I started out in 1989 as a first-year student at the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics of Moscow State University. After emigrating to the United States I transferred to New York University which I finished in May 1993 with a B.A. in Mathematics (Summa Cum Laude). In August of the same year I began my graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley under the supervision of Alan Weinstein, and completed my Ph. D. in May 1999. Since then I've worked at Penn State University, Utrecht University, IHES and MPIM. I am currently working at Utrecht and Nijmegen Universities as part of Ieke Moerdijk's research group. I live in Amsterdam.