Join us in welcoming Jose Gil-Ferez, Ph.D. to Schmid College as an assistant professor of mathematics. We asked Dr. Gil-Ferez a few questions to get to know him and his research!

Dr. Gil-Ferez

Q & A with Dr. Gil-Ferez

What is your current area of research and how did you become passionate about this area?

My current area of research is Algebraic Logic. I have always enjoyed Mathematics since I was a child, but when I saw the formalization of an argument for the first time in my Philosophy class in high school, I immediately became in love with it. The fact that logical arguments could be analyzed using precise mathematical techniques was a wonderful discovery to me. Once in college, I developed a liking for Algebra: learning the nuances of every particular concept fitting nicely together to produce general laws, or theorems as we call them, permeating the whole discipline was like contemplating absolute beauty. Later, it came as a surprise to me that Logic and Algebra were not two orthogonal subjects, as I used to think, but they are intertwined in a most graceful way. And since then I have tried to understand this connection.

What is your favorite thing about being a professor?

Being a professor has many good aspects to it: being able to discuss and investigate questions about which you feel passionate and making discoveries, realizing that you are seeing something that nobody has ever thought before, clearly rank quite high in the list of things that I like about my profession. But the one thing that I love is to see how I can show new horizons to students by exposing them to mathematical ideas and letting them make the exploration.

Schmid College believes that the best science happens when diverse individuals are supported, included and empowered to share their voices as part of scientific discovery. Please share with us what diversity, equity, and inclusion mean to you and why they’re important.

The goal of science is to create models to help us explain the world. The desire to understand our environment is not patrimony of any particular human group, but something that we all share. It is inherent to the human nature. And science is the best way we have come up to pursue and satisfy this desire. Therefore, science should be a collective endeavor, as it benefits from the contribution of people from all ages and backgrounds. And this is even more evident in Mathematics, a millenary discipline whose elements are embedded in everyone’s mind and in which every mind can take part.

Share a fun fact about yourself.

Sometimes I like to play some background noise before I go to sleep, which helps to drive my mind away from the thoughts that keep me awake. And videos explaining very mechanical and repetitive handcrafts are just cut for that matter. But, often times I end up interested in the crafts and I want to learn all about them…, which obviously defeat the purpose. (An example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFXWZ4FuD24)

Is there anything else you would like to share with our Schmid College community?

I just would like to say that I am delighted to be joining Schmid College and to contribute to its mission. I’m eager to learn more about Chapman University and to meet my new students.