Michael Brudno — Personal

Brief Biography & Hobbies

I was born in Moscow, Russia in a family of mathematicians and programmers. While my upbringing shaped my academic interests -- I've been given math puzzles to solve since kindergarten -- my other significant interest, history, I discovered on my own. When I was eight I read a book on Napoleon Bonoparte's war in Russia. Soon I could name all of Napoleon's marshals and most Russian generals, and could recognize the uniforms of many regiments of the Russian army of 1812. My fascination with Napoleon grew into an overall interest in history while attending School #43 in Moscow.

My family moved to the United States in 1990 and settled in Rockville, Maryland (near Washington DC). I graduated from Thomas S Wootton HS and then moved across the continent to study at UC Berkeley, majoring in Computer Science and History. During my junior year I was introduced to Inna Dubchak, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, and starting doing research in bioinformatics. After graduating from Berkeley I went to Stanford for the next four years to do my graduate work (beside spending a few months working in Moscow). After getting my PhD I went back to Berkeley to do a one year postdoc, and then after another brief hiatus as a visitor at MIT I joined the University of Toronto in January 2006.

Outside of my work, I am a passionate soccer player. You can find me on the pitch in any weather, usually several times a week. I also read (mainly history books), play tennis and ski. I very much enjoy hiking and camping, and like to travel. The photos below show me in more "natural" settings.