Rate My Professor Irfan Alam

Irfan Alam served as Hans Rademacher Instructor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his PhD in Mathematics from Louisiana State University in 2021, with a dissertation titled "Applications of Nonstandard Analysis in Probability and Measure Theory," co-advised by Karl Mahlburg and Ambar Sengupta. Alam also earned an MA in Philosophy from Louisiana State University in 2021. His academic journey prior to LSU included an M.Math and a B.Math (Hons.).

Alam's research centers on applications of nonstandard analysis in probability theory and measure theory, including Loeb measures and interfaces with mathematical logic. Key publications include "A nonstandard proof of de Finetti’s theorem for Bernoulli random variables" in the Journal of Stochastic Analysis (2020); "Generalizing the de Finetti–Hewitt–Savage theorem" (arXiv:2008.08754, 2020); "Limiting probability measures" (arXiv:1901.10507, 2019); "Entropic exercises around the Kneser–Poulsen conjecture," co-authored with G. Aishwarya, D. Li, S. Myroshnychenko, and O. Zatarain-Vera, in Mathematika (2023); "Limiting spherical integrals of bounded continuous functions" in the Journal of Theoretical Probability (2022); "An introduction to the probabilistic method through the Lovász Local Lemma" (arXiv:1909.11078, 2019); and "Large- Limits of Spaces and Structures," co-authored with A.N. Sengupta, in Communications on Pure and Applied Analysis (2023). At Louisiana State University, he received a Certificate of Excellence in Research. During his tenure at the University of Pennsylvania, Alam taught courses such as MATH 1300: Introduction to Calculus and participated in the Logic and Computation Seminar, delivering talks on topics including nonstandard thinking and the first-order theory of homeomorphism groups of compact manifolds. He also presented at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in 2024 and served on the Research Advisory Board for the Autism & Neurodiversity Research Lab at the University of Delaware starting in Fall 2022. Alam has taught a range of courses, including pre-calculus, various levels of calculus, real analysis, linear algebra, and topics in logic and nonstandard analysis at both LSU and UPenn.