James Smith

James E. Smith is the Jack Byrne Distinguished Professor in Decision Science at Dartmouth College, a position within the Jack Byrne Academic Cluster, which focuses on applying mathematical thinking to societal challenges. His research centers on decision analysis—specifically decision-making over time and under uncertainty, including dynamic programming. Smith received the Frank P. Ramsey Medal from INFORMS in 2008 for distinguished contributions to decision analysis.

Smith has long worked on energy applications. His early work focused on “real options” analysis of investments in the upstream oil and gas sector, supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and Chevron. More recently, he has been working in the electric utility sector, focusing on optimizing dispatch under uncertainty.

Smith earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and a PhD in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. He served on the faculty of Duke's Fuqua School of Business from 1990 to 2018, before joining the Tuck School at Dartmouth. He currently teaches the Analytics 1 core course at Tuck.