Jan Vondrák is a Czech applied mathematician and theoretical computer scientist. He has been a professor of mathematics at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

since 2015. He was a research staff member in the theory group at the

IBM Almaden Research Center IBM Research is the research and development division for IBM, an American multinational information technology company. IBM Research is headquartered at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York, near IBM headquarters ...

from 2009 to 2015. Vondrák completed a bachelor's degree in physics (1995) and an M.S. (1999) and Ph.D. (2007) in computer science at

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

under advisor Martin Loebl. He met mathematician

Maryam Mirzakhani Maryam Mirzakhani (, ; 12 May 1977 – 14 July 2017) was an Iranian mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University. Her research topics included Teichmüller space, Teichmüller theory, hyperbolic geometry, ergodic the ...

in 2004 in Boston. Vondrák completed a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 2005 at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

under advisor Michel Goemans. He was a postdoctoral researcher in the theory group at

Microsoft Research Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technologi ...

from 2005 to 2006. From 2006 to 2009, Vondrák was a postdoctoral teaching fellow at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He married Mirzakhani in 2008 on a mountain in

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. They moved to California in 2009. Their daughter Anahita was born 2011. Mirzakhani died of breast cancer in 2017.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Czech mathematicians Czech computer scientists Applied mathematicians Theoretical computer scientists Charles University alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Stanford University faculty Czech emigrants to the United States {{US-mathematician-stub