Rate My Professor Ronald Howard

Howard pioneered decision analysis in Engineering, coining the term in his 1966 paper "Decision Analysis: Applied Decision Theory" and developing foundational tools like the influence diagram and policy iteration for Markov decision processes. His research focused on probabilistic modeling, dynamic programming, Markov processes, improving decision quality, life-and-death decisions, and decision ethics. He authored key books including Dynamic Programming and Markov Processes (1960), Dynamic Probabilistic Systems (volumes 1 and 2, 1971), Readings on the Principles and Applications of Decision Analysis (1984, co-edited with J. E. Matheson), Ethics for the Real World (2008, with Clint Korver), and Foundations of Decision Analysis (2015, with Ali Abbas). Howard mentored over 100 doctoral students and thousands of graduates from diverse fields like law, medicine, and business, lecturing worldwide and developing courses such as The Ethical Analyst. His honors include Fellow of IEEE and INFORMS, the Frank P. Ramsey Medal (1986), the first INFORMS award for teaching OR/MS practice (1998), election to the National Academy of Engineering (1999), and the Dean's Award for Academic Excellence (1999). Through these contributions, Howard transformed decision analysis from an academic pursuit into a practical discipline with broad industry impact.