phd in finance at wharton

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Finance, PhD

The department prepares students for careers in research and teaching at the world’s leading academic institutions, focusing on Asset Pricing and Portfolio Management, Corporate Finance, International Finance, Financial Institutions and Macroeconomics.

Wharton’s Finance faculty, widely recognized as the finest in the world, have been at the forefront of several areas of research. For example, members of the faculty have led modern innovations in theories of portfolio choice and savings behavior, which have significantly impacted the asset pricing techniques used by researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Another example is the contribution by faculty members to the analysis of financial institutions and markets, which is fundamental to our understanding of the trade-offs between economic systems and their implications for financial fragility and crises.

Faculty research, both empirical and theoretical, includes such areas as:

• Structure of financial markets
• Formation and behavior of financial asset prices
• Banking and monetary systems
• Corporate control and capital structure
• Saving and capital formation
• International financial markets

For more information: https://fnce.wharton.upenn.edu/programs/phd/

View the University’s Academic Rules for PhD Programs .

Required Courses

The course of study for the Ph.D. in Finance requires the completion of 18 graduate course units.

Students can satisfy these additional course credits in the following ways. 1. Transfer Credits 2. Electives from Other Departments: Economics, Statistics, Accounting, Mathematics, etc. 3. Seminar Courses: Students should limit seminar courses (FNCE 9500s) to a maximum of three (3). These credits require students to attend weekly seminars and write referee reports. A permit is required. The PhD Program Coordinator must approve before a permit is issued.

The degree and major requirements displayed are intended as a guide for students entering in the Fall of 2023 and later. Students should consult with their academic program regarding final certifications and requirements for graduation.

Sample Plan of Study

Usually given in June after the student's first year in the program.  If the student fails, he/she can take the following June.  If the students fails the exam twice, the student will not normally be allowed to stay in the program.

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Finance at Wharton

Elevating the impact of business research in finance

Finance centers at the Wharton School serve as thought leaders for innovative research by supporting and disseminating cutting-edge work in areas including investment management, private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, quantitative finance, and fintech. We seek to enhance the understanding of financial markets and make research accessible, promoting collaboration and interdisciplinary research. We bridge theory and practice by engaging with students, faculty, and industry leaders, with a focus on preparing the next generation of top financial scholars and practitioners.

Read more about Finance at Wharton .

Research Insights | Pillar Faculty Research

Areas of Focus

Foster research in finance that helps investors meet their goals

Equip the next generation of financial scholars and industry leaders

Promote diversity and inclusion in the investment industry

Explore critical questions and challenges in finance

Research Insights

As the undisputed leader in published academic business research, wharton delivers tangible solutions that transform business practices and grow economic opportunities for all., knowledge at wharton  , dive into topical articles, podcasts, and videos through wharton’s online business journal., why staying in your 401(k) after retirement makes sense.

Many retirees will do better if they keep their savings in their employers’ retirement plans instead of rolling over to IRAs, according to new research co-authored by Wharton’s Olivia S. Mitchell. Read More

How Social Insurance Drives Credit Card Debt

New Wharton research finds that as more and more households become eligible for Medicaid, they have better access to credit. Read More

Why Is Financial Literacy Important? | Olivia S. Mitchell

Professor Olivia S. Mitchell explains why financial literacy education should be lifelong. Read More

The Impact of AI on Financial Literacy | Michael Roberts

Professor Michael Roberts discusses whether generative AI can help improve financial literacy. Read More

Centers, Initiatives & More

Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research»

Harris Family Alternative Investments Program»

Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research»

Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance»

The Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation»

Recent research from pillar faculty, meet some of the wharton faculty doing impactful work for finance..

Joao F. Gomes

Senior Vice Dean of Research, Centers, and Academic Initiatives Howard Butcher III Professor of Finance; Professor of Economics

Research Highlight

Oligopoly Dynamics With Financial Frictions

Sylvain Catherine Finance

Social Security and Trends in Wealth Inequality

Itamar Drechsler Finance

The Financial Origins of the Rise and Fall of American Inflation

Sasha Indarte Finance

Moral Hazard versus Liquidity in Household Bankruptcy

David Musto Finance

Contracts With (Social) Benefits: The Implementation of Impact Investing

Nikolai Roussanov Finance

Cheap Thrills: the Price of Leisure and the Global Decline in Work Hours

Robert Stambaugh Finance

Sustainable investing in equilibrium

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The Rodney L. White Center for Financial research is committed to cultivating the next generation of finance leaders in academia and industry. We offer programs that teach, hone, and apply quantitative research skills that will advance candidates into finance PhD programs and related careers.

