Bella Finkel

about / research / activities / talks
Bella Finkel

I am a third year Ph.D. student in the mathematics department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My advisor is Jose Israel Rodriguez .

My studies are supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

To find my publications, check out my Google Scholar page.

Here is my CV.

Office: Van Vleck 320
Email: blfinkel [at] wisc [dot] edu

Upcoming activities:
  • February 20, 2026: University of Arkansas Algebra Seminar in Fayetteville, Arkansas
  • June 22 - 26, 2026: Metric Algebraic Geometry at Institut Mittag-Leffler

Research

  • The Euclidean distance degree of curves: from rational to line multiview varieties (with J.I. Rodriguez).
    Submitted (2025)
  • Graphical Scattering Equations (with B. Betti, V. Borovik, B. Sturmfels and B. Zacovic).
    Submitted (2025)
  • Assessing Matched Filtering for Core-Collapse Supernova Gravitational-Wave Detection (with H. Andresen).
    Submitted (2024)
  • Activation degree thresholds and expressiveness of polynomial neural networks (with J. I. Rodriguez, C. Wu, T. Yahl).
    Algebraic Statistics (2024)
  • Stochastic gravitational-wave background from stellar core-collapse events (with H. Andresen and V. Mandic).
    Physical Review D (2022)

Activities

  • May 29-30, 2025: GTA Philadelphia at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • May 16-18, 2025: I am organizing the special session Advances in Applied Algebra and Algebraic Statistics at the AWM Research Symposium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, WI.
  • Spring 2024 to Spring 2025: I was on the organizing committee of UGmMaW, the AWM student chapter at UW-Madison serving undergraduates.
  • In Fall 2023, I was a volunteer with Adopt-a-Physicist through Sigma Pi Sigma and the American Association of Physics Teachers.
  • As an undergraduate at Skidmore College, I served as a student representative on the Building Safe Spaces topical cohort of the American Physical Society Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (APS-IDEA) team.
  • In the summer of 2022, I was at the University of California, Davis Mathematics REU. My advisor was Dr. Greg Kuperberg.
  • In the summer of 2021, I was at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Physics REU. My advisor was Dr. Vuk Mandic.

Talks

  • The scattering correspondence of a graph (AMS Special Session on Numerical Algebraic Geometry and its Applications at the JMM in Washington, DC, January 2026)
  • Activation degree thresholds of polynomial neural networks ( Math Machine Learning seminar at MPI MiS + UCLA, November 2025)
  • Activation degree thresholds of polynomial neural networks ( Boston College Math & Machine Learning Seminar, November 2025)
  • Scattering graphical arrangements (New Directions in Algebraic Statistics at the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation at the University of Chicago, July 2025)
  • Felling hypertrees (Applied Algebra Day at the University of Wisconsin--Madison, July 2025)
  • Felling hypertrees (Summer School in Total Positivity and Quantum Field Theory at the Harvard Center for Mathematical Sciences and Applications, June 2025)
  • Activation degree thresholds and expressiveness of polynomial neural networks (AMS Spring Southeastern Sectional Meeting at Clemson University, March 2025) [slides]