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

Employment

2024–

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

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

P3

LikelihoodGeometry: Macaulay2 package

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

Likelihood Correspondence of Toric Statistical Models

David Barnhill, John Cobb, Matthew Faust. Submitted, 2023.
P1

Extending Transductive Knowledge Graph Embedding Models for Inductive Logical Relational Inference

Thomas Gebhart, John Cobb. Submitted, 2024.
Referee Work:
Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, Advances in Applied Mathematics, Journal of Symbolic Computation

Selected Talks [Interactive Version]

Conference

AMS Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting, Clemson, SC
TX-LA SIAM Mini-Symposium on Nonlinear Algebra in Applications, Waco, TX
URiCA (Upcoming researchers in Commutative Algebra) 2024, Lincoln, NE
JMM Special Session on Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry, 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 Commutative Algebra 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

Organizing

Conferences

Fall 2026 Macaulay2 at Auburn, Auburn, AL
Website
May 2026 AMS Special Session on Moduli and Syzygies of Algebraic Curves, Boston, MA
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

Macaulay2 Internals

Since Fall 2024 Meet with Macaulay2 dev team to discuss the internals of the software, and the implementation of new features. In particular, I am helping develop the vscode interface. Online

Organizer at UW Madison Directed Reading Program

Fall 2019–Fall 2023 The DRP is a math mentoring program that pairs undergraduate students with graduate student mentors, for a semester-long independent study project. Madison, WI

Mentor at First Generation Student Success

Fall 2020–Spring 2021 FGSS links first-generation college students to first generation graduate and faculty mentors for monthly meetings. Madison, WI

Programming

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

Projects

ToricStacks: A Macaulay2 package for working with toric stacks via their stacky fans.
Code
LikelihoodGeometry: Code for computing likelihood ideals of statistical models.
Code Paper
Macaulay2 VSCode Extension: An extension in visual studio code for Macaulay2.
Code
ParametricGradients: Julia package for computing complements of real hypersurfaces using pseudowitness sets and homotopy continuation.
(more on github: johndcobb)