Pre-Doctoral Research Associate Program

The center offers specially qualified recent college graduates interested in applying to PhD programs the opportunity to work directly with Wharton finance faculty as full-time Research Associates. Each Research Associate will work in this challenging position for 1-2 years and emerge prepared to apply for PhD programs in economics, finance, public policy, business, or other quantitative social-science programs.

Research Associates will be encouraged to be an active part of the Wharton research community, which can include attending seminars, exploring personal research interests, and taking graduate-level classes at Wharton. The Research Associates will join a cohort of pre-doctoral research associates both in the Finance Department and across other departments at the Wharton School. Scroll down for more information and to apply for current openings.

Meet our Associates:

Ding Ding Education: China Foreign Affairs U/LSE, Uchicago Faculty Supervisors: Karen Lewis and Yao Zeng

Vitor Furtado Farias Education: University of Notre Dame Faculty Supervisors: Joao Gomes and Luke Taylor

Hazel He Education: The Chinese U of Hong Kong/Carnegie Mellon Faculty Supervisors: Allison Nicoletti and Christina Zhu

Srikur Kanuparthy Education: U of Illinois – Urbana Champaign Faculty Supervisors: Amy Huber and Huan Tang

Paige Stevenson Education: Macalester College, St Paul MN Faculty Supervisors: Gideon Bornstein , Sasha Indarte , and Sergio Salgado

Shuman Zhang Education: U Minnesota/NYU Faculty Supervisors: Winston Dou and Marius Guenzel

Yizhong Zhang Education: Duke Faculty Supervisors: Lu Liu , Sean Myers , Chaojun Wang

Interested in Becoming a Pre-Doctoral Research Associate?

The Center encourages outstanding recent college graduates with an interest in pursuing a PhD in a finance related field to apply to open positions.  A complete application includes a cover letter explaining why you want to become a pre-doc, a resume/CV, and the most recent transcript.

Read about Tanvi Jindal’s journey to becoming a pre-doc. 

We are now accepting applications for the following openings:

• Pre-doc faculty researcher with Professors    Joao Gomes and Luke Taylor .  For complete information on the position and to apply, click here .
• Pre-doc faculty researcher with Professors Sylvain Catherine and Lu Liu .  For complete information on the position and to apply, click here .

Undergraduate Research Fellow Program

Highly qualified Penn undergraduates can become Center Research Fellows. Fellows assist PhD candidates with their advanced dissertation research. This work can include building financial models and collecting and analyzing data. The PhD candidates serve as mentors, training Fellows on financial tools, concepts, and research.

The program is open to UPenn undergraduate students only .  Opening announcements  are posted each spring in specific department, Wharton School and University research opportunity websites.

Meet our Fellows:

Arjun Agrawal SEAS’26 Computer Science and Mathematical Economics PhD Supervisor: Jack Fu

Brianna Geng W’26 Economics and Computer Science PhD Supervisor: Jeanna Kenney

Ruixi Gong CAS/SEAS’24 Economics and Data Science PhD Supervisor: Clara Xu

Arjun Khanna CAS’26 Mathematical Economics PhD Supervisor: Sergey Sarkisyan

Amy Zhang W’26 Finance and statistics PhD Supervisor: Guanyu Zhou

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PhD Program

Wharton’s PhD program in Statistics provides the foundational education that allows students to engage both cutting-edge theory and applied problems. These include problems from a wide variety of fields within Wharton, such as finance, marketing, and public policy, as well as fields across the rest of the University such as biostatistics within the Medical School and computer science within the Engineering School.

Major areas of departmental research include: analysis of observational studies; Bayesian inference, bioinformatics; decision theory; game theory; high dimensional inference; information theory; machine learning; model selection; nonparametric function estimation; and time series analysis.

Students typically have a strong undergraduate background in mathematics. Knowledge of linear algebra and advanced calculus is required, and experience with real analysis is helpful. Although some exposure to undergraduate probability and statistics is expected, skills in mathematics and computer science are more important. Graduates of the department typically take positions in academia, government, financial services, and bio-pharmaceutical industries.

Apply online here .

Department of Statistics and Data Science

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Academic Research Building 265 South 37th Street, 3rd & 4th Floors Philadelphia, PA 19104-1686

Phone: (215) 898-8222

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ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN FINANCE AT HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL

I'm an Assistant Professor in the Finance Unit at the Harvard Business School.

