We asked two current and two former MATHRIX Assistant Professors about the highlights and opportunities that the MATHRIX programme has offered them. Kristin Gabe, Anna Gusakova, Franziska Jahnke and Aleksandra Kwiatkowska share their experiences.
My time in Münster was formative for my career. The research environment is unmatched, proving for me to be the ideal incubator for a project with Wilhelm Winter, which has inspired the basis of my current early career grant with the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF). Beyond this, I consistently benefited from the extensive support for collaboration and networking. The MATHRIX position itself eased and accelerated my transition from postdoc to professor and provided a unique opportunity to learn firsthand from leaders at the Institute, University, and international level.
Kristin (Courtney) Gabe was a MATHRIX Assistant Professor from 2022 to 2023. Since 2023, she has held an assistant professorship at the University of Southern Denmark. In July 2025 she has received the highly esteemed Inge Lehmann grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark. Kristin Gabe is an external investigator of Mathematics Münster. Her research primarily focuses on operator algebras, particularly C*-algebras, as well as related objects such as operator systems, topological groups, and groupoids.
During the MATHRIX Professorship I have gotten an opportunity to become a principal investigator of the newly established Research Training Group. Writing a proposal and being part of the evaluation process was a very valuable and important experience for me, that will definitely influence my future career. This achievement is also one of the highlights of my MATHRIX Professorship.
Anna Gusakova has been a MATHRIX Assistant Professor since September 2021 and works in the field of Stochastic Geometry, embedded within the Mathematics Münster research program in the topic of Random discrete structures and their limits. She is principal investigator of the Research Training Group Rigorous Analysis of Complex Random Systems (RTG 3027), which is dedicated to educating mathematicians in the field of complex random systems and will commence its activities in October 2025.
Read the profile about Anna Gusakova
There were many highlights during my time as a MATHRIX professor! My mathematical highlight was likely the start of my collaboration with my co-author, Konstantinos Kartas, which began when he came to visit me as a Visiting Doctoral Researcher. But there are also many ways, beyond research opportunities, in which the MATHRIX position allowed me to qualify for a tenured professorship: I supervised my first PhD student, designed and delivered both large and small lecture courses. A highlight of a very personal nature was the birth of my second child. Overall, the MATHRIX professorship really gave me the chance to grow into handling many challenges and responsibilities that come with a career in academia.
Franziska Jahnke was a MATHRIX Assistant Professor from 2017 to 2024. Since 2024, she has held a permanent professorship at the University of Münster, following her previous position as Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam. Her research combines mathematical logic with applications in algebra, with a significant focus on the model theory of valued fields. Already during her time as Assistant Professor she used the possibility to invite several Visiting Doctoral Researchers and Young Research Fellows. She organised several international conferences, participated in research programmes at the Institut Henri Poincaré (IHP) in Paris and at the MSRI (now Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute) and obtained several grants.
The MATHRIX Assistant Professorship gave me a number of opportunities, such as working with very smart PhD and master's students, participating in grants at the University of Münster, which supported my collaborations with researchers from various parts of the world. Moreover, I had an opportunity to co-organize an edition of the “Young Set Theory” workshop at the University of Münster. Overall, the MATHRIX Professorship helped me prepare for a career as a professor.
Aleksandra Kwiatkowska has held the position of MATHRIX Assistant Professor since 2020. Her primary research interests focus on the study of the structure and dynamics of topological groups, and are embedded within the Models and Universes topic of the Mathematics Münster research programme. She has organised the Young Set Theory Workshop, which received financial support from Mathematics Münster as part of Young Mathematicians Conference Network (YMCN) Programme. She also works at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Wrocław in Poland.