Our Teachers

Dr. Anna Charny, MWSM Director
and one of its Founders, received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from MIT. She has a lifelong interest in teaching advanced mathematics to primary and secondary school children. Her teaching and tutoring experience ranges from elementary to graduate school. She is a co-founder and the first Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Advanced Math and Science Academy (AMSA) Charter School in Marlborough, MA, where she continues to serve on the Board of Trustees as the Chair Emeritus and works on the Committee on Education. Dr. Charny also serves on the Advisory Board of Computer Science Unplugged, a non-profit organization developing methods and materials for teaching computer science algorithms for elementary and middle school students. Dr. Charny’s passion for quality math and science education comes on top of her career of a researcher in the area of advanced algorithms and protocols for the Next Generation Internet. She has authored many academic publications and holds 36 US patents.

Ms. Jose Schroen has a B.S. in chemical engineering and an MBA. Her experience has been in the pharmaceutical industry, construction and commodity chemicals as a project engineer/manager. Ms. Schroen-Levine has been teaching in the public school system for the last 9 years. This year Ms. Schroen-Levine teaches AP calculus AB and introductory physics at Shrewsbury High school. She has also tutored for the past 12 years for the Shrewsbury school system those students who for medical reasons could not be in school.  Ms. Schroen-Levine teaches high school math at MWSM.

Mrs. Purnima Vadhera holds the Masters degree in Education in Administration, Planning & Social Policy  from Harvard University. She has over 15 years of experience in teaching Mathematics, Biology & Honors Physics in various public schools including Brookline High School. She is currently the Principal in Somerville Public Schools. Mrs. Vadhera, also has 2 children at MWSM and teaches middle school math at MWSM.

Mr. Alexander Sukher holds  M.S. in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from Kharkov State University in Ukraine. He has worked for more than 30 years in  research and engineering,  and has an extensive  teaching experience in Unites States and Europe.  He has authored and a co-author multiple works in the Computer Numerical Control Systems theory and in the Applied Approximation Theory.  His  hobby is the sport of badminton, and he is a participant and a winner of  many MA badminton tournaments. In 2006 he won the bronze in US National Senior Badminton Championship.  Mr. Sukher teachers middle and high school math at MWSM. 

Mrs. Alla Farizon holds an M.S. degree in Economics.
She has a passion for teaching children and has taught elementary and middle school math at RSM and MWSM for several years.  In addition, she  has been training MWSM junior MOEMS team.   Mrs. Farizon also serves as  MWSM Business Manager.

Mr. Gene Sigalovsky,  our elementary school teacher who is adored by his students,  has been with MWSM for several years.  He is passionate for teaching children – and they respond by developing true love for mathematics and making fast progress.  He loves a good workout in a gym when he is not teaching his students or attending classes at Framingham State College.

Dr. Dmitry Vedensky has a M.S. in Finance from Boston College and Ph.D. in Mathematics from Israel Institute of Technology. He has a passion for teaching advanced math. His experience includes teaching and tutoring students from middle to graduate school in Russia, Israel and U.S. and spans over 20 years. Dmitry’s research interests are in Quantitative Finance. He has authored a number of academic publications and presented the results of his research in many countries around the world.

Mrs. Nancy Cahn
has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and a M.S. in Engineering Management from Northeastern University. She holds the Massachusetts Teaching License in Secondary Mathematics. She has experience teaching math to all ages of students in both private and public schools. She cares deeply about mathematics education and efforts to improve the teaching and learning of math. Her experience includes working as an Industrial Engineer and Software Engineer. In her spare time, you’ll find her on the tennis courts playing and coaching Middle School tennis.

