2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Raghav Singal, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College

Raghav Singal
Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College

“He is unbelievably smart and teaches us how to apply truly mind blowing and innovative techniques (of his own creation) to real world applications. Example: used refined principles of analytics expressed only through R studio code to beat the entire school in fantasy football, made an algorithm that predicted specific individual attendance to class/events with >95% accuracy, showed us how to determine best and most likely oil exploration sites in the North Sea – then a site he predicted was announced as claimed. Anything we ask him he figures out a creative and extremely effective analytical solution/explanation in astonishing time. He is fantastic.” – Jackson McCune

Raghav Singal, 33, is an Assistant Professor in the Operations and Management Science group at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. His research interests are in analytics, modeling, and optimization. He develops application-driven models that help organizations make effective decisions in complex and uncertain environments.

Professor Singal’s work has been published in top academic journals, including Management Science and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and has earned recognition from the research community through multiple awards, including a 2nd place finish in the Rothkopf Junior Researcher Paper Prize (INFORMS Auctions and Market Design, 2022). He has also contributed to machine learning literature with publications in premier outlets such as the Journal of Machine Learning Research and the International Conference on Machine Learning.

At Tuck, Singal brings his research expertise into the classroom. He has been teaching the core Analytics course to first-year MBA students since 2021, earning a recent average instructor rating of 5.71 out of 6. Building on this success, he has designed a new MBA elective titled “Data, Models, and Decisions,” which focuses on advanced analytics and decision-making in business.

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year? 2021

Education:  Columbia University, PhD, Operations Research; University of Toronto, BASc, Industrial Engineering

List of MBA courses you currently teach: Analytics (core); Data, Models, and Decisions (elective)

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… I realized that the questions I found most interesting — how can we design systems and markets that work better? — kept showing up in business school conversations. The field offered the perfect blend of analytical thinking, real-world relevance, and impact.

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? At the risk of sounding too nerdy, I’m currently exploring the (optimal) design of peer review markets with my collaborators Craig Fernandes and James Siderius. One of our key insights is that matching policies — specifically, how reviewers are assigned to papers — can significantly influence the level of effort people are willing to exert. We propose an Admission Control policy, where the conference rejects papers authored by individuals who fail to review diligently. Interestingly, we recently found that some prominent machine learning conferences have independently adopted similar policies.

If I weren’t a business school professor… I’d probably be working in tech — somewhere I could still geek out about models and decision-making, ideally with fewer email threads and meetings, and more whiteboards.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? I think being closer to students in age helps me connect with them on a different level — whether it’s in the classroom, during office hours, or casually running into them at my CrossFit box. That said, my students seem to get younger every year… which probably means I’m not.

One word that describes my first time teaching: Nervous (though my teaching boss, Joe Hall, says that never fully goes away — especially before the first class each year).

Professor I most admire and why: Hard to pick one but I have had great mentors throughout my academic journey, starting from my undergrad advisor Tim Chan at Toronto, followed by Omar Besbes, Martin Haugh, and Garud Iyengar at Columbia, and my colleague Jim Smith at Tuck. Each of them has influenced my approach to research and teaching in meaningful ways, and I’m deeply grateful for their guidance.

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? I love how curious, energetic, and open-minded they are. Business students bring such a wide range of experiences into the classroom, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see them engage deeply, challenge assumptions, and develop intuition around complex problems. Their energy makes the classroom dynamic and fun, and their questions often push me to think in new ways too.

What is most challenging? The same diversity of experience that makes teaching business students so rewarding also makes it challenging. Some are analytics pros; for others, it’s their first time opening Excel. Designing a course that speaks to both ends of that spectrum takes real thought — but it’s what makes the classroom so dynamic.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Engaged (whether in the classroom or on Strava).

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Checked out.

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… fair, but unlikely to give full credit if you forget to flip the decision tree.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Tennis, running, and CrossFit are part of my weekly routine. Living in New England, skiing comes in at number four, followed by a few others I rarely get to, but still like to think I enjoy.

How will you spend your summer? Mostly working on my research and attending a couple of conferences — one in London at the end of June and another in New York City in mid-July. I’ll be back in the classroom when teaching resumes in late August.

Favorite place(s) to vacation: Hawaii.

Favorite book(s): I enjoyed reading The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver.

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? The Office (US) is a longtime favorite. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, it still makes me laugh. There’s something comforting about how simple and grounded it is.

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I enjoy a mix of indie, folk, soul, pop, and R&B, especially while running. That blend of rhythm and mood helps me stay focused and in the flow.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… “Tuck nice”. A culture where people are kind, generous with their time, and genuinely invested in each other’s success. It makes everything — from collaboration to learning — better.

I’m grateful for… my family, who keep me grounded; the mentors who shaped my path; the students and colleagues who make work feel meaningful and energizing; and, of course, for 5-mile loops around the Charles.

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