Jason Hartline

Prof. Hartline is on sabbatical at Harvard Economics and Computer Science Departments for the 2014 calendar year (January 2014-December 2014).

Prof. Hartline's research introduces design and analysis methodologies from computer science to understand and improve outcomes of economic systems. Optimal behavior and outcomes in complex environments are complex and, therefore, should not be expected; instead, the theory of approximation can show that simple and natural behaviors are approximately optimal in complex environments. This approach is applied to auction theory and mechanism design in his graduate textbook Mechanism Design and Approximation which is under preparation.

Prof. Hartline received his Ph.D. in 2003 from the University of Washington under the supervision of Anna Karlin. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University under the supervision of Avrim Blum; and subsequently a researcher at Microsoft Research in Silicon Valley. He joined Northwestern University in 2008 where he is an associate professor of computer science. He is currently on sabbatical at Harvard University. 

Education Ph.D., 2003, Computer Science, University of Washington

M.S., 2000, Computer Science, University of Washington

B.S., 1997, Electrical Engineering, Cornell University

B.S., 1997, Computer Science, Cornell University

Academic Positions Associate Professor, EECS, Northwestern University, 2012-present

Assistant Professor, McCormick School of Engineering, Kellogg School of Management (courtesy), Northwestern University, 2008-2012

Researcher, Microsoft Research, 2004-2007

Post-doctoral Research Fellow, ALADDIN, Carnegie Mellon Univsersity, 2003-2003

Other Professional Experience Researcher, Microsoft Research, 2004-2007

Education Academic Positions Other Professional Experience