Robin Pemantle, the Merriam Term Professor of Mathematics in the School of Arts & Sciences, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). One of the most prestigious honors a scientist can receive, NAS membership recognizes distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Dr. Pemantle joins 143 others elected in 2024.

Dr. Pemantle works in the fields of probability theory and combinatorics. Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and an end to obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. His current research focuses on analytic combinatorics in several variables (ACSV), an emerging field of combinatorics that develops tools for the asymptotic analysis of multivariate generating functions and discrete structures with parameters. Dr. Pemantle’s work in probability theory focuses on properties of random combinatorial structures. His work has applications spanning computer science, statistics, and natural sciences. He has also been heavily involved in active learning initiatives.

Dr. Pemantle joined the Penn faculty in 2003. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including a Simons Fellowship and a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, and has been elected to the American Mathematical Society and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics. He is also a member of the Simons Foundation Mathematics and Physical Sciences Division Scientific Advisory Board.