Walter Schnyder

Research interests

• Graph algorithms and algebraic graph theory
• Combinatorial algorithms

Education

• PhD in Mathematics, ETH Zürich — Switzerland
• MS in Mathematics, ETH Zürich — Switzerland
• BS in Mathematics, ETH Zürich — Switzerland
• BS in Physics, ETH Zürich — Switzerland

Biography

Walter Schnyder is an associate teaching professor at Northeastern University’s Khoury College of Computer Sciences. He earned his bachelor’s in mathematics and physics from ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, as well as his master’s in mathematics and his doctorate in mathematics. He enjoys interacting with his students and collaborating with them to better both the teaching and learning process.

Schnyder’s research areas include complexity theory and graphs. He has made significant contributions across combinatorial mathematics and theoretical computer science, most notably his namesake theorem. His theorem proves that a graph is planar if and only if the dimension of its incidence poset is at most three. Additionally, Schnyder gave the first proof that a planar graph on n vertices could be laid out on a quadratic size grid. His work has inspired the research of many other mathematicians and computer scientists and continues to do so today.

Schnyder grew up in Paris, France and Zürich, Switzerland.