CF&RM offers a full-time Master’s degree on campus or online. Full-time students will be able to finish the degree in 18 months on average, including a summer internship. Most full-time students take classroom courses on campus but online is an option for those that prefer the format and flexibility.
If you are considering visiting the University of Washington campus before applying or enrolling please visit us at Lewis Hall as well as stop by the UW Information & Visitors Center.
The Master of Science in Computational Finance and Risk Management (MS-CF&RM) is designed to address the demand in the financial services industry for advanced quantitative and computational finance skills, and next generation risk management competencies. Individuals who understand how to manage assets to enhance investment returns while controlling risk are required throughout the world of financial services, as are individuals who understand and can effectively implement financial risk management methods.
For professionals with strong mathematical and quantitative skills, the MS-CF&RM degree program provides exciting new opportunities for advancement in a current or new career pathway in the numerous fields in finance.
The MS-CF&RM is a Professional MS degree program offered by the Department of Applied Mathematics (AMATH) within the College of Arts and Sciences. It is offered with 3 options: a 42 credit General program option, a 54 credit Risk Management option with extended internship, and a 54 credit Computing option with extended internship. As with other MS and PhD degrees at the University of Washington, the MS-CF&RM degree is awarded by the the Graduate School. Registration and operations for the MS-CF&RM program are handled by the University of Washington Professional and Continuing Education (PCE) organization.
CF&RM offers a full-time Master’s degree on campus or online. Full-time students will be able to finish the degree in 18 months on average, including a summer internship. Most full-time students take classroom courses on campus but online is an option for those that prefer the format and flexibility.
If you are considering visiting the University of Washington campus before applying or enrolling please visit us at Lewis Hall as well as stop by the UW Information & Visitors Center.
CF&RM offers a part-time Master’s degree online. The part-time option is an optimal solution for working professionals to pursue the MS-CF&RM degree while maintaining their current job or other obligations. Part-time students will be able to finish the degree requirements in two-and-a-half years, on average, when taking one course each quarter.
The University of Washington utilizes a variety of platforms to support active, online learning. These platforms include the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS), the Sonic Foundry’s MediaSite system for class capture, and Adobe Connect Meeting for live, interactive classroom meeting and TA discussions.
Online students utilize all of these platforms to support their learning experience either real-time or on-demand. Classroom students use the Moodle LMS and share the same assignments, resources, and discussion groups with their online peers. Classroom students may also use on-demand recordings of course lectures on the MediaSite class capture system to reinforce their classroom learning experience.
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Required Courses |
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AMATH 540 (2) |
AMATH 544 (4) Options and Derivatives |
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AMATH 541 (4) |
AMATH 556 (4) |
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AMATH 542 (4) |
AMATH 558 (4) |
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AMATH 543 (4) |
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Elective Courses |
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AMATH 510 (4) |
AMATH 555 (4) Optimization Methods in Finance |
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AMATH 545 (4) |
AMATH 557 (4)
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AMATH 546 (4) |
AMATH 559 (4) |
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AMATH 547 (4) |
AMATH 582 (5) |
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AMATH 548 (4) |
AMATH 583 (5)
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AMATH 551 (4) |
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| AMATH 552 (2) Portfolio Performance Analysis and Benchmarking |
AMATH 500 (variable credits) Special Studies in Applied Mathematics |
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AMATH 553 (2) |
AMATH 600 (variable credits) Independent Research or Study |
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AMATH 554 (2) |
AMATH 700 (variable credits, minimum of 9 credits required) Master's Thesis |
The Applied Mathematics Computational Finance and Risk Management program is pleased to announce the following four new MS-CFRM “pre-program” courses:
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Pre-Program Courses |
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| AMATH 460 (3) Mathematical Methods for Quantitative Finance |
AMATH 462 (5) Introduction to Computational Finance and Financial Econometrics |
| AMATH 461 (3) Probability and Statistics for Computational Finance |
AMATH 463 (2) Foundations of R Programming |
Course offering times:
AMATH 460: spring and summer quarters 2013
AMATH 461 and AMATH 462: summer quarter 2013
AMATH 463: September three-week early-start September 3 - 24, 2013
These University of Washington Applied Mathematics credit courses provide education in fundamentals of mathematics, statistics, financial econometrics and R programming with a view toward application in quantitative and computational finance. Each course will develop competencies needed for entering the MS-CFRM degree program. As such these courses are designed to meet the needs of the following types of individuals:
(a) Individuals who wish to pursue a career in quantitative or computational finance but have been working for some time and need to brush up on one or more of the subject-matter areas.
(b) Undergraduate juniors and graduating seniors who to pursue a career in quantitative or computational finance and as such would benefit from the broad range of skills contained in the above courses.
Each of the above courses can be taken on a single course enrollment (SCE) basis. This option is ideal for individuals in (a) above. To apply for single course enrollment please fill out the application here.
The three courses AMATH 460, 461, and 462 comprise a UW Professional and Continuing Education (PCE) Certificate in Quantitative Fundamentals of Computational Finance. This Certificate is ideal for individuals in group (b) above. To apply and register for this Certificate program go to http://www.pce.uw.edu/certificates/quantitative-computational-finance.html
Online courses in the MS-CF&RM curriculum are also offered on a single course enrollment (SCE) basis. Applicants should have adequate course pre-requisite experience. For more information please contact us at 'compfin [at] uw.edu' and indicate SCE and the course title in which you are interested.
CF&RM makes extensive use of the open source R language and computing environment in its instructional program and in research. We believe that R is an ideal tool for:
An emphasis on R computing is also made outside of the classroom with CF&RM participation and presence in the annual R/Finance Conference. At the most recent conference in 2012, CF&RM Program Director Doug Martin, Co-Director Eric Zivot, and Instructor Guy Yolling all made presentations.
Since its introduction in the late 1990's the use of R has grown at a startling rate and R and has emerged as the de facto open source standard for statistical computing, data analysis, and graphics.
R is based on the S language developed by John Chambers at AT&T Bell Labs, with extensive contributions from Rick Becker and a number of Bell Labs colleagues focused on challenging data analysis problems and use of new statistical methodologies. Dr. Chambers received the ACM Software System award of 1998.
The support of the Statistical Research group that was located in the Bell Labs Mathematics Research Center located in Murray Hill, NJ, combined with the overall research environment at Bell Labs prior to the AT&T divestiture, provided a unique and ideal setting for the development and rapid evolution of S.
Much of the initial growth in the development and use of R can be attributed to the success of the S-PLUS product which was a commercial implementation of the S language by Statistical Sciences, Inc. (a company founded by CompFin Program Director Doug Martin).
Robert Gentleman and Ross Ihaka received the 2010 American Statistical Association Statistical Computing and Graphics Award for their work in initiating the R Project for Statistical Computing.
CF&RM hosts guest lecturers in the field of computational finance and risk management in speaking opportunities. For a list of guest lectures and other events open to the public, please see our Calendar for upcoming seminars as well as our Seminars page to review past lectures.
To facilitate internship and career placement, CF&RM offers career preparation, professional networking, and industry events exclusively for its students. Though these are not open to the public, prospective students can see some of our past events on the CF&RM Facebook page.