Research Interests:

Asset Pricing

Household Finance 

Political Economy

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Finance at Wharton

Wharton’s research centers and initiatives are at the frontier of finance, promoting innovative research and groundbreaking programs in areas including investment management, private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, quantitative finance, fintech, financial policy, and regulation. explore the future of finance below., research discoveries.

How U.S. Workers are Impacted by International Taxation: Q&A with Assistant Professor Daniel Garrett

There is a belief among policymakers that a lower foreign tax burden of domestic multinational firms will result in more jobs and increased wages at home. Daniel Garrett, assistant professor of finance at Wharton, challenges this belief in his 2024 paper, “Effects of International Tax Provisions on Domestic Labor Markets.” Read more here !

Assistant Professor Amy Wang Huber on Foreign Investors and their USD Holdings

Over the past two decades, foreign investors have increased their holdings of USD securities – but by how much? Amy Wang Huber, Assistant Professor of Finance at Wharton, gets to the bottom of dollar asset holding and hedging around the globe in her 2023 paper. In this enlightening interview, professor Huber discusses her ground-breaking findings. Read more here !

The “Growth Stock” Misnomer: An Interview with Assistant Professor of Finance Sean Myers

This fall has been productive for Sean Myers, an assistant professor of finance at Wharton. His 2022 paper, The Return of Return Dominance: Decomposing the Cross-section of Prices  co-authored with Ricardo De la O and Xiao Han has recently won the Rodney L. White Center’s 2022 Marshall Blume First Prize in financial research and the 2023 Best Paper from the Jacobs Levy Center. Read more here !

Upcoming Events

Webinar: A Conversation with Bob Elliott, Co-Founder, CEO, and CIO of Unlimited Funds On April 24 at 5pm ET, the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation (WIFPR) and Central Banking @ Penn will host a conversation on the state of the economy, portfolio construction, and the democratization of alternative investments with Bob Elliott, Co-Founder, CEO and CIO of Unlimited Funds and former Investment Committee member at Bridgewater. The conversation will be moderated by Wharton undergraduate Milan Jain and will feature Q&A with students. REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR

Webinar: The Return of Return Dominance The Wharton School’s Jacobs Levy Center invites you to a special webinar featuring Sean Myers, assistant professor of finance at Wharton. Professor Myers will present his paper The Return of Return Dominance: Decomposing the Cross-section of Prices, which tackles the fundamental question – why do stock prices differ so much between companies? REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR

2024 Frontiers in Quantitative Finance Conference The Jacobs Levy Center will hold its 2024 Frontiers in Quantitative Finance Conference on Friday, September 20 in Jon M. Huntsman Hall on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus in Philadelphia. More details will be shared this spring. The program will include paper presentations, a panel discussion, and recognition of the 2024 winners of the Jacobs Levy Center Research Paper Prizes. MORE INFORMATION

Recent Events

Rethinking Optimal Deposit Insurance Deposit Insurance is the most significant explicit government guarantee to the financial sector. On April 19, the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation hosted a conference with the Tobin Center for Economic Policy and the Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics. Learn more about WIFPR .

Cypher Accelerator Demo and Innovation Day Wharton Cypher Accelerator held Demo and Innovation Day on Friday, April 12 at the Penn Club in New York City. This event featured presentations by Cypher Accelerator’s cohort of startups focused on health care, project operations automation, medical imaging, and sustainability – as well as exciting keynote speakers, exclusive networking opportunities, and live musical performances. Learn more about Cypher Accelerator .

FinTech Lecture Series with Jorge Herrada The Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance welcomed Jorge Herrada, director of the CFTC’s Office of Technology Innovation, to Wharton for the final FinTech Lecture Series installment of the school year. Learn more about the Stevens Center’s FinTech Lecture Series .

Finance Centers

Harris family alternative investments program », jacobs levy equity management center for quantitative financial research », rodney l. white center for financial research », stevens center for innovation in finance », the wharton initiative on financial policy and regulation ».

Finance centers at the Wharton School serve as thought leaders for innovative research by supporting and disseminating cutting-edge work in areas including investment management, private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, quantitative finance, fintech, policy, and regulation.

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Finance Department | PhD Program

Phd program.

Our faculty, ranked #1 worldwide based on publications in top finance journals (ASU Finance Rankings), consists of more than 30 researchers who study all major areas of finance, making it one of the largest finance faculty in the country. Stern’s finance faculty is highly rated in terms of research output, and faculty members sit on the editorial boards of all major finance journals.

