Robert L. Winkler, Author of An Introduction to Bayesian Inference and Decision

(currently in its 2nd Edition)

Biography*

Robert L. Winkler is James B. Duke Professor in the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and also holds an appointment in the Department of Statistical Science at Duke. He is a member of the decision sciences area at Fuqua, and he served as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research from 1991 through 1997. Professor Winkler received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the Duke faculty in 1984, he was Distinguished Professor of Quantitative Business Analysis at Indiana University, and he has held visiting positions at the University of Washington, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Laxenburg, Austria), Stanford University, and several times at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France and Singapore).

Professor Winkler’s primary research areas include decision analysis, risk analysis, statistics, and forecasting. He has published more than 200 articles and several books, and has received support from the National Science Foundation and other sources. He was awarded the Frank P. Ramsey Medal for significant contributions to decision analysis and he has also been a recipient of the NCNB Faculty Award in the Fuqua School of Business. His research focuses on probability forecasting, the combination of forecasts, decision modeling, and Bayesian statistical models for inference and decision. He has held a number of editorial positions and has been an officer in several professional organizations.

Professor Winkler has taught the statistical models course in Fuqua’s Global Executive MBA Program since its inception in 1996, and he was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from the first GEMBA class. He also teaches a Ph.D. course in Bayesian inference and decision.



Robert Winkler

Other Publications

Dr. Winkler co-authored Statistics: Probability, Inference, and Decision (Series in quantitative methods for decision making), which was published in June, 1975. This book has one very favorable review on Amazon. I have a copy and highly recommend it.

In addition, he worked with Spyros Makridakis to write Isp: Interactive Statistical Programs, which was published in October, 1985.

Personal

On a personal level, we are very appreciative that (1) Dr. Winkler worked with us to publish the 2nd Edition of his book, and (2) he is a patient man! His book was our second project, and we had switched from Pagemaker to Framemaker as the layout platform, so we were on a steep learning curve. Dr. Winkler never got irritated with our slow pace. He was diligent in reviewing our work and timely in providing his comments. We're hoping the paridigm we established of updating his original classic text can be carried forward with more DA projects.

Reference

*Duke Faculty Website Pages