Steven J. Brams
Brams in 2006
Born
Steven J. Brams

(1940-11-28) November 28, 1940 (age 83)
Concord, New Hampshire
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Northwestern University
Known forIndependent discoverer of approval voting
Solved the problem of envy-free cake-cutting
Has applied game theory to a wide range of strategic situations
Scientific career
FieldsPolitical science
InstitutionsSyracuse University
New York University

Steven J. Brams (born November 28, 1940, in Concord, New Hampshire) is an American game theorist and political scientist at the New York University Department of Politics. Brams is best known for using the techniques of game theory, public choice theory, and social choice theory to analyze voting systems and fair division. He is one of the independent discoverers of approval voting,[1] as well as extensions of approval voting to multiple-winner elections to give proportional representation of different interests.[2]

Brams was a co-discoverer, with Alan Taylor, of the first envy-free cake-cutting solution for n people.[3] Previous to the Brams-Taylor procedure, the cake-cutting problem had been one of the most important open problems in contemporary mathematics.[4] He is co-inventor with Taylor of the fair-division procedure, adjusted winner,[5] which was patented by New York University in 1999 (# 5,983,205).[6]

Brams has applied game theory to a wide variety of strategic situations, from the Bible[7][8] and theology [9] to international relations [10][11] to sports.[12][13]

Education

Brams earned his B.S. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Politics, Economics, and Science in 1962. In 1966, he earned his Ph.D. in Political Science at Northwestern University.

Career

Brams worked briefly in U.S. federal government positions and for the Institute for Defense Analyses before taking an assistant professor position at Syracuse University in 1967. He moved to New York University in 1969, where he is professor in the Department of Politics. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Rochester, the University of Michigan, the University of California, Irvine, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University.

In 1990–1991 he was president of the Peace Science Society (International);[14] in 2004–2006, he was president of the Public Choice Society.[15] He is a Guggenheim Fellow (1986–87), an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow (1992), and was a Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar (1998–99).

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Brams, Steven J.; Fishburn, Peter C. (1978). "Approval Voting". American Political Science Review. 72 (3). Cambridge University Press (CUP): 831–847. doi:10.2307/1955105. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1955105. S2CID 154191938.
  2. ^ Brams, Steven J.; Kilgour, D. Marc; Potthoff, Richard F. (2018-10-05). "Multiwinner approval voting: an apportionment approach" (PDF). Public Choice. 178 (1–2). Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 67–93. doi:10.1007/s11127-018-0609-2. ISSN 0048-5829. JSTOR 48703347. S2CID 254934379.
  3. ^ Brams, Steven J.; Taylor, Alan D. (1995). "An Envy-Free Cake Division Protocol". The American Mathematical Monthly. 102 (1). Mathematical Association of America: 9–18. doi:10.2307/2974850. ISSN 1930-0972. JSTOR 2974850.
  4. ^ Will Hively (March 1995). "Dividing the spoils - Steven Brams, Alan Taylor devise procedure to divide anything equitably". Discover Magazine. Archived from the original on 2007-04-10.
  5. ^ "Adjusted Winner Website". NYU.
  6. ^ US patent 5983205, "Computer-based method for the fair division of ownership of goods" 
  7. ^ Brams, S.J. (2003). Biblical Games: Game Theory and the Hebrew Bible. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-52332-5.
  8. ^ Brams, S.J. (2011). Game Theory and the Humanities: Bridging Two Worlds. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01522-6.
  9. ^ Brams, S.J. (2018). Divine Games: Game Theory and the Undecidability of a Superior Being. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-03833-1.
  10. ^ Brams, S.J. (1985). Superpower Games: Applying Game Theory to Superpower Conflict. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-23640-8.
  11. ^ Brams, S.; Kilgour, D.M. (1991). Game Theory and National Security. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-55786-003-3.
  12. ^ Brams, Steven J.; Ismail, Mehmet S. (2018). "Making the Rules of Sports Fairer". SIAM Review. 60 (1). Society for Industrial & Applied Mathematics (SIAM): 181–202. doi:10.1137/16m1074540. ISSN 0036-1445.
  13. ^ Brams, Steven J.; Ismail, Mehmet S.; Kilgour, D. Marc; Stromquist, Walter (2018-10-21). "Catch-Up: A Rule That Makes Service Sports More Competitive". The American Mathematical Monthly. 125 (9). Informa UK Limited: 771–796. arXiv:1808.06922. doi:10.1080/00029890.2018.1502544. ISSN 0002-9890. S2CID 4691445.
  14. ^ "Peace Science Society (International): Home". pss.la.psu.edu. 1998-12-05. Archived from the original on 2011-04-13.
  15. ^ "About Us - Past Presidents". Public Choice Society. Archived from the original on 2012-12-02.

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