The finance department offers an exceptionally large range of courses devoted exclusively to PhD students. Apart from core PhD courses in asset pricing and corporate finance, students can choose from a range of electives such as household finance, macro-finance, and financial intermediation. PhD students also enjoy the benefits of Stern’s economics department, NYU’s economics department in the Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS), and the Courant Institute of Mathematics.

Graduates of Stern’s Finance PhD program have been placed at leading research institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Chicago, Stanford, Wharton, Yale, and UCLA.

Holger Mueller , Finance PhD coordinator

More information on the Finance PhD

Download the Finance PhD poster (PDF)

Explore Stern PhD

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Earth week 2024.

This is a campuswide week of events, lectures, and volunteer opportunities designed to educate and inspire action related to environmental justice, climate, and nature-based solutions. This year’s theme is Restore & Regenerate.

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Excellence in Graduate Teaching Reception

5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Penn Graduate Student Center, 3615 Locust Walk

1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

College Green

Maggie Nelson

6:30 p.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk

Education, Business, & Law

Wharton experts on financial literacy

The april episodes of the wharton school’s faculty research podcast, ‘ripple effect,’ mark national financial literacy awareness month, where experts discuss current financial initiatives for innovation, lower-income spending behavior, and how ai may help in financial literacy challenges..

National Financial Literacy Awareness month is observed in April, and Wharton faculty have taken the opportunity to showcase their research in financial literacy, its importance, and current initiatives for innovation. “Ripple Effect,” the Wharton School ’s faculty research podcast, features four installments that cover topics from high schoolers’ financial literacy and household debt to AI’s role in finance.

In “ How a Philly financial literacy course is helping underserved high school students ,” Wharton’s David Musto , Ronald O. Perelman Professor in Finance and director of the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance , discusses center programs that teach high school students about financial literacy, a process he says should start when people are young.

“The course that I’m talking about is Essentials of Personal Finance. … It covers the whole range of financial issues that are relevant in their lives right now, like if you are working a check-out at a store, what is coming out of your paycheck and why? What does that get you? Where’s that going? And then student loans, which are coming up for a lot of these students right away. How do those work?” Musto asks.

“It also covers some topics that are about being an educated voter. If people say the Social Security Trust Fund is running out, well, what is that? ... When different candidates say different things about that, well, what do you like? What does that mean for you?”

Musto and his class also address at the issue of financial literacy from the perspective of other cultures. “This is something that was inspired by a financial services provider who contacted the center saying, ‘I see you have English-language material, but I have potential clients who come from countries where they speak Spanish. They are adults. They do not know very much about our financial system because they just got here, and a lot of them have had negative experiences with the financial systems in the countries where they came from,” Musto explains. “So, material is aimed at that community, helping them plug into our financial system as soon as possible and not get ripped off, and to be able to send money back to their own countries.”

In “ Understanding how financial literacy affects household debt and bankruptcy ,” Sasha Indarte , an assistant professor of finance, discusses her research into the effect of social safety net programs on household debt and creditworthiness, and bias in the bankruptcy process.

“I have some ongoing research that tries to both document and understand the reason behind racial disparities and the access to the debt relief that bankruptcy provides,” Indarte says.

“It’s really difficult to get at this, so we have to use a clever bit of econometrics in order to try to say something about bias. Now, the reason that it’s challenging is when you see a disparity, this could be due to unobserved variables that we’re not controlling for. For example, if Black filers have a greater risk of losing their jobs in the future, that could make it hard for them to complete some of the requirements in Chapter 13, and that might explain some of the disparities,” explains Indarte.

“The crux of our approach to overcome this is we look at differences in the Black/white dismissal gap among Black decision-makers versus white decision-makers in the bankruptcy process. ... The idea is when we do this differencing in comparing, we can net out these omitted factors, and what we’re left with is how these two groups make decisions differently.”

In “ How AI in finance impacts financial literacy ,” Michael Roberts , the William H. Lawrence Professor of Finance, d iscusses whether generative AI can help improve financial literacy. It can, he argues, but the current models aren’t sophisticated enough to serve as standalone advisers.

“AI is financially literate by any measure in practice. From that perspective, it’s impressive. But when you ask it questions such as just broad, open-ended questions like, ‘How should I save for retirement?’ ‘What should I invest in?’—and I’m sure there are regulations or restrictions on AI from becoming an unlicensed RIA (registered investment adviser)—it really doesn’t know where to begin,” says Roberts.

“What’s critical is that I don’t see AI as just a panacea. I view it as a complement and an accelerant on our path towards financial literacy, whatever that may be, or financial proficiency. In other words, I think it’s going to be critical that people recognize that knowledge of finance and financial principles are not going to go away. They are going to be paramount in order to engage successfully with AI, wherever it may be in the future.”

