Vilas Winstein — Curriculum Vitae

Education

University of California, Berkeley
2022-Present — PhD Candidate in Mathematics (advised by Shirshendu Ganguly)

Budapest Semesters in Mathematics
2020-2022 — Fulbright Student

The Ohio State University
2016-2020 — BS in Mathematics and Computer Science
Senior Thesis: "Toward a Categorification of Biquandle Brackets" (advised by Sergei Chmutov)

Employment

University of California, Berkeley
2024 — TA for Computer Science 271 (Randomness and Computation, with Alistair Sinclair)
2024 — TA for Math W54 (Linear Algebra and Differential Equations, with Arun Sharma)
2023 — TA for Math 55 (Discrete Mathematics, with Sylvie Corteel)
2023 — TA for Math W54 (Linear Algebra and Differential Equations, with David Nadler)
2023 — TA for Math 16B (Analytic Geometry and Calculus, with Alexander Paulin)

Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics
2020-2022 — Assistant Research Fellow (advised by Miklós Abért, partially funded by Fulbright)

The Ohio State University
2019 — TA for MATH 1130 (Algebra for Business, with James Sutherland)
2018-2019 — TA for MATH 4181H/4182H (Honors Analysis, with Zbigniew Fiedorowicz)
2016-2017 — Tutor for Calculus I, II, and III at Math & Stats Learning Center
2016 — Grader for CSE 2321 (Discrete Mathematics, with Michael Fritz)
2016 — Grader for CSE 2221 (Software Components, with Diego Zaccai)

Publications and Preprints

Concentration via Metastable Mixing, with Applications to the Supercritical Exponential Random Graph Model
Vilas Winstein
arXiv preprint
arXiv:2503.07571

Gaussian to log-normal transition for independent sets in a percolated hypercube
Mriganka Basu Roy Chowdhury, Shirshendu Ganguly, Vilas Winstein
arXiv preprint
arXiv:2410.07080

Regularity based spectral clustering and mapping the Fiedler-carpet
Fatma Abdelhkhalek, Marianna Bolla, Frank Siedl, Vilas Winstein, Tao You
Special Matrices 10.1 (2022): 394-416
doi:10.15/spma-2022-0167

Categorifying Biquandle Brackets
Adu Vengal, Vilas Winstein
Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications 31.07 (2022): 2250052
doi:10.1142/S0218216522500523

The Structure of Biquandle Brackets
Will Hoffer, Adu Vengal, Vilas Winstein
Journal of Knot Theory and its Ramifications 29.06 (2020): 2050042
doi:10.1142/S021821652050042X

Community

University of California, Berkeley: Student Probability Seminar
2024-Present — Organizer

Spectral Collective (YouTube Channel)
2021-Present — Writing, animation, editing, voice-over work
Over half a million total video views, earning at least honorable mention in every Summer of Math Exposition.

Erdős Center: Semester on Large Networks and their Limits
2022 — Assistant organizer for "Graphs, Groups, Stochastic Processes"
2022 — Assistant organizer for "Mathematics of Large Networks"

The Ohio State University: Radical Pi Math Club
2018-2020 — Lead organizer and Free Pizza provider

Awards

2022 — Winner of the second Summer of Math Exposition (#SoME2)
2022 — National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
2020 — Fulbright Grant (Budapest Semesters in Mathematics-Rényi Institute)
2019 — Barry Goldwater Scholarship