Growing up, mostly in Montreal, I was an only child of loving parents.

My interest in the sciences started with mathematics in the very beginning, and later with chemistry in early high school and the proverbial home chemistry set.

After some minor pieces of theoretical study that I worked on, a student in my statistical mechanics class brought to my attention a problem in polyelectrolytes.

My life as a working theorist began three months after this preliminary study and background reading, when Oscar gently nudged me toward working on a particular problem.

During my McGill years, I took a number of math courses, more than other students in chemistry.

After a subsequent interview at Brooklyn Poly, I was hired, and life as a fully independent researcher began.

Growing up, mostly in Montreal, I was an only child of loving parents.