And in “ Why is Financial Literacy Important? ,” Professor Olivia Mitchell argues that it should be a lifelong education because economic factors change over time, including the amount needed for retirement.

“We see financial literacy much like other kinds of education. It takes time to learn financial concepts and to apply them, and sometimes it takes money so that you can hire someone or take a course or what have you. These are the two components that are involved in investing in that college. Moreover, that knowledge can depreciate if you don’t use it over time. There are always new financial products on the market, adjustable-rate mortgages, and so forth, so that the knowledge base needs to be continually built throughout life,” Mitchell says.

“It is definitely an educational process. Many employers are now offering financial literacy training at the workplace. Why? Because they understand that their workers are suffering financial stress due to debt.”

For a full list of podcast episodes, visit the “ Ripple Effect ” website.

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Penn celebrates operation and benefits of largest solar power project in Pennsylvania

Solar production has begun at the Great Cove I and II facilities in central Pennsylvania, the equivalent of powering 70% of the electricity demand from Penn’s academic campus and health system in the Philadelphia area.

Investing in future teachers and educational leaders

The Empowerment Through Education Scholarship Program at Penn’s Graduate School of Education is helping to prepare and retain teachers and educational leaders.

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‘The Illuminated Body’ fuses color, light, and sound

A new Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition of work by artist Barbara Earl Thomas features cut-paper portraits reminiscent of stained glass and an immersive installation constructed with intricately cut material lit from behind.

25 years of ‘LOVE’

The iconic sculpture by pop artist Robert Indiana arrived on campus in 1999 and soon became a natural place to come together.

A Gen Xer who got $250,000 in student loans forgiven said he can now finally start saving for retirement — and consider his dream of studying in India

• Joel Lambdin, 49, received $250,000 in student-loan forgiveness in January.
• It's a result of the Education Department's one-time account adjustments.
• Lambdin said the relief would allow him to save for retirement and consider long-term dreams.

Joel Lambdin finished graduate school in 1998 — but as a professional musician, he was hardly making enough money to pay off his student loans and other bills.

So Lambdin, now 49, said his only option to make ends meet was to put his student loans in forbearance — in which he was not making payments but interest was still accumulating .

"It was just so that I could subsist, so that I could survive," Lambdin told Business Insider. "With the hope that at some point, I would be making enough money that I would be able to take them out of forbearance and start paying them down."

But he grew to realize that the only way he could make a significant dent in his student loans was by switching careers. He didn't want to do that because he loved working in music, so he decided to keep his larger student loan in forbearance and begin paying off his smaller loan with a lower monthly payment.

He continued making those payments until the pandemic pause on student-loan payments , at which point he and his wife started making a plan of action to tackle the larger debt once the pause ended. That led them to discover the Education Department's initiative allowing some borrowers a one-time account adjustment . It lets the department evaluate borrowers' accounts and update payment progress toward forgiveness on income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, including any payments made during a forbearance period.

That account adjustment led to a letter Lambdin received on January 31, reviewed by BI, from his student-loan servicer Aidvantage. It said: "Congratulations! The Biden-Harris Administration has forgiven your federal student loan(s) listed below with Aidvantage in full."

For Lambdin, that letter meant his $249,255 outstanding student-loan balance was effectively wiped out.

"It had started to feel like my fate was being decided for me by the cold hand of finance," Lambdin said, "and that was a weight that I didn't realize was there until it wasn't there."

He added: "The feeling was much more like putting down a backpack that was really full of books that you got used to. And then you put it down, and you're like, 'Oh, man, that feels so much better.' It's more like that, rather than sort of a jump-for-joy kind of situation."

While Lambdin is still working to determine what exactly the relief will mean for him and his wife, he said, discussing retirement is "a much more present conversation now" because contributing to savings is viable after the relief. He can also begin to look into buying a home.

Related stories

The Education Department continues to cancel student debt through its one-time account adjustments, a process it plans to complete this summer. Most recently, the department wiped out $7.4 billion in student debt for 277,000 borrowers , some of whom benefited from the adjustments.

Beyond financial goals, Lambdin said the relief was also allowing him the freedom to pursue some of his long-term dreams, including taking a sabbatical to study with his meditation teacher in India.

"It's something that I wouldn't have been able to even consider doing if we had to pay off student loans, but without them, it's something that I can really seriously consider doing," he said. "And so those are the kinds of things that I think get really lost in the monetary side of the conversation about debt relief."

