Mathematical Sciences Professor Appointed to State Commission on Redistricting

Associate Professor of Mathematical Sciences Wesley Pegden has been appointed by Gov. Tom Wolf to a new commission to help reform Pennsylvania's redistricting process. The Pennsylvania Redistricting Reform Commission will "review non-partisan redistricting processes in other states that reduce gerrymandering, provide opportunities for public comment at community meetings and online, and make recommendations to the governor and legislature for a non-partisan redistricting process in Pennsylvania," according to a statement accompanying Wolf's executive order creating the body. "This commission will bring together diverse experts and citizens to explore ways that Pennsylvania could use policies, technology and data to curb gerrymandering and ensure fair maps," Wolf said. Pegden's work regarding fair division and redistricting has been repeatedly cited in recent debates in the United States regarding gerrymandering - the process of carving up electoral districts to disproportionately benefit one political party. A 2017 study Pegden published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was cited in an amicus brief for a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding gerrymandering in Wisconsin. And the next year, Pegden's testimony about that same study , which used Markov chains to determine that Pennsylvania's congressional districts are almost certainly gerrymandered, helped convince the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to rule the state's congressional map unconstitutional.