
Logic
The graduate program in mathematical logic at the University of Illinois is one of the most active such programs in the world, with a large community of faculty and students. Most aspects of the subject are represented here, especially model theory and its applications and descriptive set theory. A particular emphasis of our program is on the connections of logic to other important areas of mathematics.
Graduate Students
Neer Bhardwaj - arrived Fall 2015 from IIT Kanpu; Advisor: van den Dries
Eion Blanchard - arrived Fall 2018 from the University of Florida; Advisor: Hieronymi
Rocco Davino - arrived Fall 2019 from Wesleyan University; Advisor: Hieronymi
Maddie Farris - arrived Fall 2019 from Wellesley College; Advisor: Hieronymi
Dakota Ihli - arrived Fall 2016 from North Dakota State University; Advisor: Tserunyan
Ran Ji - arrived Fall 2018 from Wellesley College; Advisor: Hieronymi
Christian Schulz - arrived Fall 2017 from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology; Advisor: Hieronymi
Jenna Zomback - arrived Fall 2017 from SUNY Geneseo; Advisor: Tserunyan
Former Faculty
- Slawomir Solecki (arrived in 2001, moved to Cornell 2017)
- Margit Messmer (arrived in 1996, moved to the University of Leeds in 2006)
- Christian Rosendal (arrived in 2005, moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008)
- Philipp Hieronymi (arrived in 2010, moved to the University of Bonn in 2021)
Recent Postdocs
Alexander Berenstein, J.L. Doob Research Assistant Professor, 2002-05
Clifton Ealy, J.L. Doob Research Assistant Professor, 2004-07
Tobias Kaiser, Model Theory Postdoctoral Fellow, 2002-03
Piotr Kowalski, Model Theory Postdoctoral Fellow, 2002-04
Krzysztof Krupinski, Visiting Assistant Professor, 2005-08
Julien Melleray, J. L. Doob Research Assistant Professor, 2006-07
Wai Yan Pong, J.L. Doob Research Assistant Professor, 1999-2002
Marcin Sabok, Visiting Assistant Professor, Spring and Fall, 2011
Anush Tserunyan, J. L. Doob Research Assistant Professor, 2013-15
Evgueni Vassiliev (Yevgeniy Vasilyev), J.L. Doob Research Assistant Professor, 2001-04
Erik Walsberg, J.L. Doob Research Assistant Professor, 2016-19
Former Postdocs
Recent PhD Graduates
2021
Alexi Block Gorman
- Thesis title: Pairs and Predicates in Expansions of O-minimal Structures
- Thesis Advisor: Philipp Hieronymi
- First position: Postdoc Fields Institute
Mary Angelica Gramcko-Tursi
- Thesis title: Topics on the geometry and classification of Banach lattices
- Thesis Advisor: Timur Oikhberg
- First position: Lockheed Martin
Elliot Kaplan
- Thesis title: Derivations on o-minimal fields
- Thesis Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: NSF Postdoc Fields Institute/McMaster
2020
Nigel Pynn-Coates
- Thesis title: On asymptotic valued differential fields with small derivation
- Thesis Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: Postdoc Ohio State
2019
Travis Nell
- Thesis title: Distality in pairs
- Thesis Advisor: Philipp Hieronym
- First position: Data Scientist at Capital One
Chieu Minh Tran
- Thesis title: Model theory in partially random structures
- Thesis Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: Postdoc Notre Dame
2018
Anton Bernshteyn
- Thesis title: Coloring problems in combinatorics and descriptive set theory
- Thesis Advisor: Alexandr Kostochka and Anush Tserunyan
- First position: Postdoc CMU
Santiago Camacho
- Thesis title: Truncation in Differential Hahn Fields
- Thesis Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: Postdoc Illinois Wesleyan
Erin Caulfield
- Thesis title: Classifying expansions of the real field by complex subgroups
- Thesis Advisor: Philipp Hieronymi
- First position: Postdoc McMaster University
Mahmood Etedadi Aliabadi
- Thesis title: Generic behaviour of a measure preserving transformation
- Thesis Advisor: Slawomir Solecki
- First position: Postdoc North Texas
Tigran Hakobyan
- Thesis title: Algebraically closed fields with characters; differential-henselian monotone valued differential fields
- Thesis Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: Software Engineer at Facebook
2017
Allen Gehret
- Thesis title: Towards a model theory of logarithmic transseries
- Thesis Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: NSF Postdoc at UCLA
Aristotelis Panagiotopoulos
- Thesis title: Structures and Dynamics
- Thesis Advisor: Slawomir Solecki
- First position: Postdoc at Caltech
2014
Min Zhao
- Thesis title: Ramsey theory and its application
- Thesis Advisor: Slawomir Solecki
- First position: Fedex
2012
Aleksandra Kwiatkowska
- Thesis title: Dynamics of Polish groups
- Thesis Advisor: Slawomir Solecki
- First position: Hedrick Assistant Adjunct Professor at UCLA
Kostyantyn Slutskyy
- Thesis title: Extending Partial Isomorphisms
- Thesis Advisor: Christian Rosendal (UIC)
- First position: Postdoc at University of Copenhagen
2011
Aaron Hill
- Thesis title: Centralizers in Automorphism Groups.
