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Robin Pemantle

MPS Scientific Advisory Board Member

A man with gray hair and a beard smiles warmly while wearing a blue shirt. The background appears to be a wooden surface, possibly a cabinet or panel.Robin Pemantle received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1988 and has been at the University of Pennsylvania since 2003 where he is the Merriam Term Professor of Mathematics.

Pemantle’s research focuses on two areas. Within probability theory, the research concerns discrete probability models, including random graph theory, processes with reinforcement, statistical models and random walks. The other research area, analytic combinatorics in several variables (ACSV), is the subject of a textbook with Mark Wilson and Steve Melczer (second edition, 2023 expected)

Pemantle is also interested in Mathematics Education from an early age, growing up with an insider’s view of an alternative school, and teaching mathematics to grades 5-8 during his college years and before. He has given talks and written articles on math education and is currently writing two books on the subject in collaboration with Henri Picciotto.

Pemantle has held a Sloan Fellowship, a Presidential Faculty Fellowship, the Rollo Davidson Prize, and a Lilly Teaching Fellowship. He was a top five finisher in the Putnam Competition, has been a Simons Fellow, and is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and a Fellow of the Institute for Mathematical Statistics.