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This edited volume introduces undergraduate students to several diverse and emerging research topics in three major areas of risk management: actuarial science, mathematical finance, and sports analytics. Each chapter is self-contained and provides students with the required background knowledge, context, and relevant references to motivate students and to enable them to successfully undertake research in these areas. A variety of accessible research projects are included that can be conducted independently or in collaboration with a mentor. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the importance and advantages of interdisciplinary thinking in developing innovative approaches to problem-solving. This volume will also serve as a valuable resource to faculty mentors, graduate students, and others who are interested in supervising undergraduate research.
List of contents
Preface.- Gaussian Processes for Statistical Learning in Actuarial Science.- What Benefits Drive Membership in Medicare Advantage Plans?.- Pricing Variable Annuity Guarantees using Monte Carlo Simulations.- Modeling volatility in finance.- Introduction to Fixed Income Markets and Bonds.- Essential Aspects of Bayesian Data Imputation.- An Introduction to Sports Analytics Research with Expected Goals.- Using Regression Adjusted Plus Minus to Quantify Player Effect in Team Sports.
About the author
Albert Cohen is the Director of the Actuarial Science Program and the Director of the Graduate Certificate in Sports Analytics at Michigan State University. Dr. Cohen received his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007 under the supervision of Dr. David Kinderlehrer, and his current research focuses on the interaction between probability, science, and financial economics. This includes work on the stochastic modeling of coarsening in grain networks, recovery risk in corporate bonds, and performance-based contract valuation in sports analytics. Dr. Cohen has recently joined the editorial board of Risk Management and Insurance Review as an associate editor.
Sooie-Hoe Loke has collaborated with many talented undergraduate and graduate students on a wide range of research projects during his time at Central Washington University. Dr. Loke has received more than half a million dollars in external grants as a PI or Co-PI to support undergraduate research initiatives, with the most recent award being a $473,353 NSF grant (DMS-2050692) to fund a summer REU site at CWU from 2021 to 2024. Having mentored more than three dozen of undergraduate students from all over the nation, Dr. Loke has secured research funding for students and faculty mentors via the aforementioned NSF grant, the SIAM-Simons Undergraduate Summer Research grant, the National Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program (NREUP) grant, and the Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics (CURM) grant, as well as four internal CWU grants.
Summary
This edited volume introduces undergraduate students to several diverse and emerging research topics in three major areas of risk management: actuarial science, mathematical finance, and sports analytics. Each chapter is self-contained and provides students with the required background knowledge, context, and relevant references to motivate students and to enable them to successfully undertake research in these areas. A variety of accessible research projects are included that can be conducted independently or in collaboration with a mentor. Throughout, emphasis is placed on the importance and advantages of interdisciplinary thinking in developing innovative approaches to problem-solving. This volume will also serve as a valuable resource to faculty mentors, graduate students, and others who are interested in supervising undergraduate research.
