Ph.D. 2001, University of Memphis
Balogh completed his Ph.D. in Mathematics with advisor Béla Bollobás at the University of Memphis. He received his Diploma (M.Sc.) in Mathematics with honors (summa cum laude) from Szeged University, Hungary in 1995. His honors include the K. Renyi Prize, awarded by the J. Bolyai Mathematical Society for outstanding research by undergraduate students (1993); and 2-time silver prize winner on the International Mathematical Olympiade (1989, 1990). After receiving his Ph.D., he held a Shannon Postdoctoral Fellowship at AT&T Labs, Shannon Laboratory; was a Visitor at Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, in 2002; and most recently was a Zassenhaus Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University from 2002-2005. His research areas include Bootstrap percolation, interacting particle systems, extremal graph theory, graph theory, hypergraphs, combinatorics, and discrete computational geometry. Jozsef is married; he and his wife are expecting their first child in November. He is a big soccer fan and chess player.
Jozsef Balogh
Ph.D. 2002, University of Michigan
Kirr, a native of Romania, received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan while interning during summers for Bell Laboratories. Before coming to Urbana-Champaign he spent three years as a L. E. Dickson instructor at the University of Chicago. His main research concerns the theory and simulations of linear and nonlinear PDE's. Kirr is particularly interested in interactions between waves and finite dimensional dynamical systems and their applications in Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Physics, Optics and Fluid Dynamics. His hobbies include tennis and swimming. Kirr is married to Mirela Kirr; they have a seven year old son, Alex.
Eduard-Wilhelm Kirr
Ph.D. 2002, University of Texas at Austin
Leininger received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin under the supervision of Alan Reid in May 2002. His initial work was in the geometry and topology of surfaces in hyperbolic 3-manifolds. He went to Barnard College and Columbia University where he held an NSF postdoc fellowship in conjunction with adjunct assistant professorships. Since the time of writing his thesis, Leininger has taken an interest in mapping class groups and Teichmüller theory with an eye toward the various connections to hyperbolic geometry. He was married to Katie Leininger in May 1995. Their son Kaleb (March 2003) and daughter Emily (April 2005) keep them on their toes.
Christopher Leininger
Ph.D. 2001, University of Missouri at Columbia
Li, a native of China, was a Hedrick Assistant Professor in 2001-2004 at UCLA and held a position in 2004-2005 at the Institute for Advanced Study before coming to Illinois. His research interests are mainly in harmonic analysis. He and his wife have a 5-month-old son. Li enjoys classical music and playing “Go”, a board game originated from China 4000 years ago.
Xiaochun Li
Ph.D. 2003, University of Paris, Pierre et Marie Curie, France
Rosendal did his graduate work on applications of descriptive set theory to the isomorphism theory of Banach spaces under the direction of Alain Louveau at the University of Paris, Pierre et Marie Curie. In the period after obtaining his Ph. D. he has mostly been engaged in a broad study of Polish groups arising in model theory and dynamics in order to understand them both as topological groups and as purely abstract groups. One successful part of this study has been to develop a theory of automatic continuity of group homomorphisms and apply this to different problems in dynamics and the theory of topological groups. Before getting caught up in the mathematical world, Christian worked at becoming a philosopher, and now, when not doing mathematics, he can often be found hiking and mountaineering in French, Spanish and Norwegian mountain ranges.
Christian Rosendal
Ph.D. 2004, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Rapti studied in Athens, Greece where she received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. She then attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she received her Ph.D. in Mathematics in 2004. After that she spent one year in Princeton, NJ at the Institute for Advanced Study. Her research interests are in applied mathematics. She has been studying the thermodynamics of nonlinear models for DNA denaturation using a transfer operator approach, and instabilities of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation using dynamical systems methods.
Zoi Rapti
Ph.D. 2004, Macquarie University
Hart obtained his Ph.D. at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. His supervisor was Alf van der Poorten and his thesis was in the area of explicit algebraic number theory and modular equations. Since then he has worked at the Mathematical Institute in Leiden, The Netherlands, with Peter Stevenhagen on various aspects of algebraic number theory, and he also studied some modern Iwasawa theory. His many (too many) hobbies currently include computer programming, "tricking" (its a kind of extreme sport), watching 80's movies and TV shows and writing expositions on various technical and also religious topics.
William Hart
Ph.D. 2003, University of Utah
Anca Mustata, a native of Romania, received her Ph.D. from the University of Utah under the supervision of Herbert Clemens. During 2003-2005 she was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Jim Bryan. She will be visiting MSRI during the Spring 2006 semester. Her interests are in the area of algebraic geometry inspired by physics, particularly Hilbert schemes of curves in special Calabi-Yau threefolds and moduli spaces of stable maps.
