PRIME FACTOR

Anna Burago is the founder and lead teacher of Prime Factor. She is a math professional, software developer and a book author with a long-time passion for teaching. In her classes, she combines the rich traditions of the Russian-style math education for gifted children with her experience of teaching extracurricular mathematics and computer science in a US classroom

Anna holds Master's degrees in Mathematics and in Computer Science from the University of Washington. Her two bookы, "Mathematical Circle Diaries, Year 1: Grades 5 to 7" and "Mathematical Circle Diaries, Year 2: Grades 6 to 8", were published by AMS (American Mathematical Society) in the "Mathematical Circles Library" series.

Anna is involved in a variety of cool mathematical activities and projects. She is a regular speaker and participant of the MSRI (Mathematical Sciences Research Institute) math circle conferences and workshops. She taught at SIMUW (Summer Institute of Mathematics at UW) and at summer math programs at Robinson Center for Young Scholars (UW). Anna is also a big enthusiast of thinker-style math Olympiads, computing contests, and other exciting projects that rhyme “mathematics” and “thinking.”

Luba Malkina got her Masters degree in Mathematics and Statistics from Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia. For several years, she was teaching math circles at Northwest Academy of Sciences. She has also been a coach of elementary and middle school math teams that successfully performed in various local and regional math contests. Luba developed an online interactive elementary and middle school math curriculum for several companies, such as Reasoning Mind, Inc, Perfection Learning, Inc and HappyNumbers.com. She also taught Summer Challenge and Summer Stretch courses at Robinson Center for Young Scholars at University of Washington.

Luba is Prime Factor's Academic Director and a lead teacher for elementary and middle school math courses at Prime Factor.

Yuliya (Julia) Magidson received a Master’s Degree in Mathematics and a Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching from Dnepropetrovsk State University in Ukraine, and enriched her education at Oranim Academic College in Israel. Yuliya taught mathematics and computer programming in middle and high schools. During the several years Yuliya eagerly volunteers at Pacific Cascade Middle School and Issaquah High School as an Instructor in math clubs, helping introduce students to the beauty, variety and challenges of mathematics. Her students successfully competed in numerous Washington State Math Olympiads such as Math Is Cool, MATHCOUNTS, Washington State Olympiad, Math Kangaroo, and others.

Yuliya's passions are building three-dimensional puzzles, playing mathematical games, and solving interesting math problems. She is enthusiastic about sharing her knowledge and experience with young mathematicians at Prime Factor Math Circle.

Julia Levenkova got her Master's Degree in Computer Science from Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia. She worked as a software engineer before moving to the United States. She enriched her education by successfully completing several certificate computing programs through the UW Educational Outreach: C++ programming, Game Development, and Embedded & Real-Time System Programming.

In addition to programming, Julia enjoys reading and playing MMORPG (Massive multiplayer online roleplaying game) computer games.

Olga Bezruchkina received Masters Degree in Engineering at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. She has been tutoring students elementary through High School and college level math for more than 10 years. Olga has also coached elementary and middle school math teams.

Teaching mathematics is Olga’s passion. She sees teaching math as an art of opening up a huge potential of logical reasoning which every one of her students will be able to apply in their other studies and endeavors. She believes that every student can be successful in studying mathematics, exploring world of math at their own pace, welcoming challenges and becoming a stronger, self-reliant person.

Andrei Burago is a math major with 30 years of experience as a software developer, having worked at Microsoft, Google, Adobe, and others. Passionate about education, he has been teaching extracurricular math and coding for over 30 years. Andrei’s hobbies are board games, languages, and poetry.

Alena Kulchenko has Master’s degree in Chemistry from Donetsk National University, Ukraine. She extended her education in computer programing, web development and data analysis through several certificate programs and currently she works as a data analyst consultant.
For several years Alena has been tutoring math and teaching Scratch in elementary schools. She loves working with kids. Two of her three kids attended Prime Factor classes and she is happy to start teaching there as well!

