Amelia's pictures here are password protected. Contact me to access them. This brief article was written on me because I refused many well paid offers from the States after my PhD and apparently suprised many by deciding to stay in Canada. These pictures were taken by Johann Beda and are maintained in his home page.

For those who want to know more about Osmar R. Zaïane

I was born more than four decades ago in Bad Kissingen (Germany) and I was brought up in Tunisia before attending school in France and Canada. After attending universities on three different continents, Université de Tunis (Africa), Université Paris XI (Europe), Université Laval and finally Simon Fraser University (North America), where I completed my PhD, I settled down in Edmonton, Canada, where now I teach at the University of Alberta. I cumulated a Bachelor (in computer science), two Masters' (in electronics and computing science), and a PhD in computing science.

I have been in Canada since 1987, and permanently since 1990.
Here is an article about me in the Simon Fraser News of June 3, 1999 after my Ph.D. graduation.
I married Margaret Jane Robertson in June 28th, 1997 in Victoria B.C., Canada.
Here is Amelia Ariana, our first child born January 28, 2001.
And here is Alexander Duncan, our second child born January 29, 2003.

What is the meaning of Osmar

I get many e-mails asking me the meaning of my given name "Osmar". Osmar is an old Germanic name. Press here for more.

A note about my family name. My family name is written Zaïane with an "umlaut" on the "i" (diaeresis or trema), but Zaiane is also acceptable because the umlaut is not always available on keyboards. The umlaut is common in languages such as German and French.
I have friends who translated my family name in Chinese. Apparently it can be correctly pronounced in Mandarin as well as Cantonese. This is how my name is written in Chinese. It means something like beautiful empress garden.
Here is how it is written in Arabic: in Hebrew: and Korean . Here is how it might be written in Hindi and in Russian The transliteration in Georgian is : ზაიანე If you know how to write it in other written languages, let me know and I'll put it here. ;-)

I like traveling. Here are the places I visited.

Planets I visited (1)	: Earth
Countries I visited (47)/195 = 24% of countries	: Australia , Austria , Brazil , Belgium , Bulgaria , Canada , Chile , China (including Hong Kong and Macau ), Denmark , Dominican Republic , France , Germany , Greece , Hungary , India , Italy , Japan , Libya , Luxembourg , Malaysia , Mexico , Monaco , Morocco , Netherland , New Zealand , Peru , Poland , Portugal , Singapore , Slovakia , Spain , South Africa , South Korea , Sweden , Switzerland , Taiwan , Thailand , Tunisia , Turkey , United Arab Emirates , United Kingdom , U.S.A. , Vatican , and Vietnam .
Provinces I visited in Canada (9)	: Alberta , British Columbia , Manitoba , New Brunswick , Nova Scotia , Ontario , Prince Edward Island , Quebec and Saskatchewan .
States I visited in the USA (33)	: Arizona , California , Colorado , Connecticut , District of Columbia , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Illinois , Indiana , Maine , Maryland , Massachusetts , Michigan , Minnesota , Nebraska , Nevada , New Jersey , New Mexico , New York , North Carolina , North Dakota , Ohio , Oregon , Pennsylvania , South Carolina , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Vermont , Virginia , Washington and Wisconsin .
States I visited in Australia (3)	: Queensland , New South Wales , Victoria
Provinces, municipalities and regions I visited in China (3/4/2)	: Beijing, Chongqing, Guangdong, Guangxi Zhuang, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Hong Kong, Hubei, Macau, Shanghai, Taiwan^**, Zhejiang (Cities I visited in China: Beijing, Chongqing, Guilin, Harbin, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Shanghai, Xi'an)

** Mainland China keeps claiming Taiwan as one of its provinces (43rd) while Taiwan (Officially the Republic of China) regards itself as an independent country since China's civil war in late 1940s'. NB: Constitutionally, the ROC government has claimed sovereignty over all of "China" but today governs only the island of Taiwan and some other neighbouring islands.

When you travel, it is important that you learn how to greet people in their own language. People often appreciate that you make the effort to communicate. Click here to see the International "How is it going?" list.

I like the outdoors, camping, hiking, etc. Here is a page with links to National Parks around the world. This is a UNESCO page with links to World Heritage sites.

Enjoying Table Mountain National Park and taking the seat of the game tracker in Kruger National Park in South Africa (September 2010)	Simmering in volcanic natural hot springs in Shikotsu-Toya National Park, Hokkaido Island, Japan (May 2006)
Light hiking in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, USA (August 2004)	Hugging a tree in the rainforest of the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, New Zealand (October 2005)
Sailing with my father in the Okanagan lake, BC Canada (June 1999)	Rock Climbing in Squamish, BC Canada (Fall 1994)
Kayaking on LongBeach, Pacific Rim National Park, BC Canada (September 1994)	Backpacking in Yosemite National Park, CA USA (July 1994)
On top of Blackcomb, Whistler, BC Canada (August 1993)	Freezing on the Columbia Icefields, the largest body of ice in the Rocky Mountains, Jasper National Park, AB Canada (June 1993)
Hiking and Camping in Jasper and Banff National Parks, AB Canada (July 1993)	Hiking in Petit Sagney Provincial Park, Québec Canada (August 1993)
Hiking and bird watching, Djebel Bou-Hedma National Park, Tunisia (December 1992)	Camping in Michigan USA (June 1993)