My name is Boris Yakubchik, aka YBoris. I live in Old Bridge, NJ where I lived for the past 12 years, after moving from Russia, where I was born. I am currently an Educational Psychology Ph.D. student at Rutgers University, New Bunswick, NJ. I thoroughly enjoys psychology, education, and philosophy; my main interests are learning and enjoying life. I also happen to be one of the most firm optimists you could meet.

Persuaded by various philosophical arguments ( Peter Singer, Peter Unger, Larry Temkin, etc) I happilly recognize it to be a moral duty to help others in best ways I can. Currently, in the world of vast inequalities, it is through monetary donations to reputable charitable organizations. For several years I have been donating on a monthly basis, but starting January 2010 I have made a life-long pledge to donate a minimum of 10% of my pre-tax income to charities that do the most good (in large part inspired by Giving What We Can). In choosing those I look at GiveWell.net which assesses numerous charities based on a reasonable set of explicit criteria.

For those less at ease about doing the most good by donating money, I offer a suggestion: lend! Kiva.org is a wonderful organization through which I have lent large amount of money to people in need. Once the money is paid back - you can re-lend it again and again.