Dmitri - about me
A very short bio
I was born and raised in St Petersburg, Russia. The second largest city in the country and a cultural capital, it is often called “Venice of the North” for its beautiful architecture, 93 rivers, branches and channels, and 580 bridges. It is also famous for its “white nights”, a period from May to July when the sun does not drop lower than 6 degrees below the horizon, resulting in a mesmerizing glow all night long.
I moved to the USA in 1994 and became an American citizen in 2005. I was very lucky to spend the first two years in the beautiful state of Colorado, where I fell in love with the mountains. After Colorado, I spent a few years in Lubbock, Texas, and then Boston, before finally settling in upstate New York. I currently live in a small village of Big Flats, situated in the middle of so-called Southern Tier, which encompasses the towns of Corning, Elmira, and Binghamton.
I have three kids, two of which are grown up and are solving their own life challenges. Our current household includes my better half, my youngest daughter, two cats, one dog, and 16 chickens.
Education
For elementary and middle school, I went to a normal public school a block away from our apartment. I was a quiet kid and a fanatical bookworm. After finishing every book on my parents’ bookshelf, age appropriate and very inappropriate, I developed a habit of taking a tram to the public library and spending long hours there, reading all books that the librarian would recommend. I remember not liking Charles Dickens very much 
.
Since my grades were consistently excellent, my parents had an idea of sending me to an elite high school (#139) specializing in physics and mathematics, which was only one stop by subway away. Attending it changed my life forever. I got to hang out with very bright and curious kids, to take classes from some of the best teachers in the country, and often following an experimental curriculum, met my best lifetime long friend and my first love.
I got my MS in Electrical Engineering, specializing in optical electronics, from the place that is today called St. Petersburg University of Electronic Technology. I was in a special department at the University curated by the staff scientists of Ioffe Institute of Physics and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, at the time led by the Nobel Prize laureate Zhores Alferov. This was a unique opportunity, since the lectures were given by leading scientists in the field and the lab practice was in their labs. After graduation, I joined Ioffe Institute as a Junior Research Scientist, while continuing my education there and eventually receiving a Ph.D. degree in Physics.
Professional life
This is not to replace my resume or LinkedIn page, but rather to tell a story.
While still at Ioffe Institute, I received an invitation from Professor Henryk Temkin to come as a visiting scientist to his lab at Colorado State University. Henryk was an extraordinary scientist, ex- Bell Labs, and an extraordinary person. I will always miss him. No wonder then that my visit got extended and eventually I was hired by the CCU as a Research Associate.
After a couple of years, Temkin accepted a Chair Professor position at Texas Tech University and I followed him there. We worked on quite a few interesting topics, from vertical cavity lasers to solar-blind photodetectors, and it was a lot of fun but eventually, I decided that I wanted to take a sharp left turn, leave academia and try myself in the industry, making real things that would be useful for the people. This led to me accepting a position at Polaroid.
Little did I know that 8 months later Polaroid would decide to stop making laser heads for printers, sell the laser-making facility, and lay off the entire laser research lab staff. I stayed for a couple more months working on holographic data storage, but then still had to leave and accepted a position at Corning.
Little did I know again that I would stay with Corning for 25 years and counting! It was a fun ride so far, working on a wide range of projects for optical communications and display technologies, and even for a little while on making loudspeakers out of glass!
Hobbies
Too many to describe them all, really 
.
I am curious and have always wanted to know how things work. This influenced my choice of a profession and is also likely the reason behind my keen interest in philosophy. Somehow, I just cannot resist thinking about the purpose of the Universe and the meaning of life.
Second in importance is music. I got my first tape recorder while in high school and spent countless hours with friends trading and copying vinyl records. A passion for music was augmented by a bit of audiophilia. A lot of effort (and money) went into researching and purchasing the best speakers, amplifiers, and processors, installing room treatments, and tweaking digital sound processing algorithms. As far as what kind of music, it was mostly rock when I was still young, and in recent years I find myself enjoying classical music more and more. Did not quite get into the opera, yet, and do not understand jazz and rap.
Last, but definitely not least, and strange for a boy who grew up in a big city, I love nature and love to be outdoors. Since spending some time in Colorado, my favorite sport is downhill skiing. A few years ago, I got into long distance running, and much prefer running outside to a treadmill. Hiking, especially in the mountains, is infinitely enjoyable. When and if I get a chance, scuba diving is great fun. White water rafting is also great fun.
About this site
The concept sort of evolved over time. At first, I just wanted to jot down some of my thoughts about life, Universe, and everything, so that I could back to them later. Then, I came across a blog by one of my classmates and it seemed like a nice way to organize and keep everything. Once I started making a blog, I thought why not add a travelogue, some kind of record of places visited and things seen. And quite recently, I got lucky to find and read a few very interesting books, so I thought it might be good to also add some notes on the books, not a review but some key points and impressions I would like to remember. This is how there are now three categories in this blog.
All of this is primarily for me. If you happen to stop by, welcome. If you find something interesting or useful, I am happy!
