Our course creators

Lead educators

• Zandra Vinegar

  Director of Mathematics

  B.S. in Mathematics, MIT
  Leader and teacher at the most prestigious US math circles

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  Zandra came to Brilliant because she couldn't stop solving the problems after signing up. Before starting here, she was a curriculum developer at the Museum of Math in Manhattan and studied Math and Math Education at MIT. She's passionate about impacting education globally and making critical thinking accessible… to anyone - which, fortunately, happens to be part of Brilliant's mission as well.
  
  Since joining Brilliant, Zandra has been able to cross several items off her bucket list - such as helping users understand Euler's identity and explore the uses for imaginary numbers. While developing these courses, Zandra has also been teaching classes like “How to Cut a Cake” and “A Hardball Intro to Maxwell's Equations” for local math circle after-school programs. Now, Zandra has the ability to impact students in her own neighborhood, as well as across the world.

  “Most of why I teach is because I love when students have those 'AAAAH THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW' moments.”

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• Patrick Zulkowski

  Advanced Mathematics Lead

  Ph.D. in Mathematics, Johns Hopkins University; Ph.D. in Physics, UC Berkeley
  Teacher with 11 years of experience

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  Patrick's love for mathematics came from an initial fascination with astronomy. Realizing that understanding astrophysics would be impossible without advanced mathematics, he received advanced degrees in both areas. For his Ph.D. in Mathematics, he did research in minimal surface theory…, solving the so-called Plateau Problem in Alexandrov Spaces. For his Ph.D. in Physics, he investigated one possible route for quantizing gravity independently of string theory, and then transitioned into nonequilibrium statistical mechanics.
  
  Patrick has been teaching college-level math for a total of 15 years. While teaching, he was able to see firsthand how the current methodology for instructing mathematics and science can fail to prepare students for independent work in these areas and even cause frustration and disillusionment. At Brilliant, he hopes to reach out to a broad audience, share his passion for math, and even help shape the future of math education.

  “I hope to inspire new generations to pursue higher-levels of mathematics and provide the resources and guidance I didn't have as a budding mathematician.”

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• Jason Dyer

  Foundational Mathematics Lead

  B.S. in Mathematics and B.F.A in Fine Arts Studies, University of Arizona
  Created a video series that taught algebra through motocross racing

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  As Brilliant's Foundational Math Lead, Jason is passionate about making math content accessible and enjoyable to everyone.
  
  Jason has always loved puzzles and art—he has a collection of GAMES World of Puzzle magazines dating back to the 1980s, plays four instruments,… and has sung bass in Beethoven's 9th and Mahler's 2nd symphonies. His interest in the intersection of math and art continued as he spent 11 years as a high school math teacher. After reading math textbooks and resources that were confusing or badly written, he realized that he could do much better. Since then, he's designed a curriculum that teaches algebra through motocross racing and worked with Illustrative Mathematics to teach elementary school teachers how to explain fractions.
  
  Jason has brought his innovative teaching methods to Brilliant, where he's worked on many courses that explain foundational math concepts in illustrative, interactive ways.

  “I want to make the clarity and joy of math understandable to everyone.”

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• Arron Kau

  Mathematics Content Developer

  M.A. in Liberal Arts, St. John's College
  Designed and taught high school math courses oriented around problem solving and discussion.

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  Arron's lifelong passion lies at the intersection of mathematics and storytelling. He studied English (and a lot of math) during his undergraduate years and has a masters in liberal arts. He's also spent almost a decade teaching at the high school level in classrooms all around the United States. In addition, as the… father of four kids, Arron understands the importance of incorporating play and experimentation into math education.
  
  Arron's career in education has centered on recovering and retelling the stories that help make sense of mathematics. These are the stories behind the mathematics itself, as well as the stories that people create when they encounter math problems and construct solutions.
  
  To Arron, Brilliant is an exciting place to work because he is able to develop a math education program that aims to honestly reflect the intricate beauty of the subject itself.

  “Learning requires confusion. Find something that doesn't make sense—a puzzle, a contradiction, a mystery—and keep looking and asking until things make sense again.”

