phd in mathematics mit

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Admissions Requirements

The following are general requirements you should meet to apply to the MIT Sloan PhD Program. Complete instructions concerning application requirements are available in the online application.

General Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent
• A strong quantitative background (the Accounting group requires calculus)
• Exposure to microeconomics and macroeconomics (the Accounting group requires microeconomics)

A Guide to Business PhD Applications by Abhishek Nagaraj (PhD 2016) may be of interest.

Application Components

Statement of purpose.

Your written statement is your chance to convince the admissions committee that you will do excellent doctoral work and that you have the promise to have a successful career as an academic researcher. 

GMAT/GRE Scores

We require either a valid GMAT or valid GRE score. At-home testing is allowed. Your unofficial score report from the testing institution is sufficient for application. If you are admitted to the program, you will be required to submit your official test score for verification.    

We do not have a minimum score requirement. We do not offer test waivers. Registration information for the GMAT (code X5X-QS-21) and GRE (code 3510) may be obtained at www.mba.com and www.ets.org respectively.

TOEFL/IELTS Scores

We require either a valid TOEFL (minimum score 577 PBT/90 IBT ) or valid IELTS (minimum score 7) for all non-native English speakers. Your unofficial score report from the testing institution is sufficient for application. If you are admitted to the program, you will be required to submit your official test score for verification.    Registration information for TOEFL (code 3510) and IELTS may be obtained at www.toefl.org and www.ielts.org respectively.

The TOEFL/IELTS test requirement is waived only if you meet one of the following criteria:

• You are a native English speaker.
• You attended all years of an undergraduate program conducted solely in English, and are a graduate of that program.

Please do not contact the PhD Program regarding waivers, as none will be discussed. If, upon review, the faculty are interested in your application with a missing required TOEFL or IELTS score, we may contact you at that time to request a score.

Transcripts

We require unofficial copies of transcripts for each college or university you have attended, even if no degree was awarded. If these transcripts are in a language other than English, we also require a copy of a certified translation. In addition, you will be asked to list the five most relevant courses you have taken.

Letters of Recommendation

We require three letters of recommendation. Academic letters are preferred, especially those providing evidence of research potential. We allow for an optional  fourth recommendation, but no more than four recommendations are allowed.

Your resume should be no more than two pages. You may chose to include teaching, professional experience, research experience, publications, and other accomplishments in outside activities.

Writing Sample(s)

Applicants are encouraged to submit a writing sample. For applicants to the Finance group, a writing sample is required. There are no specific guidelines for your writing sample. Possible options include (but are not limited to) essays, masters’ theses, capstone projects, or research papers.

Video Essay

A video essay is required for the Accounting research group and optional for the Marketing and System Dynamics research groups. The essay is a short and informal video answering why you selected this research group and a time where you creatively solved a problem. The video can be recorded with your phone or computer, and should range from 2 to 5 minutes in length. There is no attention — zero emphasis! — on the production value of your video.  

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MIT Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Computational Science and Engineering

• CSE PhD Overview
• Dept-CSE PhD Overview
• CSE Doctoral Theses
• Program Overview and Curriculum
• For New CCSE Students
• Terms of Reference

MIT Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Computational Science and Engineering (Dept-CSE PhD)

• Dept-CSE PhD Program of Study Form   (version date 05Feb2024)
• Checklist for Dept-CSE PhD Students (version date 05Sep2023)

Dept-CSE PhD Participating Departments

The interdisciplinary doctoral program in Computational Science and Engineering ( CSE PhD + Engineering or Science ) at MIT allows enrolled students to specialize at the doctoral level in a computation-related field of their choice through focused coursework and a doctoral thesis. This program is offered through a number of participating departments, namely

• Civil and Environmental Engineering (Course 1) ,
• Mechanical Engineering (Course 2) ,
• Materials Science and Engineering (Course 3) ,
• Chemical Engineering (Course 10) ,
• Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (Course 12) ,
• Aeronautics and Astronautics (Course 16) ,
• Mathematics (Course 18) ,
• Nuclear Science & Engineering (Course 22) .

Program Outline

Once admitted, doctoral degree candidates are expected to complete the host department’s degree requirements (including qualifying exam) with CSE deviations relating to coursework, thesis committee composition and thesis submission that are specific to the Dept-CSE program and are discussed in more detail below.

Academic Performance

Dept-CSE PhD students are required to complete at least five graduate-level subjects, totaling no less than 60 credit units, in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects . Dept-CSE PhD students may not use more than 12 units of credit from a “meets with undergraduate” subject to fulfill the CSE curriculum requirement. Subjects taken with the graduate P/D/F grading option, or subjects specifically designated as P/D/F in the MIT Bulletin, cannot be used to satisfy the Dept-CSE PhD curricular requirement of five graduate-level subjects, totaling no less than 60 credit units, in computational science and engineering*.

In addition to departmental academic performance expectations, Dept-CSE students are expected to maintain a grade point average (GPA) of at least 4.5 (out of 5) in CSE subjects and an overall GPA of at least 4.2 (out of 5) during the course of their studies.