Anca-Magdalena Mustata
Ph.D. 2003, University of Utah
Andrei Mustata, a native of Romania, received his Ph.D. from the University of Utah under the supervision of Aaron Bertram. During 2003-2005 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, working with Kai Behrend. He will be visiting MSRI during the Spring 2006 semester. His current interests are in the area of algebraic geometry inspired by physics, particularly moduli spaces of stable maps. Andrei and Anca are married and have a five year old daughter, Anna.
Andrei Mustata
Ph.D. 2004, Wroclaw University, Poland
Krupinski, a native of Poland, received his Ph.D. from the Wroclaw University under the supervision of Professor Ludomir Newelski. After graduating in 2004, he spent one year working for the Polish Academy of Sciences. His research area concerns model theory and its connections with algebra and topology. Professionally demanding, privately he is a loving husband for his wife Kasia. Being in Illinois, he has found special joy in playing Frisbee.
Krzysztof Krupinski
New Ph.D.’s In the period between Fall 2004 and Summer 2005, a total of eighteen new mathematics Ph.D.’s were deposited in the Graduate College. Ten of these most recent graduates took postdoctoral or temporary positions in mathematics departments (nine in research active departments), five went on to permanent academic positions (one in economics, the rest in mathematics), and two accepted jobs in industry (one in investment banking, and one with Wolfram, Inc.). We have high hopes for all of them.
Incoming class. Forty-two new students joined our Department at the beginning of this semester, including 29 in the Ph.D. program, 9 in the Actuarial Sciences Masters program and 4 in our other Masters programs. The members of this incoming class hail from eleven countries on five continents; twenty-one are from the USA, seven from China, six from Korea and one each from Brazil, Dominican Republic, Kenya, India, Rumania, Spain, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Invited talks and conference presentations: In the
past year the following students in our graduate program gave invited
presentations on their research.
o Fourth year student Lucas Sabalka spoke at four conferences last year,
including an invited address at an AMS meeting in Albuquerque (October,
2004).
o Seventh year student Hemanshu Kaul has been invited to present his work
at the Illinois Institute for Technology, Chicago in October 2005, and
has been invited to chair a short session on Special Topics in Graphs
& Networks at the annual INFORMS meeting in San Francisco, November
2005.
o Third year student Nadia Masri spoke in the Graduate Student Seminar
at the University of Georgia.
o Fourth year student Chris Lee will present an invited paper at the January
AMS meeting in San Antonio.
o Seventh year student Iana Anguelova presented an invited paper at the
October AMS meeting in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
o Fourth year student Gexin Yu will present an invited talk at the 19th
Midwest Conference on Combinatorics, Cryptography and Computing in Rochester,
NY.
o Sixth year student Stephanie Treneer gave an invited talk at the Combinatorial
and Additive Number Theory Conference (CANT 2005) in May, and will present
an invited paper at the January AMS meeting in San Antonio.
o Seventh year student Jinjia Li presented an invited paper at the AMS
meeting in Atlanta.
Papers published in the past year:
o Fourth year student Lucas Sabalka had two papers published in the last
year, one in the journal Algebraic and Geometric Topology, and one in
a Contemporary Mathematics volume on Group theory, statistics, and cryptography.
o Seventh year student Hemanshu Kaul had three papers accepted for publication
in 2005; two are jointly authored with his advisor Sheldon Jacobson and
will appear in the journal Mathematical Programming, and one is a joint
publication with Professor A. Kostochka (UIUC) and will appear in the
journal Combinatorics, Probability and Computing.
o Fourth year student Maosheng Xiong had a jointly authored paper (with
Kegin Feng) published in the Journal of Number Theory.
o Sixth year student Stephanie Treneer has had a paper accepted for publication
in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society.
o Seventh year student Jinjia Li published a paper in the Journal of Algebra.
New Take-the-speaker-to-lunch program. One of the great advantages of a large active department such as ours is that it is host to a steady stream of noteworthy visitors. The chance to interact with such visitors is an opportunity that should be exploited to the fullest. Recognizing that one easy way for graduate students to do so is through social events such as lunches and dinners, the Graduate Office is now offering to pay for the meal. (Well not quite: we’ll subsidize up to $8’s worth). A handsome voucher designed with professional help from Tori Corkery is available from the Graduate Office and can be redeemed in the Business Office.
Fun facts: The first Ph.D. was awarded by this department
in 1903. Between that time and August 2005, there have been 1065 others.
The average number per year over the last ten years is twenty. This represents
approximately 10% of the total number per year produced by the top 48
research departments in the U.S. (i.e., by those classified as Group I
in AMS Annual Surveys).
