The official CV is available here.

I was born in St Petersburg (at that time called Leningrad) in 1974 and had been living there for more than 25 years. My childhood and youth were quite usual for that time. Soviet school, membership in the Pioneer organization, summer camps etc. Actually that was not bad. Then many people were happier, than they are now.

In 1991 I graduated from school in the USSR and entered a university already in new Russia. I decided to join State Institute of Fine Mechanics & Optics in St Petersburg. At that time I didn't think that optics will be my future. I was more concerned with getting good education and avoiding the meaningless military service. However through my study time I realized that optics can be something more for me than just a profession. I was lucky because people who taught me were not only the professors. They were optical wizards, sometimes they could by just looking at the shape of the lens estimate its aberrational properties! I graduated from the Department of Applied Optics in 1997 with specialization in lens design.

After my graduation I started my career at the Vavilov State Optical Institute. This is the biggest research and development optical institution in Russia. Unfortunately then it was not a good time for R&D sector in Russia because of transitional period in economics. However I did my first optical designs and got a lot of experience there. At the same time I began my postgraduate education on order to get my first Ph.D. degree "candidate of science" and I have got one in the year 2000.

In spring of 1999 I got an invitation to take up a position of Head of the optical department at Azimut company. This firm is the leader in development and manufacturing of the medical video systems and endoscopes in the Russian market. I started my job there after my predecessor leaving and I had to start really from scratch. I think I can be proud of the fact that under my supervision in one year we got back in the market and department stored up enough viability to carry on even after my leave. That was not an easy time because I had to carry out several tasks simultaneously: lens design, technical drawings, devices assembly, communication with clients and suppliers etc. However it was very interesting and fruitful.

After two years of my work at Azimut I realized that there was no opportunity for future growth in the company and I needed more experience, more challenges. I wanted to improve my English and to see how optics develops in other countries of the world. Fortunately there was a postdoctoral position at Optics Research Group in TU Delft (Delft, the Netherlands). That ideally fitted my plans. However due to the difference between two education systems the group leader Prof. Joseph Braat could offer me a PhD student position. Actually the salary was not so important for me as a chance to get new experience, make some contribution in to the optical science and to see world. I took this opportunity and in the years 2001-2005 I worked at the Optica group (in Dutch "Optica" means optics). I didn't leave Russia alone, because I got married just two months before my move.

In October 2005 I defended my second Ph.D. thesis on issues of optical system design in lithography. In August 2005 I joined Imaging group at Department of Applications&Business Support of ASML Netherlands B.V.