I'm originally from the East Coast. I first moved out to San Francisco eleven years ago, when I went to graduate school at UCSF. Five years later, I moved back to the East Coast (to Boston), and five years after that, I moved back here. I'm very happy to be back here and I've gotten involved with some very people and artists, so I don't intend to leave anytime soon.

Here's what a friend of mine said about me when I asked him to write me a letter of recommendation. On his first try he came up with the following - completely unsuitable for professional purposes, but a better description of me than I could write:

"Kurt is a swell guy. In fact, he's one of the best people I know. By best I mean truly superior to everybody else, like Warren Remedy. Seriously. You know that scene in "Clerks" where the college admission director is sitting in the aisle trying to find the perfect egg? Well Kurt is it. He's smooth, exactly the right shade of egg shell white and just the right shape. He's like a platonic solid or a very large prime number. And Kurt's assets are not only skin deep. He's totally honest while remaining reasonably tactful - if he can't say anything nice he keeps his mouth shut, most of the time. He's also read lots of stuff, and not just about yeast and motor proteins. He once started "Infinite Jest" and got frustrated and stopped reading it. But then he started it again and this time he finished it, which goes to show he is also determined and able to surmount adversity. Of course, nobody's perfect, and Kurt's not nobody. He is a bit clumsy and some times drops stuff. He also has a tendency to fidget a lot and pick stuff up and look at it from every possible angle, probably because he's a bit bored, at least until he drops it. Many a conversation with Kurt in bars or restaurants is interrupted when he drops the salt shaker. He always looks sheepish afterward, which is really quite endearing, so he's easy to forgive."

I also really like the following evaluation I got for a workshop I taught last year. The entire evaluation read "Kurt's a keeper."

I'm a professional scientist, which I enjoy quite a bit. In my spare time I enjoy tinkering and building art of various sorts. I also enjoy cooking and brewing beer, though I haven't had much time to brew recently. I'm a huge fan of live music, particularly indie rock at small clubs. I spend the rest of my free time reading.

Last year I was lead artist on PyroCardium, a 20 foot diameter fire sculpture whose 40 flame effects pulsed in time with a participant's heartbeat. This was a really rewarding project but also took a lot of my free time. I'm happy to not be working on such a big project right now, though I've got ideas for projects in the future.

Lately I've been thinking more about small scale projects and more design-y stuff. I really like the idea of furniture that involves shelves suspended from steel cables and I'm working on some designs along those lines. I also really like LEDs and have been thinking about multicolor lighting with them.

Making things work, particularly electronic and mechanical equipment.

I fidget a lot. I used to have a funny walk, but no one's commented on that recently so I'm not sure if it's still true.

Books: Anything by A.S. Byatt, most notably Possession. Anything by Haruki Murakami, particularly Norwegian Wood. Richard Powers , Stanislaw Lem, and Cormac McCarthy. The Making of the Atomic Bomb, A Bright Shining Lie and the Executioner's Song are probably the best non-fiction books I've read. I really liked Infinite Jest, once I finished it. Moby Dick is another book that took a lot of work to get through but was very rewarding in the end. It has more in common with Infinite Jest than you might imagine. On deck are Crime and Punishment and Russian Thinkers. Those are all pretty hard going, though, so it's likely I'll pick up something else in between.

Movies: Brazil, most of Peter Greenaway's films. There are lots of other films I like but movies don't seem to move me as much as music or books.

Music: The Dresden Dolls, Reverend Glasseye, Devotchka, The Red Paintings, Tunnel of Love, The White Stripes, Luna, Spoon, Low, Fugazi, Cursive Neutral Milk Hotel, Bettie Serveert, U2; indie rock and punk rock generally. I seem to keep discovering awesome CDs from 5 or 10 years ago and then wondering how I missed them in the first place.

Foods: Almost anything. I like to cook. Recently I've been trying to move towards eating local and organic food. I'm a big fan of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.

A quiet space; Something to read; Good beer; Friends; Creativity; Good food

Lots of random stuff, depending on what my current project is.

I'm definitely an introvert.

If you think I'd be interesting to talk to - I'm always looking to meet interesting people. More specifically, I want to get more into the local music scene so if you know something about that it would be great to hang out. Or if you're looking for someone to drink Belgian or English beers with. Alternatively, I'd very much like to talk to you if you have some ideas for cool art using LEDs or fire.