My name is Ville Tossavainen and I live in San Jose, California. My interest topics include history, technology, science, and environmental issues. In my free time, I enjoy road biking, walking in nature, and being with my family.

I have an M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering. I specialized in multi-phase flow and combustion simulations during my ten-year academic career. Since then, I have worked both as an entrepreneur and an employee on many interesting projects. Understanding underlying data is a key factor in many decision-making processes, and I enjoy helping to turn raw data streams into information and insights. Currently, I work as a Field Application Engineer for a touch-display and AR/VR testing robot company.

I've been interested in genealogy for over 25 years. My own family roots are mainly in Northern Savonia, and partly in Ostrobothnia and Kainuu. All of them are regions in Finland. Over the years, I've also done a lot of research concerning other parts of Finland and other countries. I have a specific interest in Finnish immigrants and their life in the United States and Canada. I have been able to help on many voluntary basis, especially if there's a common interest. I have also enjoyed working as a freelancer.

For the past few years, I have been particularly interested in genetic genealogy. I have coordinated or assisted regarding the research needs and DNA results. The challenges have concerned finding family connections through paternal lines and searching for unknown ancestors. The main tools have been paternal line (Y-DNA) tests, but also so-called family finder (autosomal) tests.

Read more about my genealogy projects