Jose Israel Rodriguez

Jose Israel Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with secondary affiliations at the Institute for Foundations of Data Science and the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. He began his tenure-track position at UW Madison in Fall 2020 after serving as an NSF Postdoc with Jon Hauenstein and a Provost's Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago with Lek-Heng Lim.

• PhD in Mathematics from University of California, Berkeley (supervised by Bernd Sturmfels)
• Bachelor's degree from University of Texas at Austin (McNair Scholar)

Dr. Rodriguez's research focuses on applied algebraic geometry, particularly in algebraic statistics, optimization, and engineering applications. His work bridges theoretical mathematics with practical problems in statistics, robotics, and data science. He is known for developing methods to compute Euclidean distance degrees and maximum likelihood degrees, and for applying multidegrees to solve polynomial systems in economics and kinematics.

His recent publications reveal a strong focus on singularity theory applications, numerical algebraic geometry methods, and interdisciplinary collaborations. The research shows increasing emphasis on practical applications in robotics, computer vision, and systems biology, while maintaining strong theoretical foundations in algebraic geometry.

• Sloan Fellowship (2023)
• Nellie McKay Fellowship
• Chancellor's Fellowship (UC Berkeley)
• McNair Scholar (UT Austin)

Dr. Rodriguez actively mentors students and postdocs, currently advising six PhD students with several recent graduates. He co-organizes the Applied Algebra Seminar at UW Madison and is a key organizer for the SIAM Activity Group in Algebraic Geometry. His research group receives funding from multiple sources to support graduate students and undergraduate researchers. He is also co-organizing a semester-long program at the IMSI institute in Chicago titled 'Algebraic Statistics and Our Changing World: New Methods for New Challenges' for Fall 2023.

He maintains strong connections with the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig, having participated in their summer school on 'Randomness and Learning in Non-Linear Algebra.' His research group includes postdocs, PhD students, and numerous undergraduate researchers working on various aspects of nonlinear algebra and its applications.