*ChemE-CSE students are required to complete at least four subjects in computational science and engineering, in addition to 10.34, for a total of no less than 57 credit units.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

A complete description of the doctoral program in Civil and Environmental Engineering can be found at https://cee.mit.edu/resources/ . Deviations associated with the CEE-CSE degree (“1.CSD”) are as follows.

Coursework Requirements

The CEE-CSE doctoral program of study consists of at least five graduate-level subjects in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects . Subjects taken as part of an MIT SM degree can be counted toward this requirement. Doctoral candidates are normally expected to take their major subjects at the Institute. The specific subjects will depend on the student’s thesis topic and background, and will be approved by their thesis committee.

Thesis Committee Composition

The thesis committee composition requirements are identical to those of Course 1, with the additional requirement that that either the advisor be a CCSE member or the committee contain at least two CCSE members.

Thesis Submission

In addition to approval from the Chair of Course 1 Graduate Program Committee, the complete thesis needs to be submitted to and approved by CCSE. Students should provide a copy of the thesis title page to the CCSE academic administrator for review and approval prior to submitting the final thesis.

Thesis Fields

Course 1 will award degrees under the thesis fields “Civil Engineering and Computation” and “Environmental Engineering and Computation.”

Department of Mechanical Engineering

A complete description of the doctoral program in Mechanical Engineering can be found at http://meche.mit.edu/academic/graduate . Deviations associated with the CSE degree are as follows. MechE-CSE PhD candidates (“2.CSD”) are expected to pass the ME qualifying exam in Computational Engineering (present thesis in computational engineering and take computational engineering subject exam).

The MechE-CSE doctoral program of study consists of at least five graduate-level subjects in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects . Subjects taken as part of an MIT SM degree can be counted toward this requirement. Doctoral candidates are normally expected to take their major subjects at the Institute. The specific subjects will depend on the student’s thesis topic and background, and will be approved by their thesis committee.

The thesis committee composition requirements are identical to those of Course 2, with the additional requirement that  either the advisor be a CCSE member or the committee contain at least two CCSE members.

In addition to approval from the ME Graduate Officer, the complete thesis needs to be submitted to and approved by CCSE. Students should provide a copy of the thesis title page to the CCSE academic administrator for review and approval prior to submitting the final thesis.

Thesis Field

Course 2 will award degrees under the thesis field “Mechanical Engineering and Computation.”

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

A complete description of the graduate program in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) can be found via https://dmse.mit.edu/graduate/programs . Deviations associated with the DMSE-CSE degree (“3.CSD”) are as follows.

The DMSE-CSE doctoral program of study consists of at least five graduate subjects in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects . The CSE five-course requirement can be satisfied through courses that simultaneously satisfy the DMSE core, post-core electives, and/or minor requirements. CSE subjects that a student may have applied towards a MIT SM degree may also be applied towards a DMSE-CSE doctoral major field of study requirement. Doctoral candidates are normally expected to take their major subjects at the Institute. The specific subjects will depend on the student’s thesis topic and background, and will be approved by Thesis Committee.

The Thesis committee composition requirements are identical to those of DMSE, with the additional requirement that that either  the advisor be a CCSE member  or  the committee contain at least two CCSE members.

In addition to approval from the Chair of the Departmental Graduate Program Committee, the complete thesis needs to be submitted to and approved by CCSE. Students should provide a copy of the thesis title page to the CCSE academic administrator for review and approval prior to submitting the final thesis.

DMSE will award degrees under the Thesis field “Computational Materials Science and Engineering”.

Department of Chemical Engineering

A complete description of the doctoral program in Chemical Engineering can be found at  http://web.mit.edu/cheme/academics/grad/advising.html#phdscd . Deviations associated with the ChemE-CSE degree are as follows.

ChemE-CSE students (“10.CSD”) are expected to complete the ChemE core curriculum with a CSE minor consisting of at least four graduate level subjects in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects .  The minor subjects shall not include 10.34, which is already part of the Chemical Engineering core curriculum. Subjects taken as part of an MIT SM program can be counted toward this requirement. Doctoral candidates are normally expected to take their major subjects at the Institute. The specific subjects will depend on the student’s thesis topic and background, and will be approved by the student’s thesis committee.

The thesis committee composition requirements are identical to those of Course 10, with the additional requirement that  either  the committee chair be a CCSE member  or  the committee contain at least two CCSE members.

Course 10 will award degrees under the thesis field “Chemical Engineering and Computation.”

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences

Once admitted, doctoral degree candidates are expected to complete the Course 12 degree requirements as outlined at https://eapsweb.mit.edu/academic-resources/grad-resources , except those relating to coursework in the Major Field of Study, Thesis Committee Composition and Thesis Submission that are specific to the EAPS-CSE program and are discussed in more detail below.

Degree candidates are expected to pass the qualifying exam in Course 12.

The EAPS-CSE (“12.CSD”) doctoral program of study consists of at least five graduate-level subjects in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects . The specific subjects will depend on the student’s thesis topic and background, and will be approved by the Thesis Committee. Subjects taken as part of an MIT SM program can be counted toward this requirement. Doctoral candidates are normally expected to take their major subjects at the Institute.

