Arthur Pittenger received his PhD in mathematics from Stanford University in 1967. His rersearch interests include probability theory and mathematical problems from quantum computing, and he is the recipient of a number of research grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency.

Professor Pittenger was a participant in the Soviet-American Cultural Exchange Program in 1967-68,  a Research Associate at The Rockefeller University in 1968-70 and an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan in 1970-72.  He has been in the Department of Mathematics at UMBC since 1972. While at UMBC he served as Interim Dean and Dean of Arts and Sciences for five years and was Interim Provost in 1993-94. Sabbatical leaves include a year at the University of British Columbia and a year at Oxford University.