It didn’t take him long to feel at home in Indianapolis, or fit in at IUPUI. He used his skills as a mathematics major in the School of Science not only to further his own career aspirations, but also to guide fellow IUPUI students through the intricacies of a world of equations and formulas as a mentor in the Math Assistance Center, the type of performance that earned Igor a 2007 Governor’s Award for Tomorrow’s Leaders.
Igor graduated from North Central High School and entered IUPUI as a member of the prestigious Bepko Scholars program. While at IUPUI, he was been president of the IUPUI Math Club, the School of Science student council and the IUPUI Honors Club, and served as a senator on the Undergraduate Student Government. For fun, he even put his math skills to the test competitively, as a member of IUPUI’s William Lowell Putnam Competition, sponsored by The Mathematical Association of America.
Like his fellow Bepko Scholars, Igor was a regular at campus and community service events, like the United Way Day of Caring and the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. He’s also volunteered at the Hauntless Halloween Trails project in Holliday Park in Indianapolis.
Igor was involved in a summer internship with the National Security Agency (NSA) during the summer after graduation, where he worked on finding efficient methods of testing documents for similarity. Here is what he says about the NSA:
"It is a very pleasant place to work. Everybody is nice, goes by their first name, and the whole atmosphere is very friendly and informal. You are not allowed to talk or write about work outside of work, so you simply cannot work more than allowed, which means you will have free time outside of work, no matter what you do. This prevents very devoted people from working too hard; I am such a person, so I found this to be a really good aspect of working here. Another good aspect is that you get to manage your own time: come in whenever you want to, and leave whenever you want to, as long as you work at least 80 hours in a (two-week) pay period. You can also accumulate credit hours (up to 24 at any one time) which you can use as you like to take time off of work, plus annual and sick leave. You can usually publish anything you like after working here, too, but you must go through a pre-publication process if what you are publishing is at all related to the research you do here. Plus, it's good money. I have absolutely no moral issues with working here and completely understand the necessity for all the policies implemented; to me they seem quite reasonable. I highly recommend having an internship here and coming to work here, even if you do not stay for very long, just to experience it."
Igor is happy to have had the opportunity to partake in this internship and looks forward to applying for the Graduate Math Program internship with the NSA for next summer. In the fall of 2009, he began work on a Ph.D. in mathematics at Brown University.