Mihalis Kolountzakis

Mihalis Kolountzakis is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Crete, Greece, specializing in harmonic analysis, additive number theory, combinatorics, and tiling theory. Since 2006 he holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, after serving as Associate Professor from 2000–2006. He has also held visiting positions at Georgia Tech, UIUC, and the Institute for Advanced Study.

Education

• PhD in Mathematics, Stanford University (1994)
• Graduate study in Mathematics, University of Crete (1988–1989)
• BSc in Computer Science, University of Crete (1984–1988)

Research Interests

His work centers on the interplay between Fourier analysis and discrete geometry. Major themes include:

• Tiling and spectral sets: investigating when a domain admits an orthogonal basis of exponentials (Fuglede’s conjecture) and studying translational tilings by functions and sets.
• Additive combinatorics & number theory: problems on sumsets, Sidon sets, and additive energy using probabilistic and harmonic-analytic methods.
• Discrepancy theory: distribution of points and line segments in checkerboard and geometric settings.
• Computational aspects: algorithms for deciding tiling properties, graph algorithms, and learning symmetric Boolean functions.

Publications

With over 100 refereed papers, his recent output (2022–2025) continues to advance tiling theory, spectral questions, and additive combinatorics, often combining analytic techniques with discrete methods.

Teaching and Service

He has taught a wide range of courses including Measure Theory, Harmonic Analysis, Probability, and Discrete Mathematics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He served as Chair of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Crete during 2013.

Contact

• Email: kolount@gmail.com
• Office: Γ-213, Department of Mathematics, University of Crete, 70013 Heraklion, Greece
• Phone: +30-2810393834