'I've been really lucky'

While Lambdin said he felt as though he earned the relief given his decades of payments, he recognized that it's not that easy for many other borrowers.

For example, as BI has previously reported , some borrowers who might qualify for relief through different repayment programs may not have gotten it yet because of paperwork backlogs and administrative errors. On top of that, funding for federal student-loan servicers is strained — meaning many borrowers face hourslong hold times and cannot get clear answers from customer service regarding their payment progress.

"There are some real horror stories out there, and I've been really lucky in that I haven't experienced the kinds of shenanigans that other people have experienced," Lambdin said. "So I actually feel very lucky that things have transpired the way they have."

Some of those horror stories include inaccurate payment projections and delayed billing statements . When it comes to student-loan forgiveness, some borrowers told BI that their servicer made a mistake with the forgiveness , reinstating their payments months later.

The Education Department has said it's aware of the challenges borrowers face and has established an accountability framework to punish servicers when they fail to fulfill their contractual obligations.

The department is also in the process of crafting its new plan for student-loan forgiveness — it recently released the draft text of the rules , which included relief for borrowers with unpaid interest and those who have been in repayment for at least 20 years.

As for Lambdin, he's still figuring out how to approach life without student debt hanging over his head. But now he can consider various options, and he can thank the loan forgiveness for that freedom.

"There's a certain amount of waiting for the other shoe to drop because it's not that I don't trust that it's happening but just that the debt has been with me for so long, and then it's not there," Lambdin said. "And it's something that I think really takes some getting used to."

Watch: Biden announces who can have $10,000 erased in student loans

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Spark Investments, Bergen County Academies, New Jersey, Brings the Heat to the 2024 Investment Competition Global Finale

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The abiding theme for the annual Wharton Global High School Investment Competition might well be: You can achieve growth through many paths .

That sentiment was surely on display on Saturday, April 20, 2024, as this year’s top 11 investment competition teams gathered on the 8 th floor of the Wharton School’s Jon M. Huntsman Hall in Philadelphia to dazzle family, friends, teachers and judges with their unique investment strategies, team dynamics and new investing knowledge. It was a celebration of growth, reflected in a mosaic of portfolio numbers, stock -filtering algorithms, and powerful teamwork.

Following 11 presentations from teams representing the U.S., India, China and Canada, and some deep deliberation from the judges, Wharton Global Youth Program Senior Executive Director Eli Lesser, announced this year’s top three teams.

The 2023-2024 Wharton Global High School Investment Competition winners are:

🏆 1st Place : Spark Investments, Bergen County Academies, New Jersey, U.S.

🏆 2nd Place : Wreckers Wealth Management , Staples High School, Connecticut, U.S.

🏆 3rd Place : DMV’s Finest, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Virginia, U.S.

Each member of Spark’s winning team will receive a scholarship to a Wharton Global Youth online program. In addition, one team from their Bergen County Academies will automatically advance to next year’s semifinals (as long as they submit all the deliverables) to defend the school’s crown. All finalist teams received trophies, as well as special plaques for the top three teams.

Strategic Excellence

The 2023-2024 competition client Hilary Ash , around whom the competing student teams built their goal-driven investment strategies, traveled from her home in San Francisco to participate in the Global Finale festivities. “Congratulations to all of you because what you have done is incredibly impressive,” said Ash, a 2013 graduate of the Wharton School who is now part of the team preparing for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games . “Thank you for putting so much time and effort into this competition …I hope that you continue to apply this level of effort to everything that you do.”

The level of excellence among the competition finalists was a consistent narrative from all the day’s guests, particularly the judging panel of industry professionals.

This year’s judges included: Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst, Bloomberg Intelligence; Vikas Keswani (W’03), managing director and head of North American specialty lending, HPS Investment Partners; Zoe McCormick, senior investment manager , North American fixed income, abrdn; and Muk Rao (C’94, GSE’97), product manager and architect, Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS).

“We were very, very impressed with the quality of the work,” noted Keswani. “Everyone put a lot of thoughtful pieces of analysis into [your presentations], whether it was efficient frontier, cross correlations, diversification or portfolio theory. We enjoyed that. In some cases, there was a lot of it. And in some cases, there was a little bit of it, but a lot of depth and accuracy. That is one of the things that in my mind differentiated better performances.”

Balchunus praised the teams’  “next level” use of algorithms and machine learning in their strategy designs, while urging them (as investment advisors) to consider behavioral finance and their clients’ emotions during a market downturn. Also with the retail client in mind, McCormick added, “When analyzing someone’s investments, take a look at this person holistically” and consider their total financial picture.

