Thomas Rothvoss

Thomas Rothvoss is a Professor at the University of Washington with joint appointments in the Department of Mathematics and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering. He completed his PhD in Mathematics at EPFL in 2009 under Friedrich Eisenbrand, followed by postdoctoral positions at EPFL (2010) and MIT (2011-2013). He is part of the UW CS theory group and the Optimization group.

His research focuses on:

• Theoretical computer science with emphasis on approximation algorithms and discrete optimization
• Discrepancy theory and high-dimensional convex geometry
• Lattice algorithms and integer programming
• Scheduling algorithms and combinatorial optimization

His publications demonstrate a consistent focus on developing novel algorithms with improved theoretical guarantees, particularly in lattice-based optimization, discrepancy theory, and scheduling. Recent work has made significant advances in integer programming complexity and online discrepancy minimization.

Awards and Honors

• Gödel Prize (2023)
• FOCS Best Paper Prize (2023, 2014)
• IPCO Best Paper Prize (2023)
• Delbert Ray Fulkerson Prize (2018)
• SODA Best Paper Prize (2014, 2020)
• David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship (2016)
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2015)

Research Funding and Advising

Current research is supported by NSF SMALL (2023-2026) and previously by NSF CAREER (2017-2022). He currently advises PhD students Rainie Heck and Mathews Boban, and has graduated 7 PhD students including Victor Reis (2023) and Sally Dong (2024). His research group focuses on theoretical aspects of optimization and algorithm design.