Steven Brams

Steven Brams
Steven J. Brams, professor at New York University, specializing in game theory; co-inventor with Alan D. Taylor of the fair division procedure, Adjusted Winner, and one of the independent discoverers of approval voting.
Born	Steven J. Brams (1940-11-28) November 28, 1940 (age 76) Concord, New Hampshire
Nationality	American
Fields	Political science
Institutions	Syracuse University New York University
Alma mater	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Northwestern University
Known for	Independent discoverer of approval voting Solved the problem of envy-free cake-cutting Has applied game theory to a wide range of strategic situations

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, as well as an extension of approval voting to multiple-winner elections known as Satisfaction approval voting.

Brams was a co-discoverer, with Alan Taylor, of the first envy-free cake-cutting solution for n people. Previous to the Brams-Taylor procedure, the cake-cutting problem had been one of the most important open problems in contemporary mathematics. He is co-inventor with Taylor of the fair-division procedure, Adjusted Winner, which was patented by New York University in 1999 (# 5,983,205). Adjusted Winner has been licensed to a Boston law firm, which formed a company, Fair Outcomes, Inc., that markets several fair-division algorithms.

Brams has applied game theory to a wide variety of strategic situations, from the Bible to international relations.

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.