Mr. Sagar Shah
has a bachelor’s degree in education and has earned three Master’s degrees; solid state physics and philosophy in physics from the Sardar Patel University in India and astrophysics from the University of Massachusetts. While at the University of Massachusetts, Mr. Shah taught mechanics and electromagnetism labs to freshman and sophomore college students for two years. Mr. Shah has been with AMSA since 2007 teaching physics to grade 8 and 12 and taught Math in the summer. Mr. Shah has been involved with preparing AMSA students to compete in the Physics Bowl, the Physics Photo contest, the Science Olympiad and Middle and High school science Bowl with outstanding results. Mr. Shah is taking great pride in teaching and encouraging students to enjoy and learn the rigorous curriculum.

Maryanne Reilly has taught scholastic chess in public and private schools in the Boston area for ten years. She was recently elected to her third term as President of the Massachusetts Chess Association, where she has served as Scholastic Coordinator for the last six years.

Mrs. Alfiya Yakupova
holds a MS degree in Mathematics from Bashkir State University, Russia and a BS degree in Computer Science from Framingham State University. She has her MTEL for middle and high school. Mrs.Yakupova worked as a math teacher and tutor in Russia. In the United States, her experience has included private tutoring, volunteer and substitute teaching in middle and high schools in Massachusetts, and working with college students at New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mrs.Yakupova has also worked as a senior software engineer. Mrs.Yakupova is passionate about math education and teaching young people. Outside of the classroom, Mrs.Yakupova enjoys fine and performing arts, traveling, and working out at the gym.

Dr. Shanhong Ji
has a Ph.D in Engineering from University of California, Irvine. He is currently a reaserch and development engineer in the field of mechanical and aerospace engineering. Dr. Ji loves teaching, and is passionate about solving all kinds of mathematical problems and puzzles with children. Shanhong enjoys playing all kinds of board games and he is good at Chinese Chess, Bridge and Go.

Mrs. Joyce Michel graduated from Yale with a BA in English--but in her high school she was a top math team competitor. She has worked as a research assistant in areas as diverse as pharmacology, patent law, and cognitive psychology--where she helped design and conduct intelligence tests. She has taught many things from violin to Hebrew, and she homeschooled her three children for many years. She works at MWSM as a placement tester, editor, and substitute teacher. In her free time, Joyce enjoys solving puzzles, researching word origins, and running.

Ms. Amy Bernstein Studied Gifted Education at the University of Virginia, receiving her M.Ed. degree there in 1989. Since that time she has run academically gifted programs in Waltham and Pepperell, and taught and tutored gifted students in both Math and English. She has published a math book geared to gifted children in 3-5 grade.  It is called Time Travel Math and was published by Prufrock Press.  Ms. Bernstein is also a teacher trainer for Catapult learning.  She trains teachers in public and private school in the art of differentiation and working with high ability students.

Dr. Amanda Hattaway has a Sc.B. in Mathematics from Brown University and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She has over 10 years of experience teaching mathematics. In addition to teaching at MWSM, she is a Chair of Math Department at Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT) in Boston. She is also the founder and director of "Students Loving Adventures in Mathematics" (SLAM), an after-school math enrichment program for high school students, sponsored by WIT and the Mathematical Association of America.

Ms. Anna Makovoz holds a M.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Kamenets-Podolsky State University, Ukraine. She has over 15 years of successful experience teaching mathematics in different countries: Russia, Israel, Canada, USA. Anna was recognized by the Israeli Ministry of Education, she received a Certificate of Excellency for outstanding results that her students achieved. Most of Anna’s students finished or currently studying in the best universities around the world. Anna is currently a math teacher at Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School in Marlborough, MA. She teaches middle and high school mathematics at MWSM.

Dr. Jae Young Lee holds Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in Computer Science. He has taught computer science courses at colleges for more than 15 years. He provided tutoring in the subjects of middle school algebra and geometry and also taught SAT math to high school students. He enjoys teaching and interacting with young people.

Dr. Dong Jia
has a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Besides his regular career as a software engineer, he is passionate about teaching children to solve problems and enjoy math. Dr. Jia is teaching middle school math at MWSM. He is also training the MWSM junior MOEMS team.

