I was born in Warsaw, Poland and moved to Canada when I was 5. When I was 18 I lived in Moedling, Austria, and I got the chance to travel around Europe extensively. I guess I caught the travel bug then and ever since have been taking every opportunity to travel. I've had the chance to travel around India and Japan and I try to get to Europe at every opportunity I can get. From 2005-2007, I lived in Tuebingen, Germany and worked at the University there. As of January 2007, we have been living in Montreal, where I started my PhD, had two boys Lukas and Matthias, and helped plant an apple tree... In 2015 I finished my Phd, and began a postdoctoral fellowship at the Brain Imaging Centre, MNI.

Arts and Culture

While in Europe I also got very interested in Art, mostly fine art although living in Vienna you can’t help but enjoy the operas, ballets and concerts. It was while there that I decided to do a degree in Art History and I managed to do a BA Minor while studying Computer Science at Queen’s. In my fourth year, while taking an Art Conservation course, I became aware of the potential computer technology has in the field of art conservation. I hope to at some point get involved with a project that merges these two fields.

Literature

A few books I recommend (those I can remember right now anyway):

  • Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur S. Golden.
  • To A God Unknown by John Steinbeck.
  • Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder.
  • The Book of Laughter and Forgetting and Slowness by Milan Kundera.
  • The Agony and the Ecstacy by Irving Stone.
  • The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
  • Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres.
  • Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson.
  • The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.
  • In the Skin of a Lion and Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje.
  • Microserfs and Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland.

Sports

I love the outdoors -- playing in the mountains, in the forest, on snow or in the water. I've been skiing since I was three and (following in my older brother's footsteps) I competed in freestyle skiing (on the NCD Freestyle team) at a provincial and national level. Nowadays I just try to get out hiking, skiing/snowboarding, playing squash or tennis, climbing or anything active as often as possible to get away from the computer monitor.