Mark received his bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pretoria in 2008, and received awards for best final year project and best aeronautical project for his final year project "UAV Autopilot Implementation: Longitudinal control". Subsequently, with a scholarship from the Swiss government, he received a masters degree in mechanical engineering from the ETH Zurich in 2011, being awarded the Jakob Ackeret prize of the Swiss Aeronautical Association for his thesis "Quadrocopter ball juggling". Since September 2011 he has been pursuing a doctorate at the ETH Zurich under Professor D'Andrea.

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