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• Josh Silverman

  Director of Science

  Ph.D. in Biological Physics, The Scripps Research Institute
  Published in Molecular Systems Biology

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  Josh was born in the greatest place on Earth — Long Island, New York. His earliest scientific memory is figuring out why wood and styrofoam float while rocks sink, which impressed his first grade teacher. In high school, a great chemistry class led Josh to a research position at Rockefeller University…, where he worked on RNA biology and fell in love... with living systems. Living systems are mysterious because they have extraneous details and occur in a realm that's far away from well-understood physics. Still, bold and reproducible behaviors emerge from the maelstrom — how can this be?
  
  Josh spent many years studying one such bold behavior: how growing cells allocate resources. The path to the answer involved an intriguing blend of coarse-grained statistical mechanics, years of midnights tending to E. coli dividing in sugar water, and several more years of data analysis. Solving the problem was only possible because a diverse group of people were able to see connections between traditionally distant fields (e.g. physics and biology) and use them to unmask relationships that had lay hidden for generations. Sadly, though the difficulty of gathering information is at an all-time low, educational systems encourage specialization and narrow understanding. This is a dangerous trend Josh hopes to reverse with Brilliant.

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• Lee Weinstein

  Principal Scientist

  Ph.D. In Mechanical Engineering, MIT
  7 first-author publications, including work in Solar Energy, Chemical Reviews, and Smart Materials and Structures.

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  Lee grew up traipsing through the hills of Marin County, California, which led to a deep appreciation of nature and the natural world. This, combined with a penchant for analytical thinking (which manifested in his early days by optimizing… board game strategies), led to the pursuit of engineering, in the hopes of developing technologies that could help us preserve our precious planet's ability to sustain life.
  
  During his ensuing Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at MIT, Lee discovered that his time spent teaching and mentoring felt more impactful than his time spent developing renewable energy technologies. Over time he dedicated more effort to educating others, whether through teaching courses, tutoring, volunteering in after school programs, or writing online curricula. This culminated in his working at Brilliant, where he can develop engaging courses that he hopes will inspire learners worldwide.

  “The best way to learn is by doing: solving problems, cracking puzzles, and eventually making something you can call your own.”

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• Aaron Miller

  Principal Scientist

  Ph.D. in Physics,
  Penn State University
  Designed and taught college courses on topics in physics and AI

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  Aaron's preoccupation with puzzles started in elementary school and later shifted to a passion for exploring how the universe works. He entered Cornell University as a math major, but after seeing how the formalism of vector calculus was applied in physics courses, he decided to finish undergraduate… degrees in both math and physics.
  
  After graduating, he studied self-organizing pattern formation in networks of idealized neurons and discovered the great joy of converting science naysayers into science admirers. He was an Assistant Professor of Physics at Bridgewater College and joined Brilliant in 2016, where he's still seeking new ways of presenting science to make it interesting and fun for scientists and nonscientists alike.

  “The common thread through my teaching has been posing questions that compel students to think creatively, like scientists, instead of algorithmically, like computers.”

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• Rob Simmons

  Managing Producer, Computer Science

  Ph.D. in Computer Science,
  Carnegie Mellon University
  Second person to win the graduate and faculty teaching awards from the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science.

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  Rob discovered his love of teaching in his early 30s, after finishing a Ph.D. in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating, Rob stayed at Carnegie Mellon as an introductory computer science lecturer, teaching introductory courses on data structures… and algorithms as well as advanced courses on the design of compilers and programming languages. In 2015, he won the school's Herbert A. Simon Award for Teaching Excellence.
  
  In 2016, Rob moved to Raleigh, North Carolina with his spouse, a professor of computer science at North Carolina State University. Since then, Rob has been exploring new ways of teaching computer science. He has worked as a freelance curriculum developer, a personal tutor, and an independent teacher for group classes. Now at Brilliant, he is excited to present beautiful computer science ideas to a wide audience.
  
  Rob is incredibly excited to work with Brilliant's talented designers and illustrators to bring ideas to life in clear and accessible ways. Success is a team sport, and Rob sees something special in Brilliant's emphasis on collaboration between great science and great design.

