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Please note that this webpage was last updated in early May 2008. It is therefore currently fairly out-of-date.
My four main interests are mathematics, computers, music and languages. I aim to bring the first two together in my professional career. The other two have played, and will continue to play, an important part in my life.
The subjects that I found most interesting during my undergraduate studies were those in the borderland between mathematics and computer science. I thought it was fascinating to learn advanced mathematical theories, and then apply them on practical computer-related problems. That is why I took courses both on the Theoretical Mathematics and Computer Science specialisations on the programme (accumulating a lot more credits than was needed for the degree).
I did my degree project in Formal Methods at Prover Technology. Although my project was rather theoretically oriented, the results raised a number of practical questions for the company to pursue further.
Since 2002, I am a PhD student at the Royal Institute of Technology. I still think that the most fun problems are those that are mathematically tricky but still have a clear connection with reality. Therefore, I chose to do research in Theoretical Computer Science. I am currently a member of the Theory Group at the School of Computer Science and Communication (KTH CSC). Although I do fundamental research, the problem I study also have great practical significance.
During my PhD studies I have been thinking on relatively hard problems, and progress has been slower than I had wanted. However, when I finally managed to solve one of the well-known open problems I had been working on, I was presented with the best student paper award at the 38th ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC '06). STOC is one of the two most prestigious conferences in Theoretical Computer Science, so this is one of the very finest awards a PhD student in Theoretical Computer Science can get.
I received my Higher Certificate (studentexamen in Swedish) from the Natural Sciences Programme with extended Music at Stockholm Music Upper Secondary School.
Between the second and third years in upper secondary school I spent two years in Estonia studying music at Tallinn Music Upper Secondary School and Conservatoire. My stay in Estonia coincided with the fall of the Soviet Union and the rebirth of the independent Baltic states. It was an immensely exciting and interesting time in many ways.
Back in Sweden I founded a vocal ensemble, Collegium Vocale Stockholm. Throughout the 90s, the ensemble gave a number of concerts presenting mainly Renaissance and Baroque music. Nowadays the ensemble is dormant, but from time to time we do smaller gigs.
I did my military service 1997-98 as a Russian military interpreter at the Swedish Armed Forces Language Institute (Försvarets tolkskola), which is nowadays a unit in the Swedish Armed Forces Intelligence and Security Centre FMUndSäkC. The conditions at the institute are considered to be extremely demanding, not to say inhuman. Nevertheless, I certainly think it was worthwhile. The atmosphere among us "inmates" was something very special, and I believe I made friends for life there. Thanks to my work in the Swedish Association of Military Interpreters, I have managed to stay in touch with my class fellows, and also make quite a few new acquaintances. I had the privilege of being first the Secretary and then the President of the Association during some very exciting years in its history.
After graduating from the institute, in parallel with studies in Computer Science, Mathematics and Russian I have worked as an interpreter, often in connection with official visits to Russia. I have also done translations between Russian and Swedish/English. I have worked mainly for different units within the Swedish Armed Forces but also for among others the Government Offices, the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) and the Swedish Coast Guard. I have interpreted for among others HM the King of Sweden, the Prime Minister, the Minister for Defence, the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament and the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. If you need a Russian interpreter or translator, you are very welcome to contact me. See the links to a list (unfortunately very outdated, and also only available in Swedish) of some of my missions (Word / HTML) and to my Curriculum Vitae (PDF/HTML).
Not only has my work as an interpreter financed my academic studies, but it has also given me valuable experiences—meeting interesting people, travelling to unusual places, visiting special surroundings and more. By this I do not primarily mean official visits and dinners in the Stockholm Royal Castle or in the palaces of the Moscow Kremlin. Perhaps a more interesting experience was, for instance, to walk around inside the world's largest chemical weapons storage site in full Russian army chemical protection gear, shouting-interpreting between English and Russian through the half-meter long "trunk" of the gas mask... Another example was when I interpreted Swedish and Russian scientists discussing a possible research exchange concerning liquid breathing. This is when you fill the lungs with oxygen-saturated liquid and "breathe" this liquid instead of air. One potential use of this (and the reason the meeting was held, in the wake of the Kursk submarine tragedy) is to make possible a rapid return to the surface from a foundered submarine without causing decompression sickness. Taking part in that meeting was a distinctly science fiction experience.
I will defend my PhD thesis on May 9, 2008. After that, my future is wide open.
I would like to find a job that is a real challenge, both intellectually and personally. A job that is stimulating and pushes me towards the limits of what I can manage.
I really enjoy doing research, so one option is to continue with a postdoc year in the US. As it looks now, I will hopefully be able to spend a year at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, which is very exciting.
However, life in academia also has its drawbacks. Perhaps something of a dream scenario in the long-term perspective would be to find a research-intensive position in industry where I could combine both theory and practice.