Robert L. Winkler received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He was appointed Distinguished Professor of Quantitative Business Analysis at Indiana University in 1980, and he has held visiting positions at the University of Washington, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (Laxenburg, Austria), Stanford University, and several times at INSEAD (Fontainebleau, France and Singapore). In 1984, Winkler was appointed as James B. Duke Professor in the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and also holds an appointment in the Department of Statistical Science.
Professor Winkler has taught the statistical models course in Fuqua’s Global Executive MBA Program since its inception in 1996, and he also teaches a Ph.D. course in Bayesian inference and decision. Alongside teaching, Winkler’s research focuses on probability forecasting, the combination of forecasts, decision modeling, and Bayesian statistical models for inference and decision. He has published more than 200 articles and several books, and he has held a number of editorial positions. His research has received support from the National Science Foundation and other sources.
Winkler has been an officer in several professional organizations. He is a member of the decision sciences area at Fuqua, and served as Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research at Duke University from 1991 through 1997.
Professor Winkler was awarded the Frank P. Ramsey Medal for significant contributions to decision analysis and was the recipient of the NCNB Faculty Award in the Fuqua School of Business from Duke. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from the first Fuqua Global Executive MBA class at Duke.