Rate My Professor David Kerr

Professor David Kerr holds the position of Professor in the Mathematisches Institut at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster since 2021, where he is also an Investigator in the Cluster of Excellence Mathematics Münster. His field of expertise is operator algebras and mathematical physics, with research focusing on ergodic theory, C*-algebras, sofic groups, dynamical entropy, amenability, group actions, and related topics in dynamics and quantum groups. Kerr obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Toronto in 2001, an M.Sc. in Mathematics from the same university in 1995, and a B.Math. (Honours) with a double major in Pure and Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo in 1994. Before joining Münster, he served at Texas A&M University for sixteen years, progressing from Assistant Professor (2004–2009) to Associate Professor (2009–2013) and Professor (2013–2020). Earlier postdoctoral appointments included NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowships at the University of Tokyo (2001–2002) and University of Rome I (2002–2003), an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship at the University of Münster (2003–2004), and a JSPS Research Fellowship at the University of Tokyo (2004–2005). He has held visiting positions at institutions such as ENS de Lyon, University of Tokyo, Erwin Schrödinger Institute, and Mittag-Leffler Institute.

Kerr co-authored the book Ergodic Theory: Independence and Dichotomies with Hanfeng Li (Springer Monographs in Mathematics, 2016) and has published extensively on topics bridging ergodic theory and operator algebras, including key papers such as "Entropy and the variational principle for actions of sofic groups" with Hanfeng Li (Invent. Math. 186, 2011), "Soficity, amenability, and dynamical entropy" with Hanfeng Li (Amer. J. Math. 135, 2013), "Entropy, products, and bounded orbit equivalence" with Hanfeng Li (Ergodic Theory Dynam. Systems 43, 2023), and "Almost finiteness and the small boundary property" with Gábor Szabó (Comm. Math. Phys. 374, 2020). His work advances the classification of infinite-dimensional objects through finite approximations, dynamical tilings, and entropy theories. Kerr has received the 2017 Association of Former Students College Level Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching and the 2012 Department of Mathematics Teaching Award from Texas A&M University, the 2002 Canadian Mathematical Society Doctoral Prize, and various fellowships including JSPS and Humboldt. He has been principal investigator on multiple NSF and DFG grants totaling over $1 million and collaborates internationally on projects in dynamics and operator algebras.