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You are here: Home / About AlphaStar Academy
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About AlphaStar Academy

Mission Statement

To challenge gifted minds through competitions in STEM fields in an environment where universal values are promoted

What We Do?

AlphaStar Academy offers extensive training programs for gifted students towards national and international Math and Science competitions such as MathCounts, American Mathematics Competitions, USA Math Olympiads, USA Computing Olympiads, F=ma, and USA Physics Olympiads.

A-Star History in a Minute:

https://alphastar.academy/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/A-Star-history-in-a-minute.mp4

A-Star Team & Curriculum Developers

Murat Biyik

  • AlphaStar Academy CEO (2017-present)
  • A* Program Bay Area Director, Star League (2016-17)
  • AMC International Coordinator, Turkey (2015-16)
  • A* Program Coordinator, Accord Institute (2010-2014)
  • School Admin at Public Schools (2008-2010)
  • Math Teacher at Public & Private Schools (1994-2007)

Fatih Gelgi, Ph.D.

  • Computer Science Program Director, AlphaStar Academy (2017-present)
  • A* Program Coordinator, Star League (2013-2017)
  • A* Computer Science Coordinator, Accord Institute (2008-2013)
  • USA Computing Olympiad Coach (2006-2014)
  • Ph.D, Computer Science, Arizona State University (2007)
  • International Olympiad in Informatics - Bronze Medal (1999)
  • Balkan Olympiad in Informatics (1998, 1999)

Ali Gurel, Ph.D.

  • Math Program Director, AlphaStar Academy (2017–present)
  • A* Math Program Coordinator, Star League (2013–2017)
  • A* Math Coordinator, Accord Institute (2008–2013)
  • USA Math Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP) Instructor (2007-2012)American Mathematics Competitions (AMC 8, 10, 12) Advisory Panel Member
  • Ph.D., Mathematics, Caltech (2008)
  • Scott Russell Johnson Prize for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, Caltech (2007)
  • International Mathematical Olympiad - Silver Medal (1996)

Mehmet Kaysi

  • Math Program Assistant Director, AlphaStar Academy (2017-present)
  • A* Math Instructor (2009–2017)
  • American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) Problem Writing Committee (2011-2014)
  • Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad - USA Team Leader (2013)
  • Balkan Mathematical Olympiad – Academic Assistant (2012)
  • International Mathematical Olympiad (2004)
  • Balkan Mathematical Olympiad - Silver Medal (2004)

History

The history of AlphaStar Academy roots back to early 2000’s when the team members, Ali Gurel and Fatih Gelgi, came together around the idea of motivating and training gifted students through regional, national and international competitions and Olympiads. With the addition of Mehmet Kaysi and Murat Biyik to the team, the program and curriculum was built over the years and evolved into the A-Star Program known today.

In the beginning, two former Olympians Ali and Fatih were coaching gifted students in South California and Arizona, in Math and Computer Science when they were graduate students at Caltech and Arizona State University, respectively. After years of training, one of their students Zarathustra Brady (a.k.a. Zeb) was invited to the top Math and Computer Science in USA, Math Olympiad Summer Program (2006) and USA Computing Olympiad National Camp (2005-2007). Zeb was also selected to the USA Math Team of six students and won a Gold Medal in the International Math Olympiads 2006.

After receiving their PhD’s, Dr. Ali and Dr. Gelgi joined an education company in South California. They started an Advanced Math and Science Program serving gifted students in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado via regional, state, and national Math and Computer Science camps. At the same time, Dr. Ali was one of the coaches of the USA Math Olympiad team whereas Dr. Gelgi was serving as a coach of the USA Computing Olympiad.

First A-Star courses were introduced in 2008 in South California. The following year, another former math Olympian Mehmet Kaysi joined the team. In 2010, Murat Biyik who served long years in education as a teacher and administrator, joined the team as well.

In the fall of 2010, A-Star courses were introduced to Bay Area community and soon became a well-established program in Bay Area. Year after year, A-Star students had tremendous success in Math and Computer Science competitions with several National finalists in MathCounts, dozens of perfect scorers in American Mathematics Competitions, dozens of winners and finalists in USA Math and Computing Olympiads, and several Gold medalists in International Math Olympiads and International Olympiad in Informatics. A-Star teams also got top rankings in math competitions organized by Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, and Harvey Mudd.

In 2017, the team members founded AlphaStar Academy to further improve the gifted community and students. As A-Star team, we believe that discovering and training gifted students towards their potential is critical for our country’s future. In that perspective, we try to fulfill our share by providing advanced math and science programs for those students, free master classes and trainings, and supporting the local gifted community via sponsoring math and science events.

We would like to thank many exceptional people who contributed to the development of A-Star program over the years.

 

Primary Sidebar

Testimonials

The instructor is funny and good at teaching.

AMC 8 / MathCounts Advanced Student

The course made me more enthusiastic about learning math.

AMC 10/12 Basic Student

Very interesting and informative. Gelgi was great! :)

Andrew C., CS401 (USACO Gold Basic) Student

The instructor explains in a way where we can understand clearly.

AMC 8 / MathCounts Basic Student

David could not wait going to the class every time. He improved his academic skills very much and met friends there, the class day always was his happy day that encouraged him to spend more time on math.

Lan Yang, Parent of David Yang

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About AlphaStar Academy

As the sole owner of the renowned A-Star Program, AlphaStar Academy offers extensive training programs towards national and international Math and Science competitions such as MathCounts, AMC 8/10/12, USA(J)MO, USACO, F=ma, and USAPhO...

Contact Us

info@alphastar.academy

4701 Patrick Henry Dr #25, Santa Clara, CA 95054 United States

+1 (650) 308-9644

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