In 1970, he obtained his BS degree in physics and mathematics from State University of New York at Stony Brook, and then obtained his MA in 1972 from the University of Rochester. In 1975, he obtained his PhD from the University of Rochester under Elliott Waters Montroll for a thesis entitled A Stochastic Theory of Anomalous Transient Photocurrents in Certain Xerographic Films and of the 1/f Noise in Neural Membrane.