Mark Stamp




The story so far...

Mark Stamp was born in 1960 in Omaha, Nebraska, in a hospital. He would have preferred to have been born in a log cabin, but he had no choice. In his early years, his family moved frequently. Fortunately, they took young Mark with them.

Mark's earliest memories are of preschool days living in two different houses in Omaha---the proverbial "green house" (no longer green) and the "brown house" (no longer brown)---and constantly fighting with his younger brother Dean. Mark also has an older sister, Pat, and a much younger sister, Shanon.

Mark began kindergarten in Carson City, Nevada, and finished the year back in Omaha. From first grade through high school, he attended school in Harlan, Iowa (not just one school, but schools just doesn't sound right).

Mark grew up enjoying many outdoor activities, especially fishing, camping, and occasionally, pheasant hunting. When he was in second grade, Mark's family moved to an acreage that had a 1-acre farm pond in the back yard. Mark fished nearly every day the first summer, and a little less each subsequent summer. The family also took many camping trips. When Mark was 13, his family took a trip to northern Minnesota, where Mark caught a large northern pike that still hangs on his wall at home.

In elementary school, Mark's favorite subject was recess, though he did reasonably well in math and science. His English was mediocre, and his handwriting was (and still is) terrible. By junior high school (now known as "middle school") he had become more interested in athletics than academics. His favorite sports were football and basketball, and he also participated in track. His best sport was football, but his favorite sport was basketball. As a senior, he started in basketball, averaging about 10 points per game, while his team finished with 17 wins and 3 losses. However, the team lost 2 of its last 3 games, with the final loss to a team they'd beaten by 20 points earlier in the season (the penultimate loss was to a team they'd beaten badly every year since 7th grade). Due to this late-season collapse, the basketball season was a major disappointment.

In his senior year in football, Mark was the leading pass catcher for a running offense on a team that relied primarily on a record-setting defense. The team finished with 10 wins against 1 loss, and was only 7 points away from the state championship game. In the first-round playoff game---an exciting 23-22 victory at Urbandale---Mark caught 4 passes, 3 of which went for touchdowns. On the season, he caught 28 passes for 7 touchdowns and nearly 500 yards and was selected to the Omaha World Herald "All-Southwest Iowa" first team.

After graduating from high school in 1979, Mark decided to put away his jock strap. He went to Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, where he concentrated on parties, intramural sports (OK, he had one leftover jock strap) and, occasionally, he even studied. He double-majored in history and computer science.

After graduating from college in 1983, Mark spent a year making money at the horse races and another half-year losing money at the horse races. Out of necessity, he found a part-time teaching job at the Nebraska Indian Community College (NICC), located in Winnebago, Nebraska. While teaching at NICC, Mark lived in Sioux City and it was during this time that he met his lovely wife, Chian-Chian Du, who was then a Morningside student from Taiwan.

In the summer of 1985 Mark went to Taiwan, where he taught English conversation, got sick a lot, and had his appendix removed. Not wanting too much of a good thing, he left Taiwan after the summer. He began graduate school (in mathematics) at Texas Tech University in January 1986.

In January 1987 Mark and Chian-Chian Du (aka Melody) were married in Lubbock. It was a private ceremony, attended only by the couple, Judge Ross (who was later convicted of drunk driving), and another couple who happened to be waiting in line. The Judge asked several questions ("Do you have a ring?", "Do you want a religious ceremony?", etc.), to which the couple-to-be had no good answers. At this point Mark uttered his infamous line: "This is our first time."

Mark got his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1992, at which point Melody had already finished her M.S. degree (also in mathematics). After graduation, Mark was fortunate to land an academic job at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI, or "Whoopie Tech") in Worcester, Massachusetts. Melody didn't appreciate the post-industrial decay of Worcester, so after one year at WPI, Mark accepted a job offer from the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade, Maryland. Mark worked at NSA for 7 and 7/12 years, during which time he ------------- Transfer Interrupted!! -------------- which resulted in a major intelligence coup.

During Mark's "spy phase," Melody worked as an actuary at the Social Security Administration (SSA). Melody later worked as an actuary for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and, later still, she worked at NSA.

Mark and Melody's first son, Austin E Stamp, was born on June 4, 1993, just 3 weeks after they had moved from Worcester to Maryland. Austin has always been a great kid. Austin, now a teenager, is still a great kid---which often makes Mark wonder whether Austin might have been switched at birth.

In late 2000, Mark left the security of working for Uncle Sam to try his hand at a small Silicon Valley startup company, MediaSnap, Inc. The hoped-for fame and fortune (mostly fortune) never materialized, as the dot-com bubble burst shortly after the Stamps' arrival in "the valley" (not to be confused with "The Big Valley"). Mark insists that it is merely coincidental that the bubble burst shortly after the Stamps' arrival. In 2002, MediaSnap went bankrupt and Mark was fortunate to land an academic job in the Department of Computer Science at San Jose State University (SJSU).

In 2001, Mark and Melody's second child, Miles Du Stamp, was born. Miles has always been strong-willed, which is a characteristic that he obviously inherited from his mother. Miles, who is now in elementary school, is passionate about video games and roller coasters, and he has achieved the level of "brown belt" in Tae-Kwon-Do. Sometimes, he reluctantly participates in other sports, and he usually likes to fish.

Austin recently graduated from Los Gatos High School and he will attend the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he currently plans to major in molecular biology. Austin has worked hard to perfect his video game skills, he plays guitar, and he participates in the occasional airsoft (i.e., BB gun) war. Austin also likes roller coasters.

Family leisure activities include trips to Monterey Bay, bicycling, fishing (including kayak fishing in the Pacific Ocean), and major home improvement projects. In the summer, Melody and the boys often take a trip to Disneyland, while Mark and the boys concentrate on local attractions.

Melody is teaching math part-time at various community colleges (DeAnza College, Evergreen Valley College, San Jose City College), where she has become an authority on pre-pre-algebra. Mark has tenure at SJSU and was recently promoted to "Professor", which means that he can be a jerk and, not only can he not get fired, he doesn't even need to worry about any future promotions (not that lack of tenure or concern about promotion would ever prevent Mark from being a jerk). One of Mark's favorite activities is writing about himself in the third person.


Brought to you by Mark Stamp, Ph.D., Number 85
E-Mail: stamp@cs.sjsu.edu