The Thesis committee composition requirements are identical to those of Course 12, with the additional requirement that either the advisor be a CCSE member or the committee contain at least two CCSE members.

In addition to approval from the Examination Committee, the complete thesis needs to be submitted to and approved by CCSE. Students should provide a copy of the thesis title page to the CCSE academic administrator for review and approval prior to submitting the final thesis.

Course 12 will award degrees under the Thesis field ” Computational Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences “.

Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

A complete description of the doctoral program in Aeronautics and Astronautics can be found at http://aeroastro.mit.edu/graduate-program/doctoral-degree . Deviations associated with the AeroAstro-CSE degree are as follows. AeroAstro-CSE PhD candidates (“16.CSD”) are expected to pass the Aerospace Computational Engineering track qualifying exam in Course 16.

The AeroAstro-CSE doctoral program of study consists of at least five graduate-level subjects in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects . Subjects taken as part of an MIT SM program can be counted toward this requirement. Doctoral candidates are normally expected to take their major subjects at the Institute. The specific subjects will depend on the student’s thesis topic and background, and will be approved by thesis committee.

The thesis committee composition requirements are identical to those of Course 16, with the additional requirement that either the advisor be a CCSE member or the committee contain at least two CCSE members.

Course 16 will award degrees under the thesis field “Computational Science and Engineering” to students matriculating in/before September 2023 and “Aerospace Engineering and Computational Science” for students matriculating after September 2023.

Department of Mathematics

A description of the plan of study for the Applied Mathematics option of the PhD degree in Course 18, can be found at http://math.mit.edu/academics/grad/timeline/plan.php . Deviations associated with the Math-CSE degree (“18.CSD”) are as follows.

The Math-CSE doctoral program of study consists of at least five graduate-level subjects in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects . Subjects taken as part of an MIT SM degree can be counted toward this requirement. Doctoral candidates are normally expected to take their major subjects at the Institute. The specific subjects will depend on the student’s thesis topic and background, and will be approved by the Chair of the Applied Mathematics Committee in the Mathematics department and CCSE.

The thesis committee composition requirements are identical to those of Course 18, with the additional requirement that either the advisor be a CCSE member or the committee contain at least two CCSE members.

Course 18 will award degrees under the Thesis field “Mathematics and Computational Science”.

Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering

NSE-CSE PhD candidates (“22.CSD”) must satisfy all NSE requirements for doctoral students, including passing the 22.15 module final exam with a satisfactory grade and completing an NSE Field of Specialization requirement. A complete description of the NSE doctoral program  and its requirements can be found at: http://web.mit.edu/nse/education/grad/phd.html .

Deviations associated with the NSE-CSE degree are as follows. The oral exam committee must include at least two CCSE-affiliated faculty members (one or both of whom may be NSE faculty members). The content of the oral exam must address some aspects related to computation.

In addition to satisfying a NSE Field of Specialization requirement, students pursuing the computation option must take at least five graduate-level subjects in computational science and engineering selected from the approved list of Computational Concentration Subjects . Subjects taken as part of an MIT SM program can be counted toward this requirement. Each of these subjects can be applied towards either the Advanced Subject requirement or the Minor requirement (but not both).  None of these subjects can count towards the Field of Specialization requirement. Doctoral candidates are normally expected to take their major subjects at the Institute. The specific subjects will depend on the student’s thesis topic and background, and will be approved by thesis committee.

The thesis committee composition requirements are identical to those of Course 22, with the additional requirement that either the advisor be a CCSE member or the committee contain at least two CCSE members (who may be NSE faculty members).

In addition to approval from the Chair, Department Committee on Graduate Students, the complete thesis needs to be submitted to and approved by CCSE. Students should provide a copy of the thesis title page to the CCSE academic administrator for review and approval prior to submitting the final thesis.

Course 22 will award degrees under the thesis fields “Nuclear Engineering and Computation” and “Computational Nuclear Science and Engineering”.  Student may choose either; the requirements are identical.

Doctoral candidates in general may petition to change the name appearing on their degree certificates. However, petitions from students in the CSE-participating departments listed above to include the keywords ‘computation’ or ‘computational’ in the degree name will only be approved if the student has satisfied requirements listed above. The PhD thesis field “Computational Science and Engineering” will be reserved for students graduating from the standalone CSE PhD program.

MIT Mathematics Homepage

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Elchanan Mossel Elected to AAAS

Elchanan Mossel has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2024.

He and six other MIT faculty members are among 250 leaders from academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research elected this year by one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies.

Congratulations, Elchanan!

Andre Lee Dixon Selected for School of Science Infinite Mile Award

The School of Science has selected Mathematics Program Coordinator André Lee Dixon as one of the recipients of the 2024 Infinite Mile Award!

“I have been consistently struck by the level of initiative and passion André brings to work,” says his nominator, John Urschel PhD ’21.

Infinite Mile Award winners are nominated by colleagues for going above and beyond in their roles at the Institute.

