The Wisconsin PhD Program in Actuarial Science, Risk Management, and Insurance is offered by the Risk and Insurance Department at the Wisconsin School of Business. We are a nationally recognized
Center of Actuarial Excellence. We have received grants to support a variety of industry-related research projects and the introduction of our Technology-Enhanced Learning initiative.
Core Areas of Research
Student research is supported by faculty in four core areas:
- Actuarial science
- Risk management
- Insurance
- Decision-making under risk and uncertainty
Our faculty have specific areas of expertise in microinsurance, insurance regulation, financial
management of insurance organizations, corporate risk management, behavioral economics, predictive modeling, healthcare analytics, health services management, and statistical methods development. Our faculty members contribute to significant advancements in the field, as evidenced by our recently published journal articles.
Academic Requirements
All students must meet the general PhD requirements of both the UW–Madison Graduate School and the Wisconsin School of Business. Applicants to the program should have the following:
- A strong mathematics and statistics background. We generally look for three semesters of calculus and linear algebra at a minimum for mathematics. For statistics training, we look for coursework covering applied regression models in statistics and/or econometrics.
- A background in some combination of economics/finance, insurance, actuarial science, and statistics.