Personal stuff

Mug shot The blondest one in the department.

So, how does this fellow pronounce his name, anyway?

I was born in the great city of Chicago, Illinois. My parents are in radio and I subsequently moved all over the U.S. as a kid, but I consider Chicago my home town with Cincinnati as a close second. Until recently, my mother owned and ran the classic rock station WWWO in Muncie, Indiana. She is now living in blissful retirement back in Chicago.

I had an interest in science and electronics early on and went to Georgia Tech, which has a good EE program. I soon saw the light, however, and concentrated in physics. One of my mentors was David Finkelstein, who taught me most of what I know about quantum logic and set theory. After my graduating from Ma Tech, I entered the physics program at Princeton and and had a great time studying physics. I decided to work with Philip Anderson, on a theory of the fractional quantum Hall effect.

While working at McMaster University in Canada, I met a wonderful woman - Brenda Nussey. After dating for 2 years, we got married in 1996. Brenda has her own web page.

I greatly enjoy living in the Bay area. There are an abundance of hiking trails and striking vistas. We went to Pt. Reyes and saw breaching gray whales and great waves. Even the departmental getaway at Monterey featured good color.

In addition to hiking, I also enjoy the sports of windsurfing, hang gliding, and flying. Basically, if it involves an airfoil, I like it.

One of the hobbies I am pursuing these days is photography. I have a gallery of some photos I have taken recently.

Mark Kvale

Last modified: Mon Apr 30 14:29:58 PDT 2001