People

Program Director

Scott de Marchi

Professor of Political Science

Scott de Marchi is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Decision Science program at Duke University. His work has been funded by the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and USAID.

His research focuses on mathematical methods, especially bargaining theory, computational social science, machine learning, and mixed methods. Substantively, he examines decision-making in contexts that include the American Congress, coalition and crisis bargaining, interstate conflict, and voting behavior.

At Duke, he is the founder (and sometimes director) of the Modeling Economic and Political Systems Focus program (MESS) and the Decision Science program. He has been an external fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and the National Defense University and is currently a principal investigator for NSF’s EITM program.

Program Co-Founder

Scott Huettel

Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience

Research in Huettel's laboratory investigates the brain mechanisms underlying economic and social decision making; collectively, this research falls into the field of “decision neuroscience” or "neuroeconomics". His laboratory uses fMRI to probe brain function, behavioral assays to characterize individual differences, and other physiological methods (e.g., eye tracking, pharmacological manipulation, genetics) to link brain and behavior. Concurrent with research on basic processes, the laboratory has also investigated the application of new analysis methods for fMRI data, including functional connectivity analyses, pattern classification analyses, and combinatoric multivariate approaches. His team has also been applying computational methods to problems in behavioral economics and consumer decision making.

Program Board Members

Rachel Kranton

James B. Duke Distinguished
Professor of Economics

Ronald Parr

Professor of Computer Science