Rate My Professor Ilya Nemenman

Ilya Nemenman is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Physics and Biology and Director of the Initiative in Theory and Modeling of Living Systems at Emory University. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University (2000), an M.S. from San Francisco State University (1997), and a B.S. from Santa Clara University (1995). Nemenman has been affiliated with Emory University since 2009, where he maintains joint appointments in the Departments of Physics and Biology.

His research focuses on theoretical biophysics and quantitative biology, applying methods from statistical physics, information theory, and machine learning to study biological information processing, learning, adaptation, and evolution in systems ranging from molecular circuits and cells to neural networks and populations. Nemenman previously served as Winship Distinguished Research Professor of Physics and Biology (2017–2020) and as Chair of the Division of Biological Physics of the American Physical Society (2013–2017). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2016) and was named a Simons Investigator in 2021. He is also a General Member of the Aspen Center for Physics (2015–2025) and has received recognition as a McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Science Initiative Fellow and Phi Beta Kappa mentor.