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About my family and me

I was born in 1983 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, where I spent the first 9 years of my life. My parents purchased our family's first computer in 1992, and I quickly fell in love with it. Not only did I use it to play games and type documents, I also spent time learning about the operating system. In fact, I read the whole MS-DOS manual, as my parents liked to tell their friends at the time.

In the summer of 1993, my family and I moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I kept learning more about computers, and I also started playing the clarinet in fifth grade -- something I still enjoy doing today. Along with the usual classes, I was deeply involved in music ensembles throughout middle and high school, including concert bands, marching band, choir, show choir, and vocal jazz. I was selected for the South Dakota All-State Band in my sophomore, junior, and senior years, and I was selected for the South Dakota Honor Choir my senior year.

My wife and me in Lincoln Music Hall at SDSU

After graduating from high school, I spent five years at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D., earning the B.S. degree in computer science and the B.A. degree in music. During this time, I learned to write good programs, mostly in C++, and I learned a great deal about other aspects of computing as well. I also improved my technique and musicianship on the clarinet during my study with Dr. Corliss Johnson at SDSU. I served as principal clarinetist in the SDSU-Civic Symphony and the SDSU Symphonic Band (the top concert band at SDSU) for two years, along with marching in the "Pride of the Dakotas" marching band for five years. I graduated from SDSU in May 2007.

My parents are David and Mary Oster. My father, David, originally comes from a farm near Pingree, North Dakota (not far from Jamestown), and my mother, Mary, was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They met at a bowling alley in Eau Claire and married each other in 1981. My father is the plant manager at Parker Filter in Parker, S.D. My mother takes care of the house and helps run a local Bible study group in Sioux Falls.

My brother, Clay, is a recent graduate (Spring 2008) of Southeast Technical Institute in Sioux Falls, S.D. in computer network administration. He currently works for the Good Samaritan Society in Sioux Falls, providing network and system support for their care facilities.

My wife, Carrie, is a graduate student in the MCDB (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology) program at Iowa State, studying with Dr. Greg Phillips. I met Carrie during our first year at SDSU, and we've been a couple ever since then. We had to spend the 2006-2007 academic year apart, because that year, Carrie graduated from SDSU and started her graduate work at Iowa State, while I still had one year left to finish my degrees at SDSU. We married each other in July 2007, and ever since then, we have both been graduate students here at Iowa State. When she's not busy in the lab, Carrie loves to knit, crochet, and spin fiber, and she's very good at all three.
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