Investment Strategy

Students who complete the Investment Strategy track will have distinguished themselves in terms of three sets of skills:

1. They will have a user-level understanding of the mathematics and statistics of modern valuation theory and derivatives pricing.
2. They will understand the economics underlying the theory.
3. They will be able to put the math, stats and economics together with data in order to solve problems that are important for the financial industry. Examples include identifying and implementing data-driven investment strategies and pricing and hedging structured products such as collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), credit derivatives and exotic equity options.

While this skill set is valuable for any finance job, it is of particular importance for careers in buy and sell-side money management, sales and trading, structured products and corporate treasury.

Two new courses are being developed for the Track. “alpha” emphasizes the development and implementation of data-driven portfolio allocation models which play an increasingly important role in the money-management industry. “Financial Economics” will teach the economic fundamentals underlying modern asset pricing and derivatives valuation.

Students taking the Investment Strategy Track are strongly encouraged to participate and play a leadership role in the Tepper Investment Club, where much of the content of the track can be applied.