Sarah Kostinski is an Assistant Professor in New York University’s Department of Physics, where her group explores theoretical questions in biological, statistical, and soft condensed matter physics. Her path to NYU included a Zuckerman-supported postdoctoral appointment at Tel Aviv University, where she worked with Prof. Shlomi Reuveni on the theoretical physics of biological systems, including the quantitative principles that shape cellular growth and intracellular processes. She also spent time at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, giving her a broader view of Israel’s scientific landscape and helping expand the network of colleagues and collaborators that shaped her early independent research path. Dr. Kostinski’s research is marked by unusual breadth, moving across soft matter, statistical physics, optics, and biological physics, and drawing on a foundation that includes a PhD in physics from Harvard University and undergraduate studies in both physics and music at the University of Michigan. After her time in Israel, she continued her postdoctoral work at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, before joining NYU in 2023. Her success reflects how her wider Israeli academic chapter, helped support a broad, interdisciplinary scientific path from Israel to California and New York.