Cynthia Vinzant

Cynthia Vinzant is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington, where she has been since 2023. Previously, she held faculty positions at North Carolina State University (2015–2020) and the University of Michigan (2011–2014), as well as a von Neumann Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study (2020–2021). Her academic journey began with a B.A. in Mathematics and Neuroscience from Oberlin College (2007) and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from UC Berkeley (2011), advised by Bernd Sturmfels.

• Education
  • Ph.D. in Mathematics, UC Berkeley (2011)
  • B.A. in Mathematics and Neuroscience, Oberlin College (2007)

Cynthia's research explores the interplay between algebra, combinatorics, and convexity. Her work focuses on the real algebraic structure of convex bodies (spectrahedra) and polynomials (real stable polynomials) arising in optimization and matrix theory. She has investigated topics such as tropical geometry, Groebner bases, and combinatorial aspects of algebraic geometry.

Scientific Awards and Grants

• von Neumann Fellowship (2020–2021)
• Sloan Research Fellowship (2020)
• Best paper award (STOC, 2019)
• Bernard Friedman Memorial Prize in Applied Mathematics (UC Berkeley, 2011)
• Rebecca Cary Orr Memorial Prize (Oberlin College, 2007)
• NSF CAREER Grant (2020–2025): Determinantal, hyperbolic, and log-concave polynomials in theory and applications
• NSF Standard Grant (2016–2020): Real algebraic and combinatorial structures in matrix spaces
• NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2012–2015)
• NSF Conference Grant (2018–2019)

Teaching
Cynthia has taught courses ranging from foundational algebra to advanced topics in tropical and algebraic geometry. At the University of Washington, she teaches Math 582D: Tropical Geometry (Winter 2025) and has offered courses like Math/AMath 514: Networks and Combinatorial Optimization and Math 407: Linear Optimization. At North Carolina State University, she taught Math 526: Algebraic Geometry and Math 591: Tropical Geometry, emphasizing computational tools like Macaulay2, Singular, and polymake.