Hey. I’m Avi. I do biological research in the labs of Dianne Newman and Rob Phillips at Caltech. I did my Ph.D. with David Savage at UC Berkeley. In my work-time I’m often thinking about how physical laws and economic principles affect the behavior and organization of cells, organisms and ecosystems.

I like thinking about other stuff too. Recent topics on my mind include:

  • climate science & environmental analysis in various forms
  • gerrymandering (how to stop it, methods for quantifying)
  • urban & public transit planning
  • public literacy about science & basic statistical principles
  • why American college tuition is growing so quickly
  • TV shows, fiction and poems I like

Prior to moving to Berkeley, I worked in the Milo Lab at the Weizmann Institute for Science, Via Transportation and at Google NYC. People sometimes think I’m Israeli because of the name and Weizmann affiliation, but NYC has been home to my family for 3 generations. I sometimes do things aside from work, maybe I’ll write about that someday.