He was born in Nikolaev, Ukraine and obtained his doctorate from Yale. Kaminski was on staff at Columbia University from 1997-2002 before becoming a faculty member at CMU. He became a pro-Israel activist while living in New York, traveled to Israel and accumulated an extensive body of knowledge about history and current conditions of the Israel-Arab conflict. While working at Central Michigan University, he has published several articles in the Central Michigan Life newspaper, has become a faculty adviser to the CMU Hillel/Jewish Student Organization (in 2004) and delivered invited talks on Judaism at Mount Pleasant High School.