Congratulations, André!

John Urschel Receives Early Career Prize from SIAM Activity Group on Linear Algebra

John Urschel PhD ’21 will receive the 2024 SIAM Activity Group on Linear Algebra Early Career Prize. He will be awarded this May at the SIAM Conference on Applied Linear Algebra in Paris.

Established in 2017, this prize is awarded every three years to one post-PhD early-career researcher in the field of applicable linear algebra, for outstanding contributions within six years of receiving their PhD.

Congratulations, John!

PRIMES and RSI Students Awarded at Regeneron

PRIMES student Michelle Wei won 3rd Place ( $ 150,000 scholarship) for her project “Solving Second-Order Cone Programs Deterministically in Matrix Multiplication Time,” mentored by EECS’ Guanghao Ye.

PRIMES and RSI student Alan Bu earned 10th Place ( $ 40,000) for his RSI project, “On the Maximum Number of Spanning Trees in a Planar Graph with a Fixed Number of Edges: A Linear-Algebraic Connection,” mentored by Yuchong Pan . Each of them took prizes for math projects that finished within the top ten spots. Another PRIMES student became a finalist ( $ 25,000), and seven other PRIMES and RSI students won national scholar awards.

Congratulations to the winners, and a big thank you to their mentors, PRIMES Chief Research Advisor Pavel Etingof , RSI Faculty Advisor David Jerison , and PRIMES/RSI head mentor Tanya Khovanova !

MIT Students Take First Place in the 84th Putnam Math Competition

For the fourth time in the history of the annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, and for the fourth year in a row, all five of the top spots in the contest, known as Putnam Fellows, came from a single school — MIT.

Putnam Fellows include three repeats, sophomores Papon Lapate and Luke Robitaille, and junior Brian Liu, plus junior Ankit Bisain and first-year Jiangqi Dai. Each receives an award of $2,500.

MIT’s 2023 Putnam team, made up of Bisain, Lapate, and Robitaille, also finished in first place — MIT’s eighth first-place win in the past 10 competitions. Teams are based on the three top scorers from each institution. The institution with the first-place team receives a $ 25,000 award, and each team member receives $ 1,000.

The top scoring female, first-year Isabella Zhu, received the Elizabeth Lowell Putnam Prize, which includes a $ 1,000 award. She is the seventh MIT student to receive this honor since the award began in 1992.

In total, 68 out of the top 100 test-takers who took the exam on December 2, 2023, were MIT students. Beyond the top 5 scorers, MIT students took 8 of the next 11 spots (each awarded $ 1,000), 7 of the next 10 after that (each awarded $ 250), and 48 out of a total of 75 honorable mentions.

“I am incredibly proud of our students’ amazing effort and performance at the Putnam Competition,” says Associate Professor of Mathematics Yufei Zhao ’10, PhD ’15. “MIT is truly a unique place to be a math major.”

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this year's exam!

A full list of the winners can be found on the Putnam website .

Read more in the MIT News.

Grad Students Ishan Levy and Mehtaab Sawhney Receive Clay Research Fellowships

Ishan Levy and Mehtaab Sawhney have been awarded 2024 Clay Research Fellowships , for a term of five years.

Levy is known for his contributions to homotopy theory, and Sawhney is recognized for his breakthroughs on fundamental problems across extremal combinatorics, probability theory, and theoretical computer science.

Other current Fellows with MIT Math connections include researcher Yang Li , who received it in 2020; Assistant Professor Lisa Piccirillo , and former postdocs Maggie Miller and Alexander Smith , in 2021; and CLE Moore Instructor Ziquan Zhuang , in 2022.

Congratulations, Ishan and Mehtaab!

Department Welcomes Professor Aleksandr Logunov

Please welcome Aleksandr Logunov , who joined our faculty as a full professor as of January 1. Aleksandr specializes in harmonic analysis, potential theory, and geometric analysis.

He received his BS in 2012 and, under Viktor Petrovich Havin, his PhD in 2015 from St. Petersburg State University, and was a postdoc at Tel Aviv University. He was a researcher and assistant professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and Princeton University, and most recently a professor at the University of Geneva.

He is the 2021 recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics — New Horizons in Mathematics, 2020 EMS Prize of the European Mathematical Society, 2018 Salem Prize, and 2017 Clay Research Award.

Congratulations, Aleksandr!

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Immense Birthday Glory of the Epic Catalonian Rascal

June 3-7, 2024

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Doctoral Degrees

A doctoral degree requires the satisfactory completion of an approved program of advanced study and original research of high quality..

Please note that the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Doctor of Science (ScD) degrees are awarded interchangeably by all departments in the School of Engineering and the School of Science, except in the fields of biology, cognitive science, neuroscience, medical engineering, and medical physics. This means that, excepting the departments outlined above, the coursework and expectations to earn a Doctor of Philosophy and for a Doctor of Science degree from these schools are generally the same. Doctoral students may choose which degree they wish to complete.

