John Rust is the Distinguished University Professor of Economics at Georgetown University. He was previously professor of economics at the University of Maryland from 2001 to 2012, Yale University from 1996 to 2001, and the University of Wisconsin from 1983 to 1995. Rust received his PhD in Economics from MIT in 1983, specializing in applied econometrics. He is best known for his research on the development of computationally tractable methods for empirically modelling dynamic decision making under uncertainty. In a series of publications Rust has demonstrated that the method of dynamic programming can be used to predict and improve human decision making in a variety of contexts. He was awarded the Ragnar Frisch Medal by the Econometric Society in 1992 for his empirical application of the method in his 1987 Econometrica paper, “Optimal Replacement of GMC Bus Engines: An Empirical Model of Harold Zurcher.”

Rust is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, and the co-founder of the firm Technoluddites, Inc. that provides web-based software for the benefit of academia (products include Editorial Express, for online management of submissions to over 100 academic journals, and Conference Maker for online conference organization used by over 1300 international conferences, and Head Hunter used by over 100 universities for web-based academic recruiting). He is also co-founder of the non-profit charitable organization, EconJobMarket.org (EJM) designed to facilitate the efficient operation of the job market for economists.