  “We are succeeding if we spark someone's interest of interest in a subject they'd previously misunderstood. Maybe we can even place the first pieces of kindling that will nurture that spark”

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• Mithuna Yoganathan

  Producer

  Ph.D. Candidate in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics,
  University of Cambridge
  Creator of Looking Glass Universe, a physics and math Youtube channel

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  Mithuna started an educational Youtube channel for fun, but it ended up changing the course of her career. Inspired by her quantum mechanics classes, she decided to make videos teaching it to a lay audience. However, while trying to explain the equations …in plain English, she realized that she didn't understand the explanation behind those equations... and no one did. That's why she decided to move to Cambridge, UK to research quantum mechanics.
  
  While she loved being a researcher, she felt that she could make a bigger impact through teaching. Most importantly, she wanted to correct the misconception that math and science aren't for everyone, since STEM skills are valuable in all career paths. During her Ph.D., Mithuna continued making Youtube videos and attending face-to-face science outreach events at schools. Brilliant offered her the ability to do both – creating content that reaches a large audience, while teaching concepts in an interactive, personalized way.

  “I love teaching maths to someone who says they hate maths and they're not good at it – I love changing their mind!”

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• Blake Farrow

  VP of Content

  M.S. in Materials Science and Applied Physics, Caltech
  11 publications, 4 biotech patents; science consultant for Bones and CSI

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  Blake owes a lot of his interest in science to numerous family pets and the Dewey Decimal system. While taking care of his dogs, cats, lizards, parrots, and snakes, he developed a love for the natural world and explored the neighborhood library for more information. The chemistry, physics, and… biology books were right next to the Animals and Plants section; the rest of the story writes itself.
  
  After stumbling upon these subjects, Blake pursued them more seriously by studying nanotechnology engineering at the University of Waterloo, and applied physics at Caltech. He continued his random walk through scientific fields as a Howard Hughes research fellow investigating molecular recognition and personalized medicine while lecturing in both physical chemistry and chemical physics.
  
  To Blake, Brilliant is a step up from the library in that it stresses the interconnectedness of science and teaches interactively. Learning facts in a classroom couldn't be further from real math and science - asking questions is a more effective and fun way to learn.

  “The easiest way to teach is through lectures, but it's hard to learn that way. We make the effort to teach the hard way, through crafting challenging and interactive problems.”

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• Eli Ross

  B.S. in Mathematics, MIT
  Director of Harvard-MIT math tournament; USA Mathematical Olympiad 2009

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  After qualifying for the USA Mathematical Olympiad, winning engineering competitions, and organizing one of the largest math tournaments in Florida, Eli decided to drop out of high school at age 16 to pursue a degree in Mathematics at MIT. While at MIT, Eli honed his broader desire to use data and logic… to understand the world around us. He applied these skills as a quantitative derivatives trader, but soon realized he wanted to make a more meaningful impact on a broader scale. At Brilliant, Eli uses his math and computer science background to develop problem-solving based courses that enable anyone to learn modern, quantitative skills - no expensive summer program required.

  “My hope is to democratize access to cutting-edge quantitative literacy. Without that, most people will be shut out of the critical decisions shaping our collective future.”

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• Calvin Lin

  M.S. in Mathematics,
  University of Chicago
  International Math Olympiad ‘01, ‘02

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  Calvin began noticing flaws with the education system in high school, when he found himself memorizing concepts instead of truly understanding them. In college, he learned how these concepts come together and form a larger framework, and he hasn't looked back since….
  
  Calvin has also excelled in several elite math competitions, including the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) and Putnam Competition. He also helped train students for the IMO and Putnam, an experience that sparked his interest in making Olympiad math more accessible to everyone. Since then, he has been a Counselor in the Young Scholars Program at University of Chicago, lectured in various math circles, and even taught the trader trainee class at Optiver, where he worked as an options trader. At Brilliant, his biggest goal is to improve how math and science are taught around the world.

  “We do not need to train robots. What we need are independent, critical thinkers who can solve novel problems that no one knows exist yet.”

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