Bernd Sturmfels

Professor of Mathematics,
Statistics and Computer Science

925 Evans Hall
Dept. of Mathematics
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720



Phone messages: 510 642 6550

Research Interests:
Discrete Mathematics, Algebraic Geometry, Commutative Algebra,
Algebraic Statistics, Computational Biology, Convex Optimization


Office Hours (Fall 2010):
Wednesday 10:00-12:00 or by appointment.

Convex Algebraic Geometry

Philipp Rostalski and I will run a research seminar on this topic at UC Berkeley in the Spring Semester 2010. This seminar is part of a multi-institutional FRG project funded by the National Science Foundation. The other participants in this FRG are Bill Helton and Jiawang Nie at UC San Diego, Pablo Parrilo at MIT and Rekha Thomas at U of Washington.

SIAM Welcomes Algebraic Geometry

This to advertise the SIAM Activity Group on Algebraic Geometry, chaired by Frank Sottile. I serve on the advisory panel. Please join.

Lectures on Algebraic Statistics

This book is based on the Oberwolfach seminar led by Mathias Drton, Seth Sullivant and myself in May 2008. Algebraic statistics is an emerging field, aimed at solving statistical inference problems using concepts from algebraic geometry as well as related computational and combinatorial techniques. This book is an introduction to newcomers from the different camps. It is centered around the three observations: many important statistical models correspond to algebraic or semi-algebraic sets of parameters; the geometry of these parameter spaces determines the behavior of widely used statistical inference procedures; computational algebraic geometry can be used to study statistical models.

A Different Perspective

Joe Gallian and Ivars Peterson: "Mathematicians Have a Different Perspective: An Interview with Bernd Sturmfels" MAA Focus, Vol 28(1) January 2008, 4-7.

Can Biology Lead To New Theorems?

This is an article written for the Annual Report 2005 of the Clay Mathematics Institute. It argues for an affirmative answer to the question. In future interactions between mathematics and biology, both fields will contribute to each other, and, indeed, research in the life sciences will inspire new theorems.