In addition to working with numbers Alena likes to cook, to hike and to create a broad variety of craft projects.

Ulyana Babanova received her Master’s Degree in Physics and Applied Mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). There, being a student herself, she started to teach mathematics at MIPT's correspondence school for high school students.

In US she extended her education and got second Master’s Degree in Industrial Math with minor in Computer Science from University of Minnesota. During her study at U of MN, Ulyana taught mathematics to undergraduate students. Upon graduation from U of MN, she had taught mathematics and computer science classes at Inver Hills Community College, MN.

Ulyana has been working as a math tutor in Eastside area since she moved to WA in 2003. In 2008 Ulyana founded Russian School "Harmony", where she has been teaching a variety of subjects from mathematics to history and theater. Ulyana loves math, loves teaching it, and loves working with kids.

Matthew Saveliev is the Director of the Perkins Observatory and a high school physics teacher in Dublin, New Hampshire. He earned his undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College, as a double major in Government and Physics. With over five years of experience working at Prime Factor, Matthew is passionate about sharing his love of science and programming with kids. At the Dublin School, he teaches a wide variety of subjects within the physical sciences, including astrophotography, AP physics, and astrophysics. He is also a faculty advisor to the robotics team, the astronomy club, and the strategic games club.

When he’s not teaching classes, Matthew can be found giving astronomy lectures at his local library, leading public observation nights at the observatory, or losing at chess to his students.

Andrey Yatsenko is a long-time math teacher and an experienced chess player. Andrey’s passion for teaching dates back to the years he was studying for his Master's in Math at the University of St. Petersburg, Russia. Back then, Andrey taught and directed at the math department’s School for Young Mathematicians. For many years, he was a key organizer and a teacher at Summer Math Schools for Kids in St. Petersburg, Kirov, Tartu.

Andrey has recently retired from a successful career of a software developer in Microsoft. So, he decided that it is time for him to get back to doing what he loves – teaching kids. At Prime Factor, Andrey heads the chess program and teaches math.

Beyond teaching and chess, Andrey’s favorite hobbies are music and hiking.

Anat Dubinsky is a bioengineering student at the University of Washington. Having participated in Prime Factor courses since elementary school, Anat now shares her passion for math and programming by teaching classes there. She also instructs at several STEM-focused summer camps, including Berkeley Math Circle's elementary summer program and SigmaCamp. Anat takes personal interest in chemistry, skiing, and helping young students develop their logical problem solving skills.

Katia Avdeeva has a Master's degree in Applied Mathematics from the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering. She worked as a data scientist and in parallel taught mathematics and computer science at the Lyceum of Information Technology. In 2009, after a few years spent in Dublin, Ireland and Tokyo, Japan, she moved to the USA. On top of her work at Prime Factor, Katya is a leading math teacher in the middle classes at the Golden Key Enrichment School in Philadelphia. Her students have achieved top scores in junior math competitions such as Math Kangaroo and MOEMS.

Katya is greatly inspired by working with children. In her lessons she tries to keep a balance between playing and learning, maintain a child’s interest without being overwhelming, and offer kids problems to think about without providing ready solutions. She believes in respecting each child’s personality and giving everybody an opportunity to realize their mathematical potential.

Katya has two grown daughters, both of whom did PhDs in mathematics. She is a hiker and an amateur pianist.

Katia Nepom is a product manager and a graduate from University of Washington with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. She has been participating in math clubs, math circles and math competitions since middle school and will readily tout the role of those experiences in developing her problem solving and logical reasoning skills.

Katia is passionate about making such opportunities available to others and has been involved with a variety of math education programs. From Montlake Elementary students in their first math circle, to University of Washington freshmen in the proof based honors calculus class, she has helped learners of many ages expand their horizons and get hooked on problem solving. Katia believes mathematics can be both fun and challenging, and is excited to be working with the Prime Factor students.