Mrs. Irene Kamergorodsky received her M.S.degree in Education from Kharkov National University, Ukraine, and her Massachusetts Teacher License (Elementary 1-6) from Framingham State College. She worked as an interpreter-translator in the Soviet Trade Mission in Aden, South Yemen for 3 years, and taught for 20 years in public and private schools overseas (Georgia, Ukraine, and India). Since 1999, she has been working in Massachusetts public schools for 11 consecutive years, and in Russian School of Mathematics since 2005. Mrs. Kamergorodsky joined Metro West School of Mathematics in summer 2010. School is her life, and she couldn’t be more passionate about teaching. She believes that every child can learn, feel comfortable, and have fun. In her spare time, Mrs. Kamergorodsky enjoys walking, swimming, playing tennis, playing the piano, and travelling around the world.

Mr. Lou Mercuri,
our chess master, is actively teaching chess in the Boston area and in MetroWest. His students continue to improve and play at the highest levels for their age groups. Currently six of his students are rated in the top 100 for their age group in the US and compete in National Scholastic Championships. As a player, he is a US Life Master and his rating has peaked at 2404 (Senior Master). He was awarded the International Title of FIDE Trainer at the Turin, Italy Olympiad in May 2006. This selective title is awarded to experienced chess coaches and trainers at the 2350 rating level. He is among the first chess trainers in the United States to be awarded this title by FIDE, the International Chess Organization.

Ms. Svetlana Trishina has her MS degree in Engineering (cum laude) from the University of Yekaterinburg, with postgraduate studies at Erasmus University of Rotterdam. She enjoys mathematics and math competitions since her youth, and has been tutoring children in math and music for many years on top of her regular engineering and management career. She likes to travel, read, play the piano, and enjoys figure skating. She likes to work and play with children.

Mrs. Petra Zoettler holds a M.S. in Education for Mathematics and Physics from Martin-Luther-University, Germany. She has over 16 years of experience teaching mathematics, physics, computer science at middle and high school level in Germany. She also taught at the German International School in Boston. Petra enjoys teaching math at middle and high school level at the Advanced Math and Science Academy Charter School in Marlborough for the 6th year.

Mrs Lata Varghese holds a Bachelor of Science (Honor's) degree in Physics and a Bachelor's degree in Education from the Regional College of Education, Rajasthan, India. She has taught Physics and Math to Middle and High School students in a Senior Secondary High School at Delhi in India for over 13 years. Teaching for all these years has been an enriching experience for her and she pursues to cultivate a love for learning and respect for others while embracing diversity and excellence in Education.

Dr. Oscar J. Borenstein
joined MWSM after teaching Advanced Calculus and SAT preparation at the Russian School of Mathematics in Newton. His experience of teaching and tutoring mathematics spans elementary school to college, and his students are rewarded with conceptual knowledge and high scores. Oscar's passion for teaching kids comes with a natural approach to mathematics as a language of discovery rather than as a set of tools and rules. Dr. Borenstein is deeply proficient in several fields of classical and modern math. His Ph.D. in Mathematics was written on the Theory of Games. Also, he holds an M.S. in Computer Science and is CEO and co-founder of Advant Technologies Group, a company involved in the development of next-generation behavioral models and other mathematical and programming projects. His academic research belongs to several areas of mathematics, where he has won awards and has authored about 60 publications.

Mr. Paul Ayvazian received a BS in Mathematics from Pepperdine University in 2009. He has tutored extensively in the Massachusetts No Child Left Behind Program and is passionate about helping children excel in Mathematics. Mr. Ayvazian holds a preliminary license in Middle and High-school Mathematics and is actively pursuing a career in Mathematics education. In addition to teaching at MWSM, Paul enjoys making and selling functional ceramics at Feet of Clay Pottery Studio in Brookline. His hobbies include tennis, running, and playing the guitar.