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

Ruiyan (Ronnie) Chen

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