Applicants interested in graduate education should apply to the department or graduate program conducting research in the area of interest. Some departments require a doctoral candidate to take a “minor” program outside of the student’s principal field of study; if you wish to apply to one of these departments, please consider additional fields you may like to pursue.

Below is a list of programs and departments that offer doctoral-level degrees.

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• Core Members
• Affiliate Members
• Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program in Statistics
• Minor in Statistics and Data Science
• MicroMasters program in Statistics and Data Science
• Data Science and Machine Learning: Making Data-Driven Decisions
• Norbert Wiener Fellowship
• Stochastics and Statistics Seminar
• IDSS Distinguished Seminars
• IDSS Special Seminar
• SDSC Special Events
• Online events
• IDS.190 Topics in Bayesian Modeling and Computation
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• LIDS & Stats Tea
• Interdisciplinary PhD in Physics and Statistics

Requirements:

A full list of the requirements is also available on the Physics page:

Doctoral students in Physics may submit an Interdisciplinary PhD in Statistics Form between the end of their second semester and penultimate semester in their Physics program. The application must include an endorsement from the student’s advisor, an up-to-date CV, current transcript, and a 1-2 page statement of interest in Statistics and Data Science.

The statement of interest can be based on the student’s thesis proposal for the Physics Department, but it must demonstrate that statistical methods will be used in a substantial way in the proposed research. In their statement, applicants are encouraged to explain how specific statistical techniques would be applied in their research. Applicants should further highlight ways that their proposed research might advance the use of statistics and data science, both in their physics subfield and potentially in other disciplines. If the work is part of a larger collaborative effort, the applicant should focus on their personal contributions.

Grade Requirements:  Students must complete their primary program’s degree requirements along with the IDPS requirements. C, D, F, and O grades are unacceptable. Students should not earn more B grades than A grades, reflected by a PhysSDS GPA of ≥ 4.5. Students may be required to retake subjects graded B or lower, although generally one B grade will be tolerated

PhD Earned on Completion: Physics, Statistics, and Data Science

IDPS/Physics Co-Chairs : Jesse Thaler and Michael Williams

Required Courses:

Courses in this list that satisfy the Physics PhD degree requirements can count for both programs. Other similar or more advanced courses can count towards the “Computation & Statistics” and “Data Analysis” requirements, with permission from the program co-chairs. The IDS.190 requirement may be satisfied instead by IDS.955 Practical Experience in Data, Systems, and Society, if that experience exposes the student to a diverse set of topics in statistics and data science. Making this substitution requires permission from the program co-chairs prior to doing the practical experience.

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Quantitative Researcher – PhD Hire

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We’re looking for accomplished researchers who are interested in growing their career in the field of quantitative finance. While the problems we solve at SIG are often different from academia, our problems demand the attention of brilliant minds that have an extraordinary attention to detail and a relentless pursuit of understanding.

The general lifecycle of a quant project begins with an idea:

• This idea can come from anyone: you, the mentor who sits beside you, or someone you meet in the cafeteria.
• As a Quantitative Researcher , you will investigate that idea by immersing yourself in market data, leveraging tools in mathematics, statistics, and programming.
• Through your research, you may discover a new pattern that can transform into a trading signal.
• You will work side-by-side with technologists in order to backtest your results and put that trading signal into production.
• Once that signal is embedded in our electronic trading strategies, you will continue to do research on that strategy in order to optimize its performance.
• As your trading strategy evolves, you will discuss with other researchers, strategists, and traders to collect feedback and brainstorm new ideas.
• Some of those ideas will turn into new quant projects, and the life cycle starts all over again.

We have a comprehensive orientation program designed to bridge the gap between academia and industry. Education topics include an introduction to options pricing, exposure to our proprietary data sets, and opportunities to practice data analysis techniques. Beyond orientation, our trading floor serves as an unlimited source of discussion for learning and development.

What we’re looking for

• PhD in a quantitative field such as Mathematics, Physics, Statistics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Operations Research, or Economics
• Exceptional mathematical problem-solving skills
• Strong communication skills in a fast-paced and/or highly collaborative environment are essential
• Strong, practical computing skills; a specific language proficiency is less important than your ability to get computers to accomplish tasks efficiently and reliably
• Experience working on in-depth research projects
• Finance experience is not a requirement

By applying to this role, you will be automatically considered for the Quantitative Systematic Trader position. There is no need to apply to both positions in order to be considered for both.

Visa sponsorship is available for this position.

SIG does not accept unsolicited resumes from recruiters or search firms. Any resume or referral submitted in the absence of a signed agreement will become the property of SIG and no fee will be paid.

Seven from MIT elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences for 2024

via MIT News

April 25, 2024

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• Tod Machover Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media; Academic Head, Program in Media Arts and Sciences
• Media Lab Research Theme: Cultivating Creativity

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Seven MIT faculty members are among the 250 leaders from academia, the arts, industry, public policy, and research elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced April 24.

One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to academy publications, as well as studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions, the humanities and culture, and education.

