David B. Brown
Professor of Business Administration

David B. Brown is a Professor at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. He has been at Fuqua as a member of the Decision Sciences area since receiving his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2006. 

Professor Brown's research is within the field of operations research and focuses broadly on the design and analysis of solution methods for large-scale optimization problems involving uncertainty. This work entails the use of techniques from optimization theory, applied probability, and stochastic processes. His research focuses on both computational issues (e.g., designing efficient algorithms) as well as theoretical questions (e.g., deriving performance guarantees that show that a particular method performs well).

Professor Brown’s research has appeared in publications such as Management Science and Operations Research and his research has been recognized with several awards through the Institute for Operations Management and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). His work is relevant for individuals or firms seeking to systematically understand and manage risk as well as for those aiming to improve decision-making in complex problems affected by uncertainty. Examples of applications of his work are (a) how ride-hailing platforms can optimally price ride requests dynamically to maximize revenues; (b) how retailers can optimally offer a mix of new products in the presence of unknown demands; (c) how to sequentially search and select from a large set of alternatives with a limited budget; and (d) how to manage a portfolio of assets in the presence of transaction costs and changing market conditions. He has experience in the asset management and hedge fund industries. His recent teaching includes a PhD course on Convex Optimization and an MBA course in Decision Models and he has won teaching awards in Fuqua's Weekend Executive MBA program and Master of Management Studies (DKU) program.

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