Igor Pak

Igor Pak is a Professor in the Mathematics Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he is a member of the Combinatorics Group, one of the oldest combinatorics research groups in the United States. He joined UCLA after positions at the University of Minnesota and MIT, following postdoctoral work at Yale University and MSRI.

Dr. Pak received his Ph.D. from Harvard University under advisor Persi Diaconis. His undergraduate studies were completed at Moscow State University, where he was advised by Alexandre Kirillov. He attended Moscow High School 57 for his secondary education.

His research spans three primary areas: Discrete and Polyhedral Geometry, Enumerative and Algebraic Combinatorics, and Probability and Computations on Groups. As a postdoc, he worked with László Lovász at Yale and Richard Stanley at MIT.

• Active member of UCLA's Combinatorics Group
• Co-organizer of the UCLA Combinatorics Seminar with Pavel Galashin
• Co-organizer of the Los Angeles Combinatorics and Complexity Seminar with Greta Panova
• Organizer of multiple international combinatorics seminars

Dr. Pak has advised thirteen Ph.D. students from MIT and UCLA with graduation years spanning from 2004 through 2025. He has mentored numerous postdoctoral researchers including Greta Panova, Stephen DeSalvo, Alejandro H. Morales, and others. His scholarly contributions include the comprehensive book "Lectures on Discrete and Polyhedral Geometry" and extensive publications in combinatorial mathematics.

He maintains an active research program with frequent lectures presented worldwide, including invited talks at major institutions and conferences through 2025. His teaching at UCLA encompasses advanced graduate courses in combinatorics, discrete geometry, and related mathematical fields.