Those elected from MIT in 2024 are:

• Edward F. Crawley, professor of aeronautics and astronautics, post-tenure;
• Nathaniel Hendren, professor of economics;
• Mei Hong, David A. Leighty Professor of Chemistry;
• Tod Machover, Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media;
• Anna Mikusheva, professor of economics;
• Elchanan Mossel, professor of mathematics; and
• Xiao-Gang Wen, Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics.

“We honor these artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders in the public, non-profit, and private sectors for their accomplishments and for the curiosity, creativity, and courage required to reach new heights,” says David Oxtoby, president of the academy. “We invite these exceptional individuals to join in the academy’s work to address serious challenges and advance the common good.”

Since its founding in 1780, the academy has elected leading thinkers from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Maria Mitchell and Daniel Webster in the 19th century, and Toni Morrison and Albert Einstein in the 20th century. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners.

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Three from MIT awarded 2024 Guggenheim Fellowships

By sarah costello.

April 30, 2024 | School of Science

MIT faculty members Roger Levy, Tracy Slatyer, and Martin Wainwright are among 188 scientists, artists, and scholars awarded  2024 fellowships  from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Working across 52 disciplines, the fellows were selected from almost 3,000 applicants for “prior career achievement and exceptional promise.”

Each fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level. Since its founding in 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has awarded over $400 million in fellowships to more than 19,000 fellows. This year, MIT professors were recognized in the categories of neuroscience, physics, and data science.

Roger Levy  is a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Combining computational modeling of large datasets with psycholinguistic experimentation, his work furthers our understanding of the cognitive underpinning of language processing, and helps to design models and algorithms that will allow machines to process human language. He is a recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Tracy Slatyer  is a professor in the Department of Physics as well as the  Center for Theoretical Physics  in the  MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science  and the  MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research . Her research focuses on dark matter — novel theoretical models, predicting observable signals, and analysis of astrophysical and cosmological datasets. She was a co-discoverer of the giant gamma-ray structures known as the “Fermi Bubbles” erupting from the center of the Milky Way, for which she received the New Horizons in Physics Prize in 2021. She is also a recipient of a Simons Investigator Award and Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.

Martin Wainwright  is the Cecil H. Green Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Mathematics, and affiliated with the  Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems  and  Statistics and Data Science Center . He is interested in statistics, machine learning, information theory, and optimization. Wainwright has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Medallion Lectureship and Award from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the COPSS Presidents’ Award from the Joint Statistical Societies. Wainwright has also co-authored books on graphical and statistical modeling, and solo-authored a book on high dimensional statistics.

“Humanity faces some profound existential challenges,” says Edward Hirsch, president of the foundation. “The Guggenheim Fellowship is a life-changing recognition. It’s a celebrated investment into the lives and careers of distinguished artists, scholars, scientists, writers and other cultural visionaries who are meeting these challenges head-on and generating new possibilities and pathways across the broader culture as they do so.”

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Exploring the history of data-driven arguments in public life

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Political debates today may not always be exceptionally rational, but they are often infused with numbers. If people are discussing the economy or health care or climate change, sooner or later they will invoke statistics.

It was not always thus. Our habit of using numbers to make political arguments has a history, and William Deringer is a leading historian of it. Indeed, in recent years Deringer, an associate professor in MIT’s Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), has carved out a distinctive niche through his scholarship showing how quantitative reasoning has become part of public life.

In his prize-winning 2018 book “ Calculated Values ” (Harvard University Press), Deringer identified a time in British public life from the 1680s to the 1720s as a key moment when the practice of making numerical arguments took hold — a trend deeply connected with the rise of parliamentary power and political parties. Crucially, freedom of the press also expanded, allowing greater scope for politicians and the public to have frank discussions about the world as it was, backed by empirical evidence.

Deringer’s second book project, in progress and under contract to Yale University Press, digs further into a concept from the first book — the idea of financial discounting. This is a calculation to estimate what money (or other things) in the future is worth today, to assign those future objects a “present value.” Some skilled mathematicians understood discounting in medieval times; its use expanded in the 1600s; today it is very common in finance and is the subject of debate in relation to climate change, as experts try to estimate ideal spending levels on climate matters.

“The book is about how this particular technique came to have the power to weigh in on profound social questions,” Deringer says. “It’s basically about compound interest, and it’s at the center of the most important global question we have to confront.”

Numbers alone do not make a debate rational or informative; they can be false, misleading, used to entrench interests, and so on. Indeed, a key theme in Deringer’s work is that when quantitative reasoning gains more ground, the question is why, and to whose benefit. In this sense his work aligns with the long-running and always-relevant approach of the Institute’s STS faculty, in thinking carefully about how technology and knowledge is applied to the world.

“The broader culture more has become attuned to STS, whether it’s conversations about AI or algorithmic fairness or climate change or energy, these are simultaneously technical and social issues,” Deringer says. “Teaching undergraduates, I’ve found the awareness of that at MIT has only increased.” For both his research and teaching, Deringer received tenure from MIT earlier this year.

Dig in, work outward

Deringer has been focused on these topics since he was an undergraduate at Harvard University.