Bradlow appointed Director of Graduate Studies
Steven Bradlow was appointed Director of Graduate Studies in July 2005. He received his PhD in 1988 from the University of Chicago. His thesis advisor was Karen Uhlenbeck. After a year at Stanford and a semester as an MSRI Postdoctoral Fellow, he spent two years as an S.E. Warschawski Assistant Professor in the UC San Diego mathematics department. In 1991 he was awarded an NSF-NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship to participate in a year-long program on Gauge Theory at the Mathematical Institute at Warwick University in the UK. He joined the UIUC Mathematics Department in 1992.
He has had two appointments at the UIUC Center for Advanced Study, one as a Beckman Fellow (in 1994) and one as an Associate (in 2002). In 2002 he went as a Clay Foundation Emissary to a workshop at the Schrödinger Institute in Vienna.
In his research Professor Bradlow studies vector bundles and moduli spaces. These play a central role in areas of mathematics such as algebraic geometry, complex differential geometry, symplectic geometry, and also in mathematical gauge theory, where they provide the setting for far-reaching generalizations of Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetism. In his most recent work he and his collaborators have used moduli spaces of a special class of bundles called Higgs bundles to study questions in geometric group theory. Though he wishes he had a better understanding of it all, the problems he’s interested in are caught up in the cascade of ideas which string theory has sent swirling through geometry.
He has published 25 papers in peer-reviewed journals and co-edited the Proceeding of the 1st USA/Brazil Workshop on Geometry, Topology and Physics.
He helped organize a workshop on Geometry, Topology and Physics in 1996 in Campinas, Brazil, a workshop on Higgs Bundles at MSRI in 2002, and was on the organizing committee for the joint meeting of the AMS, the London Math Society and the South African Math Society in Pretoria, South Africa in 1997. He has also organized three special sessions at AMS meetings, one on Geometry and Physics, one on Extremal Metrics and Moduli Spaces, and one on Holomorphic Bundles and Complex Geometry. Together with John D’Angelo and Robert Leigh (Physics) he helped organize a 1999 Workshop on ‘Mathematics from Physics - Recent Trends and New Development’ which was held on this campus. He is on the Scientific Committee of the European Vector Bundles on Algebraic Curves (VBAC) group.
Professor Bradlow is a co-developer of EggMath [chickscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/explore/eggmath/],
a popular website which has a collection of web-based modules covering
topics in mathematics related to eggs. This was developed as part of the
Beckman Institute’s ChickScope project in which K-12 classes studied
chicken embryo development using a remotely controlled magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) instrument.
He is married to Bridget Carragher and has two children.
Service awards presented to staff
Department of Mathematics staff members, Kay Daly, Cherri Davison, and Sara Nelson, recently received service awards from the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.
Kay Daly, who received her 15 year service award, has been with the Department of Mathematics for the entire 15 years of service. She started as a Secretary II receptionist in the main office in July 1990. After a few years, she moved from the main office to work for the undergraduate director, Elliot Weinberg, and with the freshman advisor, Dianna Armstrong. She has been in the Undergraduate Math office ever since, working with Dianna and two other directors, Graham Evans and now Randy McCarthy. She enjoys the lively pace of the undergraduate office and finds dealing with the students a rewarding experience.
Cherri Davison received her 20 year service award. She was hired by the Department of Mathematics in October 1984 as a Clerk Typist II and started in the main office doing various duties, including technical typing and assisting Joann Hower with the faculty search. In 1989, she moved to the mathematics office in Illini Hall, where she worked with Peter Braunfeld for 3 years helping organize the summer camps for high school students and the math teacher workshops. Later she worked with Tony Peressini with the Distance Education Program, the Math Teacher Link Program and the Calculus & Mathematica Program. She also helped organize the Allerton Conference held at Allerton Park in 1993. During the next three years she worked with Karen Mortensen organizing the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) State Math Contest Finals for over 2000 high school students from around the state. In 2003, Cherri completed the circle and returned to the main office where she performs a number of duties, one being receptionist for the department.
Sara Nelson received her 15 year service award. Sara,
a native of Danville, graduated from Danville Area Junior College in 1969,
moved to Champaign, and in August 1969 took a position as a Secretary
III in the Conferences and Institutes section of the University of Illinois
which was housed in Illini Hall at that time. She held that position for
8 years. The job was interesting—travels to Chicago, Rock Island,
and New Orleans, to name a few, and almost weekly trips to Allerton House.
She left the University in 1977 when she landed a series of typesetting
jobs in industry. Sara returned to the University in 1997 with a position
as a Secretary III in the Department of Mathematics where she continues
to work in the main department office. Her skill in typing technical math
papers continues to be a valuable resource to the faculty.
Fireplace
in 313 Altgeld Hall. The Undergraduate office recently relocated their offices
to 313 Altgeld where visitors can enjoy the woodwork and view to the north
from the tower windows.
Wall border uncovered during preservation research of Altgeld Hall.