- Thesis advisor: Slawomir Solecki.
- First position: postdoc at Univ. of N. Texas.
Jesse Miller
- Thesis title: Nonstandard Techniques in Lifting Theory.
- Thesis advisor: Peter Loeb.
- First position: Univ. of Texas at Austin.
Shichang Song
- Thesis title: Model Theory and Probability
- Thesis advisor: C. Ward Henson
- First position: Academy of Sciences, Beijing
2010
Maya Saran
- Thesis title: Some Results on G-delta Ideals of Compact Sets.
- Thesis advisor: Slawomir Solecki.
2009
Sylvia E.B. Carlisle
- Thesis title: Model Theory of R-trees and their Isometries.
- Thesis advisor: C. Ward Henson.
- First position: Asst. Prof. at Eastern Illinois University.
Isaac Goldbring
- Thesis title: Nonstandard Methods in Lie Theory.
- Thesis advisor: Lou van den Dries.
- First positions: postdoc at UCLA.
Vinicius Cifu Lopes
- Thesis title: Grothendieck Semirings and Definable Endofunctors.
- Thesis advisor: Lou van den Dries.
- First position: in Brazil.
Hernando Tellez
- Thesis title: Contributions to Model Theory of Metric Structures.
- Thesis advisor: C. Ward Henson.
- First position: St. Ambrose University.
2008
Zhou (JoJo) Dong
- Thesis title: The Injective Envelope as the Space of Extremal Functions.
- Thesis advisor: Slawomir Solecki.
Ayhan Gunaydin
- Thesis title: Model Theory of Fields with Multiplicative Groups.
- Thesis advisor: Lou van den Dries.
- First positions: postdocs at University of Oxford, then Fields Institute, then Lisbon.
Jana Marikova
- Thesis title: O-minimal Fields with Standard Part Map.
- Thesis advisor: Lou van den Dries.
- First position: postdoc at McMaster University.
Javier Moreno
- Thesis title: Iterative Differential Galois Theory in Positive Characteristic: A Model Theoretic Approach.
- Thesis advisor: Anand Pillay.
- First position: postdoc at University of Lyon 1.
2007
Salih Azgin
- Thesis title: Model Theory of Valued Difference Fields.
- Thesis advisor: Lou van den Dries.
- First position: postdoc at McMaster University.
Maciej Malicki
- Thesis title: Topologies and Metrics on Polish Groups.
- Thesis advisor: Slawomir Solecki.
- First position: postdoc at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Konstantinos Schoretsanitis
- Thesis title: Fraisse Theory for Metric Structures.
- Thesis advisor: C. Ward Henson.
Sonat Suer
- Thesis title: Model Theory of Differentially Closed Fields with Several Commuting Derivations.
- Thesis advisor: Anand Pillay.
- First positions: in Turkey, then postdoc at National University, Bogota.
2006
Pedro Poitevin
- Thesis title: Model Theory of Nakano Spaces.
- Thesis advisor: C. Ward Henson
- First position: Assistant Professor, Salem State College, Massachusetts.
2005
Dominika Polkowska
- Thesis title: Bounded Pseudoalgebraically Closed Structures.
- Thesis advisor: Anand Pillay
- First position: entered the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Congregation, Nashville
2004
Jerry Gagelman
- Thesis title: Stability in Geometric Theories
- Thesis advisor: Anand Pillay
- First position: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Technische Universitaet Berlin
Alfio Giarlotta
- Thesis title: Lexicographic products of linear orderings
- Thesis advisor: C. Ward Henson
- First position: Assistant Professor, Faculty of Economics, University of Catania, Italy (since 1994)
Joe Mileti
- Thesis title: Partition Theorems and Computability Theory
- Thesis advisor: Carl G. Jockusch
- First position: L.E. Dickson Instructor at the University of Chicago
2003
Amador Martin Pizarro
- Thesis title: Algebraic curves over supersimple fields
- Thesis advisor: Anand Pillay
- First position: Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter at the Humboldt Universitaet zu Berlin
Thomas Rohwer
- Thesis title: Valued difference fields as modules over twisted polynomial rings
- Thesis Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: Manager Software Solutions, TNG -The Net Generation
James Tyne
- Thesis title: T-levels and T-convexity
- Thesis Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: VIGRE postdoc at Ohio State
2002
Brian Dunphy
- Thesis title: Parametricity as a notion of uniformity in reflexive graphs
- Advisor: Uday Reddy (CS); C. Ward Henson
- First position: National Security Agency
2001
Matthias Aschenbrenner
- Thesis title: Ideal membership in polynomial rings over the integers
- Advisor: Lou van den Dries
- First position: Ch. B. Morrey Jr. Visiting Assistant Professor at University of California, Berkeley
Rahim Moosa
- Thesis title: Model-theoretic results in algebraic and complex analytic geometry
- Advisor: Anand Pillay
- First position: NSERC (Canada) postdoc at University of California, Berkeley, and Moore Instructorship at MIT
Linda Lawton
- Thesis title: Decision problems in the lattice of PI^0_1 classes
- Advisor: Carl G. Jockusch
- First position: Assistant Professor at Western Illinois University
Faculty working in Logic