“I found myself becoming really interested in the history of economics, the history of practical mathematics, data, statistics, and how it came to be that so much of our world is organized quantitatively,” he says.

Deringer wrote a college thesis about how England measured the land it was seizing from Ireland in the 1600s, and then, after graduating, went to work in the finance sector, which gave him a further chance to think about the application of quantification to modern life.

“That was not what I wanted to do forever, but for some of the conceptual questions I was interested in, the societal life of calculations, I found it to be a really interesting space,” Deringer says.

He returned to academia by pursuing his PhD in the history of science at Princeton University. There, in his first year of graduate school, in the archives, Deringer found 18th-century pamphlets about financial calculations concering the value of stock involved in the infamous episode of speculation known as the South Sea Bubble. That became part of his dissertation; skeptics of the South Sea Bubble were among the prominent early voices bringing data into public debates. It has also helped inform his second book.

First, though, Deringer earned his doctorate from Princeton in 2012, then spent three years as a Mellon Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Columbia University. He joined the MIT faculty in 2015. At the Institute, he finished turning his dissertation into the “Calculated Values” book — which won the 2019 Oscar Kenshur Prize for the best book from the Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies at Indiana University, and was co-winner of the 2021 Joseph J. Spengler Prize for best book from the History of Economics Society.

“My method as a scholar is to dig into the technical details, then work outward historically from them,” Deringer says.

A long historical chain

Even as Deringer was writing his first book, the idea for the second one was taking root in his mind. Those South Sea Bubble pamphets he had found while at Princeton incorporated discounting, which was intermittently present in “Calculated Values.” Deringer was intrigued by how adept 18th-century figures were at discounting.

“Something that I thought of as a very modern technique seemed to be really well-known by a lot of people in the 1720s,” he says.

At the same time, a conversation with an academic colleague in philosophy made it clear to Deringer how different conclusions about discounting had become debated in climate change policy. He soon resolved to write the “biography of a calculation” about financial discounting.

“I knew my next book had to be about this,” Deringer says. “I was very interested in the deep historical roots of discounting, and it has a lot of present urgency.”

Deringer says the book will incorporate material about the financing of English cathedrals, the heavy use of discounting in the mining industry during the Industrial Revolution, a revival of discounting in 1960s policy circles, and climate change, among other things. In each case, he is carefully looking at the interests and historical dynamics behind the use of discounting.

“For people who use discounting regularly, it’s like gravity: It’s very obvious that to be rational is to discount the future according to this formula,” Deringer says. “But if you look at history, what is thought of as rational is part of a very long historical chain of people applying this calculation in various ways, and over time that’s just how things are done. I’m really interested in pulling apart that idea that this is a sort of timeless rational calculation, as opposed to a product of this interesting history.”

Working in STS, Deringer notes, has helped encourage him to link together numerous historical time periods into one book about the numerous ways discounting has been used.

“I’m not sure that pursuing a book that stretches from the 17th century to the 21st century is something I would have done in other contexts,” Deringer says. He is also quick to credit his colleagues in STS and in other programs for helping create the scholarly environment in which he is thriving.

“I came in with a really amazing cohort of other scholars in SHASS,” Deringer notes, referring to the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. He cites others receiving tenure in the last year such as his STS colleague Robin Scheffler, historian Megan Black, and historian Caley Horan, with whom Deringer has taught graduate classes on the concept of risk in history. In all, Deringer says, the Institute has been an excellent place for him to pursue interdisciplinary work on technical thought in history.

“I work on very old things and very technical things,” Deringer says. “But I’ve found a wonderful welcoming at MIT from people in different fields who light up when they hear what I’m interested in.”

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World's Top EdTech Companies of 2024

How TIME and Statista Determined the Top EdTech Companies of 2024

The pandemic may no longer have the same grip that it used to on the way that we go about our daily lives—workers have returned to offices and students are back in the classroom. But a new global ranking by TIME and Statista of the 250 top EdTech companies suggests that online learning is here to stay.

Nine of the top 15 most successful EdTech companies in the world are focused on providing online learning. The rankings are based on a formula evaluating financial strength and industry impact. 

Eruditus, the top EdTech company in the global rankings, reported a revenue of close to $400 million for the financial year ending in June 2023, up 75% over the prior year. The EdTech platform offers online courses from more than 80 universities around the world, including business schools at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Cambridge, and MIT. Eruditus says it has so far educated more than 500,000 people across 80 countries.

Eruditus was incorporated in Singapore but made news this year for reportedly shifting its headquarters to India. “It is a fact that the Indian stock markets are far more attractive than the global peers," co-founder and CEO Ashwin Damera told Indian news-outlet Min t in January.

The U.S. dominates the list, making up more than one-third of the slots. China trails behind with 10% and the U.K. has just over 6%. Two companies from Brazil also made it into the top 10: Afya runs medical schools and offers online classes in various health fields; Vitru Education provides online and on-campus classes in Brazil to, the company reports, more than 900,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Brazil’s EdTech market has been growing rapidly for years. The country has struggled with education. In Brazil, just 57% of adults aged 25 to 64 have completed upper secondary education, much lower than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) country average of 79%, putting it nearly last among the 41 countries studied by the OECD for educational attainment. And the OECD's 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranked Brazil 40 of 41 countries studied for students’ skills in reading, math, and sciences. The private sector has capitalized on the opportunity to offer online learning.

