Last updated in . Get the latest version at johndcobb.github.io/cv/.
Print

John D. Cobb
jdcobb3@gmail.com https://github.com/johndcobb johndcobb
Research Interests: Algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, and their applications.

Employment

2024–2027

Auburn University
nsf postdoctoral research fellow

Auburn, AL

Sponsor: Hal Schenck.

Education

2019–2024

University of Wisconsin-Madison
ph.d. mathematics

Madison, WI

Advisors: Daniel Erman, Michael Kemeny.

2015–2019

Honors College of Charleston
b.s. mathematics, b.a. chemistry, minor data science

Charleston, SC

Invited Visits

Jan–Apr 2027

ICERM (long-term visitor)
semester program in metric ag

Providence, RI

May 2026

ICERM (short-term visitor)
collaborate@icerm: ag in spectral theory

Providence, RI

May 2025

Fields Institute (short-term visitor)
semester program in ag and combinatorics

Toronto, Canada

Selected Awards & Grants

2025 NSF conference grant DMS-2504328 ($20,767)
Link
Awarded to fund MAAG 2025 in Auburn.
2024 NSF conference grant DMS-2408333 ($16,255)
Link
Awarded to fund US participation in the 31st edition of GAeL.
2024 NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship DMS-2402199 ($190,000)
Link
2023 NSF conference grant DMS-2309424 ($15,833)
Link
Awarded to fund US participation in the 30th edition of GAeL.
2019 NDSEG Fellowship ($130,000), Air Force Office of Scientific Research
2017 Goldwater Scholarship, Barry Goldwater Scholarship Foundation
Article
The premier undergraduate award in STEM.

Papers [Interactive Version]

Journal

J5

Semigroup Graded Stillman's Conjecture

John Cobb, Nathaniel Gallup, John Spoerl. Journal of Algebra, 2025.
J4

Syzygies of Curves in Products of Projective Spaces

John Cobb. Mathematische Zeitschrift, 2023.
J3

Virtual Criterion for Generalized Eagon-Northcott Complexes

Caitlyn Booms, John Cobb. Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra, 2021.
J2

Quarternion-Valued Breather Soliton, Rational, and Periodic QKdV Solutions

John Cobb, Alex Kasman, Albert Serna, Monique Sparkman. Journal of Nonlinear Mathematical Physics, 2020.
J1

Aggregate Dispersions to Enhance the Intrachain Order in Surfactant-Stabilized Aqueous Colloids of Poly(3-hexylthiophene)

McKenna Andrews, Anna Smirnova, Devin Sharp, Sarah Taylor, John Cobb, David Boucher. Journal of Molecular Liquids, 2019.

Preprint

P5

Inverse Eigenvalue Problems, Floquet Isospectrality and the Hilbert-Chow Morphism

John Cobb, Matthew Faust, Andreas Kretschmer. Submitted, 2026.
P4

Elimination Without Eliminating: Computing Complements of Real Hypersurfaces Using Pseudo-Witness Sets

Paul Breiding, John Cobb, Aviva K. Englander, Nayda J. Farnsworth, Jonathon D. Hauenstein, Oskar Henriksson, David K. Johnson, Jordy Lopez Garcia, Deepak Mundayur. Submitted, 2026.
P3

LikelihoodGeometry: Macaulay2 package

David Barnhill, John Cobb, Matthew Faust. Submitted, 2024.
P2

Feature Propagation on Knowledge Graphs Using Cellular Sheaves

John Cobb, Thomas Gebhart. Submitted, 2024.
P1

Likelihood Correspondence of Toric Statistical Models

David Barnhill, John Cobb, Matthew Faust. Submitted, 2023.
Referee Work: Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, Advances in Applied Mathematics, Journal of Symbolic Computation

Selected Talks [Interactive Version]

Conference

AMS Special Session on Recent Trends in Applied Algebra and Geometry, Clemson, SC
TX-LA SIAM Mini-Symposium on Nonlinear Algebra in Applications, Waco, TX
URiCA (Upcoming researchers in CA) 2024, Lincoln, NE
JMM Special Session on CA and AG, San Francisco, CA
Algebra Days at ASU, Tempe, AZ
Institute of Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, Chicago, IL
AG23 SIAM Mini-Symposium on Castelnuovo-Mumford Regularity and Applications, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
AMS Special Session on Building Bridges Between CA and Nearby Areas, Salt Lake City, UT

Seminar

Fields Institute Seminar, Toronto, Canada
Georgia Tech Algebra Seminar, Atlanta, GA
ACMD Seminar (NIST), Boulder, CO
University of Hawaii-Manoa Seminar, Manoa, HI

Conference Organizing

Feb 2027 Macaulay2 at Auburn, Auburn, AL
Website
May 2026 AMS Special Session on Moduli and Syzygies of Algebraic Curves, Boston, MA
Apr 2026 MAAG 2026, Clemson, SC
Website
Apr 2025 MAAG 2025, Auburn, AL
Website
Dec 2024 NZMS/AusMS/AMS Special Session on Computations and Applications of AG and CA, Auckland, NZ
Website
Jun 2024 GAeL XXXI, Turin, Italy
Website
Jul 2023 GAeL XXX, Coventry, UK
Website

Selected Service & Outreach

2024- Macaulay2 Internals Online
Fall 2020, Spring 2021 First Generation Student Success Madison, WI
FGSS links first-generation college students to first generation graduate and faculty mentors for monthly meetings.

Programming

Experienced: Python, Macaulay2
Familiar: Java, MySQL, PyTorch, pandas, numpy, julia
Beginner: Scikit-learn, MATLAB, Mathematica, VHDL/Verilog, Rust

Projects

ToricStacks: Macaulay2 package for working with toric stacks via their stacky fans.
Code
LikelihoodGeometry: Macaulay2 package for computing likelihood ideals of statistical models.
Code Paper
Macaulay2 VSCode Extension: An extension in visual studio code for Macaulay2.
Code
ProjectedHypersurfaceRegions.jl: Julia package for anlayzing hypersurfaces arising from projection via pseudo-witness sets.
Paper
(more on github: johndcobb)