Carnegie Mellon University

Welcome to the Department of Social and Decision Sciences

The Department of Social and Decision Sciences (SDS) is an interdisciplinary department that offers undergraduate and graduate programs that combine studies in the social sciences with the practical skills needed to excel in key decision making roles in the public and private sectors.

Students learn how to combine intellectual ideals with the realities of human and organizational behavior and to apply these lessons across a wide variety of endeavors, ranging from government service to leadership positions in the information economy.

Mission

The mission of the Department of Social and Decision Sciences is to provide intellectual leadership in the social sciences, brought about by the power of a transdisciplinary environment for research and learning, for teaching and training, and for solving social problems.

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In the News

Julie Downs headshot
Julie Downs Named Head of Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Julie Downs will succeed Gretchen Chapman as head of CMU's Department of Social and Decision Sciences, effective July 1.
An image of one of Leo Tolstoy's diaries. Courtesy of the Leo Tolstoy State Museum.
Dear Diary: What Analyzing a Century of Russophone Journaling Reveals About the Diary as a Genre
SDS Professor Simon DeDeo, along with colleagues Tatyana Gershkovich and Madeline Kehl, analyzed more than a thousand Russian-language diaries using computational and traditional methods which revealed shared themes, literary patterns, and cultural insights that persist across generations.
Zachary Wojtowicz
AI may blunt our thinking skills – here’s what you can do about it
SDS Professor Simon DeDeo and Ph.D. Student Zachary Wojtowicz found that generative AI doesn’t just change how we work, it can also change how we judge each other. Their study shows that when people suspect someone has used AI to handle meaningful social tasks, like writing a sincere apology, they’re less likely to see that person as genuine.
Mark Patterson headshot
With “Stratospheric” Eval Scores and a “Flipped” Classroom Approach, Mark Patterson Earns the 2025 Dean’s Innovation Scholar Award
The award recognizes significant innovation in course design, teaching practice and learning outcomes assessment among teaching-track faculty in Dietrich College, as well as the promise of these faculty for ongoing creative and effective innovation.

SDS offers an array of undergraduate majors, including:

  • BS in Behavioral Economics
  • BS in Decision Science
  • BS in Policy & Management

The majors leverage SDS’s departmental core that includes courses in decision analysis, empirical research, organizations, policy analysis and applied psychology .

SDS also offers four minors in Behavioral Economics, Decision Science, Policy & Management and Sociology

Graduate study within SDS offers eight areas of focus:

  • Behavioral Decision Research
  • Cognitive Decision Science
  • Social and Decision Sciences
  • Behavioral Marketing and Decision Research (Joint with the Tepper School of Business)
  • Behavioral Economics (Joint with the Tepper School of Business)
  • Psychology and Behavioral Decision Research (Joint with the Department of Psychology)
  • Medical Scientist Training Program MD-PhD (Joint with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine)
  • Autonomous and Human Decision Making (joint with the Machine Learning Department in the School of Computer Science)

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