“Students that are older, that have worked for a bit, have some kind of education qualification but are upgrading so they can get a better job, they value convenience and affordability,” says Jitin Sethi, managing director at LEK Consulting, focused on education in the Americas. “That creates a unique opportunity to innovate.”

In addition to highlighting 250 top EdTech companies, Statista and TIME also published a Rising Stars ranking to spotlight organizations that had the highest revenue growth rates over the last three years, of companies that submitted applications. Scaler Academy, an online learning platform based in India that teaches coding, system design, and career development skills, topped that list. — Sanya Mansoor

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Three from MIT awarded 2024 Guggenheim Fellowships

Mit professors roger levy, tracy slatyer, and martin wainwright appointed to the 2024 class of “trail-blazing fellows.”.

MIT faculty members Roger Levy, Tracy Slatyer , and Martin Wainwright are among 188 scientists, artists, and scholars awarded 2024 fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Working across 52 disciplines, the fellows were selected from almost 3,000 applicants for “prior career achievement and exceptional promise.”

Each fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level. Since its founding in 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has awarded over $400 million in fellowships to more than 19,000 fellows. This year, MIT professors were recognized in the categories of neuroscience, physics, and data science.

Roger Levy is a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Combining computational modeling of large datasets with psycholinguistic experimentation, his work furthers our understanding of the cognitive underpinning of language processing, and helps to design models and algorithms that will allow machines to process human language. He is a recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Tracy Slatyer is a professor in the Department of Physics as well as the Center for Theoretical Physics in the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science and the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research . Her research focuses on dark matter — novel theoretical models, predicting observable signals, and analysis of astrophysical and cosmological datasets. She was a co-discoverer of the giant gamma-ray structures known as the “Fermi Bubbles” erupting from the center of the Milky Way, for which she received the New Horizons in Physics Prize in 2021. She is also a recipient of a Simons Investigator Award and Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.

Martin Wainwright is the Cecil H. Green Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Mathematics, and affiliated with the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems and Statistics and Data Science Center . He is interested in statistics, machine learning, information theory, and optimization. Wainwright has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Medallion Lectureship and Award from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the COPSS Presidents’ Award from the Joint Statistical Societies. Wainwright has also co-authored books on graphical and statistical modeling, and solo-authored a book on high dimensional statistics.

“Humanity faces some profound existential challenges,” says Edward Hirsch, president of the foundation. “The Guggenheim Fellowship is a life-changing recognition. It’s a celebrated investment into the lives and careers of distinguished artists, scholars, scientists, writers and other cultural visionaries who are meeting these challenges head-on and generating new possibilities and pathways across the broader culture as they do so.”

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Three from MIT awarded 2024 Guggenheim Fellowships

MIT professors Roger Levy, Tracy Slatyer, and Martin Wainwright appointed to the 2024 class of “trail-blazing fellows.”

MIT faculty members Roger Levy, Tracy Slatyer, and Martin Wainwright are among 188 scientists, artists, and scholars awarded 2024 fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Working across 52 disciplines, the fellows were selected from almost 3,000 applicants for “prior career achievement and exceptional promise.”

Each fellow receives a monetary stipend to pursue independent work at the highest level. Since its founding in 1925, the Guggenheim Foundation has awarded over $400 million in fellowships to more than 19,000 fellows. This year, MIT professors were recognized in the categories of neuroscience, physics, and data science.

Roger Levy is a professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Combining computational modeling of large datasets with psycholinguistic experimentation, his work furthers our understanding of the cognitive underpinning of language processing, and helps to design models and algorithms that will allow machines to process human language. He is a recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Tracy Slatyer is a professor in the Department of Physics as well as the Center for Theoretical Physics in the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science and the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research . Her research focuses on dark matter — novel theoretical models, predicting observable signals, and analysis of astrophysical and cosmological datasets. She was a co-discoverer of the giant gamma-ray structures known as the “Fermi Bubbles” erupting from the center of the Milky Way, for which she received the New Horizons in Physics Prize in 2021. She is also a recipient of a Simons Investigator Award and Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.

Martin Wainwright is the Cecil H. Green Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Mathematics, and affiliated with the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems and Statistics and Data Science Center . He is interested in statistics, machine learning, information theory, and optimization. Wainwright has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Medallion Lectureship and Award from the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the COPSS Presidents’ Award from the Joint Statistical Societies. Wainwright has also co-authored books on graphical and statistical modeling, and solo-authored a book on high dimensional statistics.

“Humanity faces some profound existential challenges,” says Edward Hirsch, president of the foundation. “The Guggenheim Fellowship is a life-changing recognition. It’s a celebrated investment into the lives and careers of distinguished artists, scholars, scientists, writers and other cultural visionaries who are meeting these challenges head-on and generating new possibilities and pathways across the broader culture as they do so.”

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