Haas graduated in 1978 from
Harvard University,
magna cum laude, with a degree in engineering and applied sciences. He earned a master's degree in
environmental engineering in 1979 from
Stanford University, and a second master's degree in statistics in 1984 from Stanford. He completed his Ph.D. in
operations research in 1986 at Stanford. He was a scientist for Radian Corporation from 1979 to 1981, and an assistant professor of decision and information sciences at
Santa Clara University from 1985 to 1987, before joining IBM Research in 1987. While at IBM, he also held adjunct and lecturer positions at Stanford. He moved to the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2017, following his wife,
Laura M. Haas, who moved to the same university to become dean of information and computer sciences. ==Service==