Rao, a long-time fixture on the Global Finale judging panel, summed up the judges’ thoughts: “If you all pursue the other things you love in your life with the same passion, the same honesty, the same rigor, you can do just about anything.”

You Ready to Compete?

Registration for the 2024-2025 Wharton Global High School Investment Competition begins in June 2024. What will next year bring? As always, a robust financial learning opportunity for an ever-expanding global cohort of earnest young investors – who gain so much more than stock market skills.

The Wharton Global Youth team is doing some reimagining of our signature competition, so be sure to stay tuned for more information in our Global Youth  newsletter  and on the  Wharton Global Youth Program website .

Need some inspiration? Winning team Spark Investments says it all with their tagline: Ignite the flame for your financial future . “Students should compete in this competition, especially those who have been in business classes before, as a great opportunity to apply your class knowledge in a real-world setting,” said Chloe C., director of business development and client relations for her team. “It’s inspiring to be alongside peers who are all striving toward the same goal.”

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A tale of big friendly giants and fierce competitors at india’s region 2 final, kwhs holds its region 2 investment competition finals at india’s national stock exchange.

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* Denotes STEM-designated 

Becoming an Academic Thought Leader Wharton faculty encourage doctoral students to explore new ideas that span a broad range of business knowledge and often cross disciplinary boundaries. PhD students share their individual research interests and their pursuit to “create knowledge.”

How the PhD Program Works

While the program in each discipline has individual requirements, Wharton’s PhD program generally consists of two years of classes followed by research. Here’s how it works.

Academic Policies

PhD is an academic research degree awarded by the Graduate Council of the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania. Here are the rules and policies set by Penn.

Wharton Executive Education Brings Managers a Roadmap for Effective AI Oversight with new Strategies for Accountable AI Program

Live online executive program will run october 16 – december 18, 2024.

April 25, 2024

PHILADELPHIA, PA : It’s well established that artificial intelligence (AI) has changed and will continue changing the way we work. Yet with so many organizations rapidly adopting AI technologies, risks are growing as well, including well-known concerns such as bias, hallucinations, privacy and intellectual property issues, legal liability, and regulatory penalties. What are companies doing to prepare and protect themselves? Not enough, it appears. A recent BCG survey found that although 84 percent of executives believe responsible AI should be on top management agendas, only 25 percent have comprehensive programs in place.

“Everyone agrees that accountability has to be a part of what implementing AI means,” says Kevin Werbach, Wharton professor and department chairperson of legal studies and business ethics. “So, you’re either going to be one of the leaders in doing AI governance, or you’re going to get pulled along by regulation or catching up to your competitors.” He adds that the best approach for companies is to “get ahead of the curve and understand how your AI investments can go wrong, so you can limit the risks that they will.”

Werbach, alongside Wharton’s thought-leading AI faculty, will be helping executives do just that — get ahead of the curve — in the new Wharton Executive Education program Strategies for Accountable AI . Werbach serves as academic director, accompanied by faculty experts from the renowned research center AI at Wharton . The live online program will run October 16–December 18, 2024.

Strategies for Accountable AI offers participants a real-world, up-to-the-minute roadmap for effective AI oversight, empowering them to build, monitor, and maintain accountable AI solutions. Participants will explore the legal, ethical, and business controversies posed by AI; acquire techniques to mitigate AI risks; discover how fast-changing laws and enforcement across the globe could affect their business; assess their own organization’s responsible AI readiness; and more. The program helps executives win a competitive advantage as they discover how to protect their firm and its reputation while leveraging AI for business success.

The program’s format enables participants’ exposure to Wharton’s up-to-the minute research and teaching about the subject with direct interaction with the faculty via weekly, 90-minute, flipped-classroom, live online sessions. The learning is interspersed with self-paced online video segments and activities. Moreover, participants will engage in team collaboration, case studies, and a capstone project.

The program’s live online sessions will be led by prominent Wharton faculty and AI thought leaders including Kevin Werbach (academic director), Ethan Mollick, Stefano Puntoni, Scott Snyder, Prasanna (Sonny) Tambe, and Lynn Wu. Participants will also get program-exclusive perspectives of industry experts including top responsible AI executives, ethicists, investors, and government officials, among others.

Sessions include The AI Dynamic Landscape: Market Trends and Technological Insights; Frameworks for Accountable AI: AI Laws, Regulation, and Governance; When AI Goes Wrong: Accuracy, Risk, and Transparency; Data Acquisition: Privacy, Copyright, Licensing, and the AI Supply Chain; Fairness, Bias, and Discrimination; Abusive Practices: Manipulation, Misinformation, Market Power; The Human Dimension: How AI Changes Work and Consumer Experiences; and Techniques and Strategies for Accountable AI.

