Professor Ivan Nourdin, mathematician, joined the University of Luxembourg earlier this year as Professor of Stochastic Modelling. What is his background? Why did he choose Luxembourg? What does he plan to do here? Interview with a collegue loving to discover new areas.

Professor Nourdin, please describe your work at the University.

I am a mathematician. I do research in probability theory, mainly working in the general area of stochastic processes and their applications. Nevertheless, when possible I like studying problems that are in the boundary of different fields, such as probability, functional analysis or geometry. For instance, I am currently interested in understanding in depth the phase transition phenomenon for successful recovery in the context of compressed sensing. This is a great occasion to learn and deal with several tools coming from various areas.

Why did you join/choose the University of Luxembourg?

For many reasons! First, the labour and salary conditions are excellent. Also, the multilingual atmosphere creates an environment in which it is very nice to work. Second, Luxembourg is ideally located geographically speaking. As such, it is for instance very easy to invite people or to travel abroad. And last but not least, I was really keen on joining the Mathematics Research Unit which, in my opinion, has already succeeded to become a strong research center.

Could you tell us a bit about your educational and professional background?

I studied mathematics at the Université de Nancy and then at the École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, finishing my master degree in 2001. In 2004, I received the PhD from the Université de Nancy. I joined the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI) as an Assistant Professor in 2005 and then the Université de Lorraine as a Full Professor in 2010. I was appointed Professor of Stochastic Modelling at the University of Luxembourg in 2014, where I am still building my research group.

Do you already have some plans for your future at the University?

I've always been thrilled by rigorous mathematical arguments. But, and even if it will force me to go outside of my comfort zone, I would like starting to engage a non-negligible part of my time in interdisciplinary research. My hope is to be able to learn about new areas, meet new researchers, think in new ways... and publish in new journals!

What are your hobbies, free time activities?

I have two daughters (9 and 4) and, with my wife, we adore playing with them. I enjoy being physically active, and I indeed spend a lot of time running with my dog. I love travelling around the world, seeing different places, and experiencing new cultures. I feel particularly lucky, as I think I've found the perfect job for that!

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© University of Luxembourg – Michel Brumat