD student at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He earned a master's in physics from the University of Rome "La Sapienza", in his hometown, focusing on Boolean satisfiability and the statistical physics of complex systems. He now works for Wolfram in the Advanced Research Group, and has developed the automated data analysis functionality for Wolfram|Alpha. He now works on Wolfram Cloud features such as instant forms and APIs. He is a music lover, an avid traveler, and a bike maniac. He finds it weird to talk about himself in the third person.

Vahagn Gevorgyan

Vahagn Gevorgyan joined the Wolfram Image Processing team in 2015 as an intern. He is a current computer science student and teaching associate at the American University of Armenia (AUA). Vahagn is mainly interested in competitive programming, and has participated in many international olympiads since high school. His scientific interests range from basic object-oriented programming and data structures to complex algorithms and optimizations. His other interests include playing basketball and Ping-Pong, cinema, and traveling.

Vahagn Tumanyan

Vahagn Tumanyan joined the Wolfram Image Processing team in June 2015 as an intern, and is now working on new image processing functions for the Wolfram Language. He is currently studying at American University of Armenia (AUA). His latest projects have included digit recognition with neural networks and researching broadcasting with universal lists in the theory of communication networks. Aside from his interests in computers, natural science, and programming, his also enjoys mountain climbing, playing the piano, science fiction, and creative writing.