Executives in all industries who are considering, adopting, evaluating, or expanding AI systems will benefit from this program. So will entrepreneurs working in the AI space, as well as developers and marketers seeking a better grasp of AI’s risks and how to mitigate them. The program is also valuable for those working in legal and compliance groups, although Werbach notes that implementing responsible AI is by no means limited to the general counsel’s office: “People who are actually managing AI projects need to understand this broader set of issues.”

Werbach observes that in addition to the financial benefits and reputation protection offered by adopting AI accountably, there is a social responsibility advantage. “You want to be building things that are responsible and fair and trustworthy; those are important values that organizations have at a broad level,” he says.

Strategies for Accountable AI is now accepting applications. Prospective participants can learn more and apply at executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu .

About Wharton Executive Education

Wharton Executive Education has served as the global leader in executive development for 35 years. Steeped in the heritage and analytical insights of the Wharton School, with an eye toward shaping the future of business, Wharton Executive Education’s individual , online , and custom programs prepare over 100,000 professionals a year to transform their careers and organizations. For more information on Wharton Executive Education’s practical business solutions, visit executiveeducation.wharton.upenn.edu .

About the Wharton School

Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate , MBA , executive MBA , and doctoral students . Each year 13,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs , and thousands of pre-collegiate students explore business concepts through Wharton’s Global Youth Program . More than 105,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. For more information, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.

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Media Contact

Sarah Schwab Director of Communications Aresty Institute of Executive Education The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania [email protected]

Shell Graduate Programme 2024 (Finance) - Singapore

Join us as a Shell graduate and you can be a part of the future of energy.

Together we are transitioning to become a net-zero emissions business while providing the energy that people around the world need today.

Working with experienced colleagues on these important challenges, you’ll have the opportunity to grow your skills– in an environment where we value honesty, integrity, and respect for one another.

Whichever part of our business you join, you will have the chance to work with experienced colleagues and share your unique perspective and fresh ideas on how to tackle energy-related challenges. That’s why we’re looking for graduates who share our purpose and passion for progress.

Our inclusive and collaborative culture will equip you with the support you need to forge your own path and grow your skills as you work on meaningful projects with exciting responsibilities right from the start.

At Shell you can power your progress as we tackle the energy challenge together.

Commencement date for the Graduate Programme are March and August 2024.

Develop the energy solutions of tomorrow and today

How can the world transition to net zero emissions while providing the secure, affordable energy that powers lives? You’ll get the opportunity for hands-on experience of projects that are helping to meet this challenge. By working with experienced colleagues who bring expertise from a range of areas, you will have the chance to help drive change in the energy system. 

Grow your skills: learn today, lead tomorrow

When you join, you'll be assigned to a role with exciting challenges and opportunities. You’ll be supported in crafting a development journey tailored to your strengths and needs with the opportunity to work on a variety of projects at the forefront of technologies, trends and practices.

Shell's 'learner mindset' environment helps unlock the potential in each of us, creating a supportive, high-performance environment based on openness, curiosity and growth, where you can learn from experiences and build the skills that let you grow today and lead in future.

Collaborate with experienced colleagues

With access to a global network of expertise you can make meaningful connections and continue your growth and learning at Shell. We invite people to think differently and learn from the diversity of backgrounds, cultures, ideas and knowledge at Shell

Achieve balance in a values-led culture

We live our core values of honesty, integrity and respect, so you can work in an environment that encourages you to be the best version of yourself and respects the individual journeys that each of us will take.

Learn more about Shell careers on our website: https://www.shell.com/graduates

Power Your Progress

You should enjoy being challenged, rather than being daunted or overwhelmed if a task seems impossible, you welcome the opportunity to be innovative. You also need to be good at absorbing information, analysing problems, making objective decisions, and coming up with original ideas. You should have the drive, and resilience to get things done, the flexibility to work well as part of a team and the credibility to influence others.

To be eligible for the Shell Graduate Programme, you must be pursuing or have completed a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree from a recognised University and have less than three years of relevant work experience. You will also need to be a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident.

We believe in creating an inclusive culture and work environment where you can thrive, innovate, and develop.

We’ll help you discover your potential with outstanding career opportunities. You’ll be able to continuously seek out new ideas and experiences, collaborating with a global network of people, working on some of the most commercially-driven and innovative projects in the world.

Join the Shell Graduate Programme and Power Your Progress.

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