Ali Abbas (Photo/Courtesy of USC)
The hardest decisions rarely come with clear answers. Whether weighing competing priorities, managing risk or choosing among imperfect options, people often must make decisions without having all the information they would like. For more than three decades, Ali Abbas has devoted his career to improving how those decisions are made.
That work has earned Abbas, professor of industrial and systems engineering in the USC Viterbi Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and professor of public policy at the USC Price School of Public Policy, the 2026 Frank P. Ramsey Medal from the Informs Decision Analysis Society. The award is the society’s highest honor, recognizing distinguished contributions to the field of decision analysis. Named for British mathematician Frank P. Ramsey, whose landmark work helped establish modern decision theory, the award recognizes researchers whose work has had a lasting impact on the discipline.
“It is especially meaningful because it comes from colleagues in the decision analysis community with whom I have had the pleasure of interacting with on various occasions throughout my career,” Abbas said. “Decision analysis is a field built on the exchange of ideas, collaboration and mentorship, so I see this award not only as recognition of my own work but also of the many students, collaborators and mentors who have influenced my thinking over the years.”
From Research to Results
Abbas has never viewed decision analysis as an academic exercise. His research has influenced engineering design and public policy, while collaborations with government and industry have helped organizations tackle difficult decisions involving homeland security, transportation security and risk management. An example of this work includes an analysis of TSA-Pre decisions with the former chief risk officer of the TSA .
“If there is a common theme in my work, it is the belief that decision analysis can make a meaningful difference when applied to real-world problems to a variety of audiences,” Abbas said.
Abbas’ path to the Ramsey Medal has taken him through some of the nation’s leading engineering schools. Before joining USC in 2014, he was the Art Davis Faculty Scholar in the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Earlier, he was a lecturer in Stanford University’s Department of Management Science and Engineering, where he earned two master’s degrees, a doctorate in management science and engineering, and a doctoral minor in electrical engineering.
Along the way, Abbas has helped shape the field not only through research, but also through writing and teaching.
He co-authored the widely used textbook “Foundations of Decision Analysis” with Ronald A. Howard and has written several other books, including “Foundations of Multiattribute Utility” and “Ethical Decision Quality: Building an Ethical Decision Culture.” He also has edited or co-edited volumes such as “Improving Homeland Security Decisions” and “Next-Generation Ethics: Engineering A Better Society.”
At USC, he served as founding director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision-Making and as director of the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, helping expand the field’s reach into ethics, public policy and national security.
Abbas has also done volunteer work to teach decision skills to high school students and at-risk teens in juvenile detention centers. He has also pioneered the teaching of decision making with social networks.
A commitment to the next generation
While the Ramsey Medal celebrates a lifetime of achievement, Abbas is focused on what comes next. He hopes to develop the next generation of decision-making tools by combining advances in decision theory with artificial intelligence and data-driven methods while keeping human values, beliefs and judgment at the center.
In addition, Abbas is also interested in exploring ethical considerations associated with new technology, including artificial intelligence and social networks as well as the required policy decisions.
Abbas also wants to continue expanding decision education beyond the classroom and mentoring young researchers who will shape the future of the field.
“One of the greatest rewards of an academic career is seeing the next generation push the field in directions none of us anticipated,” Abbas said. “I hope to continue contributing to that future.”
Published on July 16th, 2026
Last updated on July 16th, 2026