PHD LIFE
Triple PhD Success for the Nonlinear Algebra Group
Published May 28, 2026
Three members of our Nonlinear Algebra group obtained their PhD degrees at the University of California, Berkeley on May 22, and they were hooded by their advisor, Bernd Sturmfels. We congratulate and wish them all the best for their next steps.
Hannah Friedman will be a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics ICERM at Brown University. Lizzie Pratt will be a postdoc at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo. Svala Sverrisdóttir will join Merton College in Oxford as a junior research fellow.
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PhD Life
28.05.26
Triple PhD Success for the Nonlinear Algebra Group Triple PhD Success for the Nonlinear Algebra Group
Three members of our Nonlinear Algebra group obtained their PhD degrees at UC Berkeley on May 22, and they were hooded by their advisor, Bernd Sturmfels. We congratulate and wish them all the best for their next steps.
PhD Life
06.05.26
From Physics to Political Narratives From Physics to Political Narratives
Armin Pournaki has successfully completed his doctoral thesis on “Computational Approaches to the Analysis of Political Narratives”. He has now moved to the Institute of Sociology at the University of Bern, where he will contribute to the development of the Digital Society Lab. Congratulations!
PhD Life
16.03.26
Summa cum laude - Congratulations on Successful Dissertation Defense Summa cum laude - Congratulations on Successful Dissertation Defense
Maria Alejandra Ramirez successfully defended her dissertation on Classical and Evolutionary Game Theory. She continues her scientific career as a postdoctoral researcher at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
PhD Life
18.02.26
Structures in Flow – Successful PhD and New Appointment for Konstantin Kalinin Structures in Flow – Successful PhD and New Appointment for Konstantin Kalinin
Congratulations to Konstantin Kalinin on the successful defense of his doctoral dissertation in modern mathematical fluid dynamics and his appointment as William W. Elliott Assistant Research Professor of Mathematics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Well done!
PhD Life
13.01.26
Laura Casabella - From PhD Success to Postdoc Laura Casabella - From PhD Success to Postdoc
Congratulations to Laura Casabella on the successful defense of her PhD dissertation on regular subdivisions at the interface of algebraic, tropical, and metric geometry. She has now joined Goethe University Frankfurt as a postdoctoral researcher.
PhD Life
21.11.25
New Approaches in Computational Commutative Algebra New Approaches in Computational Commutative Algebra
Congratulations to Barbara Betti on successfully completing her PhD! Her research brings a fresh perspective to solving polynomial systems, blending classical Gröbner bases with the concept of Khovanskii bases to address problems in algebraic geometry and beyond.
PhD Life
17.10.25
Heat Flow, Mean Curvature Flow and Their Related Schemes Heat Flow, Mean Curvature Flow and Their Related Schemes
We congratulate Anton Ullrich on the successful defense of his dissertation: “Heat Flow, Mean Curvature Flow and Their Related Schemes”. His next career step will take him to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, United States, as a postdoctoral researcher.
PhD Life
20.08.25
Christian Wagner Successfully Defends PhD on Randomness in Mathematical Models Christian Wagner Successfully Defends PhD on Randomness in Mathematical Models
Christian Wagner, a PhD student in Felix Otto’s group, has successfully defended his doctoral thesis “On the Influence of Quenched Randomness on the Large-Scale Behavior in Drift-Diffusion Equations and Variational Interface Models.” Congratulations!
PhD Life
25.07.25
Congrats on Successful Dissertation Defense Congrats on Successful Dissertation Defense
Fernando Camacho Cadena has successfully defended his doctoral thesis on the symplectic geometry of higher Teichmüller spaces. We warmly congratulate him on this important academic milestone and on his upcoming position at the University of Strasbourg.
PhD Life
10.07.25
Successful Dissertation on Geometric Analysis and Convex Integration Successful Dissertation on Geometric Analysis and Convex Integration
Sandra Ried has successfully defended her dissertation on the method of convex integration in problems of geometric nature and applications in fluid mechanics. We warmly congratulate her and wish her all the best in her future career at the Georgia Institute of Technology!
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