With a Bachelor of Arts in physics from Pomona College in Claremont, California, Amiri will teach physics this school year. At Pomona, Amiri was involved in extensive research opportunities both in the physics lab, where he studied the fluid-flow dynamics of sphagnum moss, and internationally, where he traveled to Nuremberg, Germany, to study the prints of Albrecht Durer's Coat of Arms with a Skull, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, to complete sociological studies on the urban poor. Amiri is fluent in Spanish and has intermediate capabilities in Modern Sanskrit. He is also able to translate German, Latin, and Greek.