Hi, I’m John Cobb
I’m a fourth year PhD student in the mathematics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison advised by both Daniel Erman and Michael Kemeny. From 2019 to 2022, I was supported by a DoD NDSEG Fellowship. Details are in my CV.
My research interests are within algebraic geometry and commutative algebra. Currently, I am studying things like geometric/homological perspectives on syzygies and lifting classical results to the toric setting.

- jcobb2@math.wisc.edu
- Van Vleck, Office 820
- he/him/his
Featured Courses and Organization
GAeL XXX
Géométrie Algébrique en Liberté, also known as GAeL, is an annual workshop organized by and for young algebraic geometers.
Directed Reading Program
The DRP is a math mentoring program that pairs undergraduate students with graduate student mentors, for a semester-long independent study project.
Featured Publications
Syzygies of Curves in Products of Projective Spaces
.
arXiv, 2023.
Virtual Criterion for Generalized Eagon-Northcott Complexes
.
Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, 2021.
News
- A beer featuring art about algebraic geometry research that I helped design is now being sold in Madison. Check it out.
- I began my first year in the Mathematics PhD program at UW Madison.
- The College Today published an article on the Scott Ward Award.
- I won a DoD NDSEG Fellowship.
- The College Today published an article on the Quaternionic Soliton project.
- I won a Goldwater Scholarship.
Travel
Jul 10–14, '23 | SIAM Conference on Applied Algebraic Geometry (AG23), Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands |
Jul 3–7, '23 | GAeL XXX, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK |
Apr 14–16, '23 | Syzygies and Regularity, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL |
Apr 1, '23 | CA+, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN |
Dec 5–9, '22 | Birational Complexity of Algebraic Varieties, Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, Stony Brook, NY |
Nov 5–6, '22 | Western Algebraic Geometry Symposium, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA |
Oct 22–23, '22 | AMS Fall Western Sectional Meeting, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah |
Oct 19, '22 | Center for Computing Sciences, Bowie, MD |
Aug 10–11, '22 | MAGGC 2022, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL |
Jul 24–28, '22 | NDSEG Fellows Conference, Boston, MA |
May 23–27, '22 | GAel XXIX, Université Paris-Saclay, Paris, France |
May 16–20, '22 | Géometrie Algébrique en l'honneur de Claire Voisin, Institut Henri Poincare, Paris, France |