Leonie Kayser Earns PhD and Joins University of Bern

Leonie Kayser has successfully completed her PhD under the supervision of Simon Telen and will soon join the University of Bern as a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Jan Draisma, where she will work on the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) project "Symmetry in Large Algebraic Structures".

Leonie's research interests lie in algebra and algebraic geometry with a strong computational focus. She is particularly interested in tensor decomposition, algebraic optimization, and the interplay between algebraic geometry and matroid theory.

In her doctoral thesis, Leonie explored systems of polynomial equations and their solutions from the perspective of computation and complexity. Her research focused on developing efficient algorithms while uncovering the underlying mathematical structures that arise in problems across mathematics, science, and engineering. Among other topics, she investigated the complexity of eigenvalue methods for symmetric tensor decomposition, the Euclidean distance degree in system identification and model reduction, and the discriminant of maximum likelihood estimation for linear models in algebraic statistics.

Before joining our institute in 2023, Leonie studied mathematics and computer science in a dual-degree program at Leibniz University Hannover from 2016 to 2022.

Beyond her research, Leonie has been an active member of the MPI MiS community. She served as a PhD representative and co-founded the Queer in Math Day in 2024, helping to foster diversity and inclusion within the mathematical sciences.

We warmly congratulate Leonie on this important milestone and wish her every success and an inspiring start to her postdoctoral research in Bern!