I was born in Amsterdam in August 1962. My elementary school was the Cornelis Vrijschool, and for high school I went to the Amsterdams Lyceum. I received my Ph.D. in computer science from the Free University of Amsterdam in September 1989, under the supervision of Andy Tanenbaum. I moved to Ithaca in October 1989. I am now a senior researcher in the Department of Computer Science at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. For my professional home page, click here. I have a wife and two young daughters. Among other activities, I play jazz guitar in the Ageless Jazz Band, and am advisor of the Cornell Dutch Club.
My family
I'm married to Lesley Greene, and have two daughters: Anneke (born Feb 15, 1996), and Tanya (born July 9, 1997. Lesley and I were married June 11. 1995, at the Fontaineblue Inn on Cayuta Lake in the Finger Lakes in Upstate New York. Lesley works for the Kitchen Theatre, and is a terrific dancer and flute player. Click here for pictures and more info. My kids go to Fall Creek Elementary School. I'm pretty active in its PTA organization, and among others have organized the last three Science Fairs. For more information on the Van Renesse family, click here.
Guitar/Ukulele/Banjo
I've been playing guitar since about 1987. I've been playing rhythm guitar for the Ageless Jazz Band since December 1997. We play many weddings and festivals, and travel to Aruba every year for some shows there. A few years ago we recorded a CD. I also play in other bands sometimes. I've played in the pit orchestra of a high school productions of The Wiz, Annie, Kiss me Kate, Big, Oklahoma, Bye Bye Birdie, Hello Dolly, and for a SUNY Cortland production of "Little Shop of Horrors" (October 1999). I also play ukulele, tenor banjo, tenor guitar, piano, and accordion. I'm not very good at any of these, but it's my primary hobby and I like it. I wrote a book on what is essentially music theory for the ukulele, and this book called "Understanding Ukulele Chords" is published by Mel Bay. Click here for more info. I'm a proud member of the Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum. Check it out! I taught a workshop at their 2004 Expo.
Swing Dance
I've been dancing since 1987. I joined an Amsterdam rock'n'roll dance team, the Rockaholics. We performed at many festivals and weddings in the Netherlands, as well as on Ibiza, Spain. After I moved to Ithaca I founded the Extravadancers. We performed for several years in Upstate New York, including at the first few Grassroots Festivals in Trumansburg, several Corn Hill Festivals in Rochester, and the Potsdam School for Music and Arts. Together with Cindy Overstreet I won several dance competitions, including the one at the first Cape May Seashore Swing, and I've judged a few. I still occasionally perform for benefits together with Cindy and my wife Lesley. I've taught both Boogie Woogie style dance and aerials in Ithaca, and used to be heavily involved with the Ithaca Swing Dance Network. I was a D.J. for this organization for some years, but now I'm too busy with other activities.
Dutch Club
I founded the Cornell Dutch Club together with Aswin van den Berg. Although I'm not very involved at this time, I'm still the advisor to this club, and maintain the mailing list.
Unicycling
I'm an active unicyclist, and like to commute to work on it in spite of the long and steep hill. I can ride, idle on one foot, ride on one foot, hop onto curbs, ride backwards, and some other tricks. I also rode 50 miles for an AIDS benefit. Got a lot to learn still, however. I'm a founding member of the Finger Lakes One Wheelers (FL1W).
Teaching
I don't stand in front of a lecture hall very often. I do have a bunch of students I work with, and I taught an advanced systems course, CS614 in Spring 2003.
Awards
I won the first obfuscated C Code contest together with Sjoerd Mullender.