Josh Finkelstein

This site was grown, not designed.

𓂀 𓅓 ꧁ Objective: explore limits of human endurance · motivate self-sufficiency · understand how the mind operates ꧂ ☹☣

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The Chupacabra On High

Relaying the eternal despair of the crowded madness down below into pure unadulterated, hypoxia-fueled joy for the whole family!

This is not Walley World wysses. No wusses! We move quickly and do not break a single alpine orchid.

Welcome to Adventureland but with the risk of losing appendages.

Everest Base Camp Trek

14 days, 70 miles, 16,500 ft elevation gain b4 snowline achieved. A week of acclimatization at Namche Bazaar (11,300 ft) and a summit attempt of Kala Patthar (18,514 ft) for the views of Everest.

Aconcagua Summit Attempt [I also run for re-ReWilding. im actually part racoon, don't ask me how that happened. then i met this guy..but who knows we'll see.

18,700 ft elevation gain over 40 miles in 12 days. The highest peak in the Americas and one of the Seven Summits. Reached 19,200 ft before turning around due to weather.

[I also run for old friends that helped me out of tight places rpi]

continuity helps

so too does the alt. perspective Ozgur

https://www.strava.com/athletes/187872481 that's me!

Morphogenesis Lab

Simulating biological tissue morphogenesis by combining the ginzburg landau equation and helfrich-canham membrane mechanics.

Books I Like

Gödel, Escher, Bach

A playful inquiry into formal systems, recursion, and self-reference—showing how “strange loops” in math, music, and art can give rise to mind-like behavior.

I Am a Strange Loop

Hofstadter’s more personal, tighter case that consciousness emerges from self-referential symbols—the “I” as a pattern that models itself.

The Motorcycle Diaries

Ernesto Guevara’s 1952 travel notes: observant, raw snapshots that prefigure his politics—more awakening than manifesto.

The Passenger / Stella Maris

Twin novels: a salvage diver and his brilliant sister orbit physics, guilt, and grief. Late-style McCarthy—spare, metaphysical, unsparing.

Children of Time

A botched uplift births an arachnid civilization. Parallel evolutions collide in a first-contact epic about culture, cooperation, and survival.

Blindsight

Hard-SF first contact that asks whether consciousness is useful at all—ruthlessly clever biology, linguistics, and cognitive science.

Musicophilia

Clinical stories of music reshaping injured brains—aphasia, rhythm, memory—told with Sacks’s humane clarity and curiosity.

Synesthesia

Cytowic’s foundational account of synesthesia’s phenomenology and neurology—methods, myths dispelled, and vivid case histories.

Star Maker

A cosmic anthropology from single minds to galaxy-wide collectives—speculative, philosophical, and astonishing in scale.

Disturbing the Universe

Dyson’s reflective essays on science, war, and conscience—from QED to nuclear policy—curious, contrarian, and humane.

Regenesis

Church & Regis survey synthetic biology’s toolkit—genome editing, minimal cells, DNA data storage—bold visions with biosecurity caveats.

Homo Deus

A provocative map of futures—dataism, AI, engineered life—more thesis than forecast, but sharp as a framework for debate.

Solaris

An alien ocean conjures our memories. A study of grief and the limits of knowledge masquerading as space opera.

Frankenstein

Gothic proto-SF on creation and responsibility—personhood, empathy, and the maker’s duty, not mad-science spectacle.

Tale of Two Cities

London and revolutionary Paris in counterpoint—sacrifice, class rage, and the machinery of terror in precise, propulsive prose.

War and Peace

Families, logistics, and 1812’s tides—freedom versus historical force—intimate lives woven into panoramic history.

I Am the Messenger

A drifting cab driver receives cryptic cards that push him toward small, costly acts of courage—tender, sly, and humane.

The Book Thief

Death narrates a girl’s life in Nazi Germany—language as shelter and weapon—lyrical without sentimental fog.

City of Thieves

During the siege of Leningrad, a quest for eggs turns blackly comic and deeply humane—coming-of-age amid starvation and violence.

Professional Experience

Education

PhD Candidate in Chemical and Biological Engineering

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY — Sept 2020 – Apr 2023

  • Completed all core coursework and qualifying exams
  • Advanced to candidacy, medical leave before dissertation
  • Research: In vitro bioelectrosynthesis of succinate
  • Publication: Finkelstein et al., Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2022 [Link]
Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Northeastern University, Boston, MA — Dec 2018

  • GPA: 3.7 / 4.0
  • Dean’s List, Excellence Scholarship
  • Captain of Northeastern Cycling Team

Industry Experience

Research Assistant

Wyss Institute, Boston, MA — Jan – Jul 2019

  • Aided the development of an enzymatic oligonucleotide synthesis process
  • Performed site-directed mutagenesis and protein purification
  • Characterized enzymes via HPLC and gel electrophoresis
Manufacturing Co-op

Continuus Pharmaceuticals, Woburn, MA — Jan – Jun 2017

  • Designed LabVIEW controls for a reactive crystallization process
  • Co-authored publication on the use of automated process analytical tools for monitoring of drug manufacturing,
  • Publication: Chuntian et al., Reaction Chemistry & Engineering , 2018 [Link]
Process Development Co-op

Alkermes Inc., Waltham, MA — Jan – Jul 2016

  • Development of an antisolvent crystallization process for drug substance purification
  • Characterization of crystallization thermodynamics, kinetics and particle size distribution
  • Automated experimental setup using in situ process analytical tools to identify operating space of the process
  • Exploration of oiling out phenomena and dealing with kinetically-driven vs thermodynamically-driven systems
Lab Assistant

Advanced Biomaterials Lab, Boston, MA — 2015

  • Perform polymer synthesis to be used as a scaffold for cell culture and magnetic nanoparticles
  • Rheological analysis of crosslinked hydrogels
  • Induce in-situ stem cell differentiation for the regeneration of cartilage in the human knee

Additional Experience

  • Independent Research, A subset of Post-Infection Syndromes potentially caused by underlying subclinical synucleinopathy (2023–present)
  • Trail Crew, Fellowship of the Wheel (2013–2015)
  • PSIA Level I Ski Instructor, Mad River Glen (2009–2014)
  • English as a Second Language Teacher, the LA Institute in Guamal, Colombia
  • Mountain Biking Race Organizer, Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference, Pittsfield, MA

Skills

Programming

Python, MatLab, C++, JavaScript, HTML, LabVIEW, Vue.js

Lab Techniques

Crystallization, Process Analytical Tools, High Performance Liquid Chromatography, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, XRay Diffraction, Control System Hardware & Software Setup, Cloning, Mutagenesis, Enzyme Purification

Languages

Spanish

Other Interests

Running, Biking, Cooking, Reading, Foraging for Wild Edibles, Car Maintenance, Guitar, Programming