Nikolay was born in snowy Novosibirsk, Siberia, in a family of scientists (his father a nuclear physicist, his mother a mathematician). Surrounded by science from an early age, he attended the high school of physics and mathematics (ФМШ) and became a medalist in the finals of Russian National Chemistry and Russian National Economics Olympiads. After enrolling at Novosibirsk State University, he discovered his passion for theoretical and quantum chemistry.

As an undergraduate, Nikolay conducted research on revealing mechanisms of enantioselective homogeneous iron-catalyzed oxidative C–H functionalization and naphthol couplings reactions with Dr. Konstantin Bryliakov at the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, gaining valuable experience that shaped his collaborative mindset and appreciation for the interface between theory and experiment.

After graduating summa cum laude, he joined Alexander Boldyrev’s group at Utah State University, where he explored bonding, catalysis, and quantum algorithms. In his last year of Ph.D. program, Nikolay was awarded with the prestigious ACS Utah Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Robins Award: The Doctoral Student Researcher of the Year 2023 from USU, and Oppenheimer Fellowship from Los Alamos National Laboratory. After graduation from USU, his academic path continued at UC Berkeley in Martin Head-Gordon lab.

At Berkeley, Nikolay has worked across a range of topics, from organic redox flow batteries (in collaboration with Dean Toste lab) and MOF-based gas capture (in collaboration with Jeffrey Long lab) to quantum ansatz (in collaboration with Birgitta Whaley lab) and new electronic structure methods development. Beyond the lab, he enjoys hiking, playing hockey, and solving puzzles.