I strongly beleive that outreach, popularization, and engagement activities are at least as important as conducting research and regular university teaching. These activities help to

• Excite younger children and inspire them to explore the increadibly beautiful, colorful, and playful world of mathematics,
  
  
• Motivate older children to learn mathematics, which is unfortunately one of the most unpopular subjects in schools, by showing how useful mathematics is,
  
  
• Bridge the gap between mathematics and general public (mis)understanding of mathematics, by sharing some of the current mathematical research activity. 

In particular, I consider this as my responsibility to fight agaisnt the following myths:

• Myth #1: Mathematics, as a field, was fully developed by the ancient Greeks, and there is nothing more to do in mathematics.
  
  
• Myth #2: Mathematics is boring and ugly. It is about memorizing formulas, plugging in numbers, and calculating the result.
  
  
• Myth #3: Mathematics is useless in everyday life, irrelevant for ordinary people, and has nothing to do with the real world.

Selected Activities

• During Oct. 2019 – Mar. 2020, I was co-teaching the “Breaking Numbers into Parts” bridge class for 1st and 2nd grade students at the UCLA Math Circle together with Marcus Roper, Sucharit Sarkar, and Artur Davoyan.
  
  
• In Oct. 2018, together with Caltech students Megan Durney and Natalie Bernat, I presented a hands-on collaborative project “Mathematical Night Sky” for K-5 students and their parents at the STEAM Night at Sierra Madre Elementary School
  
  
• During Summer 2002, I have taught two courses, “Introduction to Topology” and “Ruler-and-Compass Constructions,” for high school students at the Summer School of Moscow Center for Continuous Mathematical Education.
  
  
• In Spring 2020, I have created a [YouTube] channel, that I will be useing for both outreach and popularization of mathematics. Subscribe! :)
  
  
• In Summer 2020, to enhance the online experience of all Caltech community members, who like to play chess, I have created the Caltech Chess Club on lichess. This club is created for the entire Caltech community – students, postdocs, faculty and staff members – to enjoy friendly online chess tournaments. So, if you like to play chess and want to meet other Techers over the virtual board, join us!
  To register: a) Create an account at www.lichess.org b) Send a request to joint the Caltech Chess Club c) Send an email to kostia [at] caltech [dot] edu from your Caltech email with your lichess username. See you over the online board!