Pena's Website

An Old Family Picture (ca 2003)

Personal Tidbits

  I am married to Marge who is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of South Carolina. We have two children, Judith (24) and Michelle (22). Judith used to play the violin and still plays the piano, enjoys singing, and was a member of the USC acapella group when she was an undergrad. She completed her BS in Biology and English at USC, and also pursued a culinary arts degree in the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She is currently working and residing in New York city. Michelle plays the cello and piano, though is currently on sabbatical from both. She is a senior architecture student at Columbia University in New York City. She spent her Spring 2010 semester in Barcelona, Spain on a Study Abroad Program.

  I came originally from the Philippine Islands, in particular, the Island of Catanduanes. The see where it is, click on the link http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/philippines_rel93.jpg and look into the middle right portion for the small island in the Pacific Ocean. The town I came from is Panganiban, a very quiet and nice place!

  For my hobbies I like listening to music, preferably classical, reading science, mathematics and John leCarre type novels, playing chess in the Internet Chess Club. I sometimes play in the Columbia Chess Club on Thursdays, but enjoys games with chess friends during Saturday evenings in Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Harbison Shopping Center (in Irmo, SC) playing speed chess. We always welcome chess enthusiasts who can handle a little bit of "trash-talking" in our group … typical bet is a cup of coffee. For physical sports, I like playing squash, mostly with students and faculty colleagues in the Strom Thurmond Recreation Center. Golf-playing, which was planned when I moved to SC, is in the shelf!

 I also like to spend my leisure time doing things with my computer like browsing the Internet and doing some programming, mostly with the R Statistical Package.

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