Stevens to launch first undergraduate Quantitative Finance program in the country

HOBOKEN, N.J. ― Beginning in September 2009, Stevens Institute of Technology will launch the first undergraduate program in Quantitative Finance in the country.

This fast-growing, multi-dis ciplinary field is based on applying modern science, mathematical and engineering methods, and advanced technology to model and execute decisions in the financial domain. Quantitative Finance applications extend from classical investment portfolio management and the design of sophisticated hedging strategies to mitigate business risks.

"Quantitative Finance is becoming essential in the business world," said George M. Calhoun, Executive-in-Residence at Stevens. "It is not simply enough to stand on the trading floor. The next generation of finance experts will come up with ways to out think the market."

Quantitative finance – typically used with hedge funds – is more than just analyzing stock portfolios. It is at the heart of all modern financial strategies and operations, from managing pension funds and insurance companies to controlling operations operational risks at manufacturing companies and modeling the behavior of financial markets.

Offered through Stevens’ Howe School of Technology Management, the four-year Bachelor of Science undergraduate program will have a heavy emphasis on math and statistics, but will also teach student to get the understanding of the underlying economic substance of financial decision making, said Calhoun.

When it starts at the beginning of the 2009/2010 academic year, the program will have 20 students, but Calhoun believes there is room for as many as 80 students in years to come. Potential students or those who would like to learn more about the program are invited to visit www.qf-stevens.com

Each student accepted to the program will launch an investment program at the start of the sophomore year. Using a web-based investment platform, the student will start with $1 million in virtual cash, to be invested according to a graded series of financial criteria as the semesters progress. Over the subsequent semesters students will have a chance to focus on everything from common stock in US-listed companies to commodities and exchange-traded options. By their senior year, students will be ready to focus on a project involving real-world implementation challenges – for example, the design and management of a Hedge Fund, or the construction of an Electronic Trading Platform.

"This is a program where being smart gives you an advantage. This is where the employment growth is going to be."

Stevens' campus along the Hudson River is uniquely suited to host such a focused undergraduate major, given its proximity to New York City and Wall Street – the financial capital of the world. Students will have unparalleled opportunities to have direct contact with the world's elite finance firms, bankers, traders, regulators and policymakers.

Members of the Stevens faculty have worked diligently to design the program. They received input from both financial and non-financial firms. As such, the graduates of the program will be part of a broad trend towards a more rigorous management of the world's financial assets and risks.

"Risk is going to be the name of the game for the next 20 years," said Calhoun, "and Quantitative Finance will be key."

Given the recent problems in the global economy, Calhoun and Stevens believe there is no more appropriate a time to launch such a program, continuing a tradition of forward-looking education that fills a major industry need.

“Quantitative Finance is here to stay," said Calhoun. "In fact, we believe it will become the benchmark for a modern financial education."

Dr. Germán Creamer and Dr. Jonathan Kaufman have been jointly employed by the Howe School of Technology Management, where they will teach in the Quantitative Finance Program and the School of Systems and Enterprises, teaching in their graduate Financial Engineering Program.

Creamer has been a senior manager in the Risk, Information and Banking Division in American Express where he worked in the calculation of economic capital for international markets and developing information systems capabilities for the enterprise-wide risk management and the customer marketing groups. He has taught at Columbia University, Tulane University, and in several leading Latin American business schools. He has also consulted for several hedge funds and international organizations such as United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, Harvard Institute of International Development, and US Agency for International Development.

Creamer holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science (specialized on computational finance), a MSc in Financial Engineering, both from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.

Kaufman has more than 25 years of experience investing in various securities and other markets. Prior to graduate School, Kaufman was an account executive at Johnston, Lemon and Co., stock brokers in Washington, D.C. From 1990 to 1994, he was a corporate tax attorney with the New York law office of Cravath, Swaine and Moore. Kaufman re-entered the financial services industry in 1994 with Salomon Brothers/Citigroup, where he subsequently became Head of North American Capital Structuring for Salomon Brothers/Citigroup in New York and a Managing Director, and member of the Global Senior Management Committee of Global Capital Structuring. In April 2003, Kaufman left Salomon Brothers/Citigroup to pursue private investment management service opportunities in the financial services industry. Since that time he has been the chairman and chief executive officer of Kaufman Global Capital Advisors, and a partner in Olympus Capital Management, both hedge fund and capital advisory firms.

He was awarded a Ph.D. in Economics from the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago, as well as a Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Chicago Law School. Kaufman was awarded Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Biology and History from Brown University.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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