(you can learn about my early inspirations here and my formal CV here)
My Journey so far
I was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, the capital of modern greek Macedonia, a beautiful port city of 1.5 million with a long 2300 year old history, named after the sister of Alexander the Great. Mount Olympus was often visible during my long walks by the seaside, and the shadow of the statue of Alexander the Great looked impressive during the sunsets. Thessaloniki is an interesting city in many respects - apart from its original Ancient Greek / Macedonian heritage, it served as the second most important city of the Byzantine Empire after Constantinopole (the "synvasilevousa"), and during Ottoman times, it was composed of a unique tri-religious mix: Greek Orthodox Christian, Jewish, and Muslim - all still visible in many monuments of the city. Me having grown up in Thessaloniki, my ancestors also came from numerous other places were Hellenes once lived or still live: such as Chios, Serres, as well as Eastern Thrace and Constantinopole.
Originally, I had started out very young as an amateur in electronics and computing, and I still remember the fun I had programming my ZX Spectrum, and designing as well as building analog / digital / microcontroller-based electronics projects during late primary and secondary school, back in the late '80s.
Later, I returned to Greece in order to carry out my military obligations. I worked for a year
at ITI, and served as an airman at the HAF (Hellenic Air Force). At ITI (Informatics and Telematics Institute), the largest relevant research lab in my home city of Thessaloniki, I worked in the face recognition part of the EU project HiScore, and also guided two undergrad thesis in relevant areas.
During these years, I also took a couple of grad courses from the OU, in nonlinear DE's, brain & behaviour and medical imaging, to expand my horizons and keep my brain working, mainly during the days of my military service.