Hobbies

In addition to my academic background, I have had the chance to participate in many activities. To mention a few of them, I enjoy competitive chess and outdoor activities including hiking, mountain climbing, and other adventures.

Chess

I am a US National Master, a title awarded to less than 2% of competitive chess players in the US. Over the course of my competitive career, I have won several state open championships as well as numerous local tournaments.

Selected accomplishments:

• West Michigan Chess Champion (April 2025)
• Sacramento Chess Champion (July 2024)
• Tied for 2nd place out of 161 players in the Under 2300 section of the North American Open chess tournament in Las Vegas, NV (Dec 2023)
• New Mexico State Chess Champion in classical, rapid, and blitz chess formats (Dec 2023)
• New Mexico State Chess Champion in rapid and blitz chess formats (Nov 2022)
• Interview – “Chess in Missouri”, Central Standard, KCUR, NPR (Nov 2016)
• Missouri State Chess Champion in classical and blitz chess formats (Sep 2015)
• Kansas State Chess Champion in blitz chess format (Jul 2014)
• Texas State High School Chess Champion (Mar 2009)

Hiking and mountain climbing

In graduate school, I took up hiking several hills in California as a nice contrast to the abstract and cerebral nature of research and chess. This eventually led me to the mountains of New Mexico. As of 2025, I have summited some of the highest peaks in New Mexico, including the 13er Wheeler Peak (2x), and the 12ers Deception Peak (2x) and Tesuque Peak. I also completed a Via ferrata ("Iron path" in Italian) for the first time at the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado.