Autumn is a bustling time of year on the University of Washington Seattle campus. For students joining the Computational Finance and Risk Management graduate program, their schedule is full with CFRM program commitments when the academic year starts.
It’s not all academics, though – some of the events are fun! See what we’ve been up to since school started on September 25, 2019.
Autumn Kick-Off Party: To celebrate the start of the academic year and to welcome new students, all students in the Applied Mathematics Department were invited to the Autumn Kick-Off Party, held on the afternoon of Friday, October 11. Faculty, staff, and new and returning students from programs in Applied Mathematics and Computational Finance & Risk Management had the chance to mix and mingle over Vietnamese food.
Career Readiness Workshops: CFRM Career Services Manager Karen Beaudry has been busy teaching Career and Professional Development Workshops for first year campus MS students. The classroom-based workshops cover topics such as writing cover letters, interview preparation, networking, navigating internships and jobs, and more. In October, the highly anticipated Photo Day was held, where students don professional dress and have their headshots taken. Workshops run during the entire academic year.
Alumni + Student Mixer: Our first Alumni + Student Mixer was held on Thursday, October 17. Over 60 students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered at Still Liquor on Capitol Hill to enjoy happy hour drinks and Mediterranean snacks. It was an opportunity for alumni to impart their wisdom to first year students, and a chance for alumni from different years to connect over shared CFRM experiences. Watch for an upcoming announcement about our second mixer in spring 2020!
BIG Event: The Applied Mathematics BIG (Business, Industry, Government) Event, held on Tuesday, November 5, brought together students, alumni, faculty, postdocs to learn about possible career paths from some of our very own alumni and friends of the department, and to network and meet recruiters. Representatives from Microsoft, Institute for Disease Modeling, Dyndrite Corporation, Boeing, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Google shared details about their employers, the work they do, and gave information about open positions.
Employer Events: Career-related events with Parametric Portfolio Associates, Milliman, The Energy Authority, and Zillow Group have occurred this autumn. CFRM students learned more about these companies and their business lines, and took field trips to the offices of Parametric and The Energy Authority. CFRM instructor Guy Yollin and CFRM alumna Talex Diede, from the Milliman Life and Annuity Predictive Analytics practice, returned for the second year and gave a presentation about the leading-edge data products the practice develops and deploys. Zillow Group, Applied Science for Financial Risk Management, visited the UW campus as well. Students enjoy learning more about local employers, their projects, and clients. Hearing about internships, full-time job opportunities and a chance to network with professionals in industry is a highlight of these activities.