Student Experience

CFEM Curriculum

All of CFEM’s initiatives, whether academic or professional, focus on giving our MFE students the needed edge to start their careers in finance and opportunities to build robust professional networks that last a lifetime. 

The CFEM semester is part of a fully-integrated three-semester degree program specifically designed for our Master in Engineering with Financial Engineering concentration students (MFEs). 

CFEM elective courses vary from year to year to accommodate the changing demands of the financial industry. The electives are structured to complement and broaden students' understanding of the current financial markets and to expand their ability to apply their quantitative knowledge efficiently and productively as future finance professionals.

Current Ithaca FE Student Sakshi Gupta

What got me into quant finance? My 2017 Internship on J.P. Morgan's credit risk management team led to my passion for FE.
Hobbies: Extreme sports, including rock climbing and camping in the Himalayan foothills

— Sakshi Gupta, MFE Class of 2019
Current CFEM Student Jizi Lu

What got me into quant finance? The RMB crash of 2015 and my summer internship in rate sales and trading at HSBC inspired my interest.
Hobbies: Fashion Blogging

— Jizi Lu, MFE Class of 2018

CFEM Financial Engineering Project

An important component of our students’ education is a project course that all Cornell MFEs take while at CFEM. Working in teams, all Financial Engineering students complete a semester-long project in which they tackle real-world problems alongside financial industry sponsors. Each year, we offer approximately (10) projects to ensure small teams and a broad selection of topics. The CFEM faculty makes every effort to ensure that the annual project slate encompasses a wide range of financial markets, including high-frequency trading, fixed income and equity derivatives, fintech and large data applications, risk management, asset management, and allocation.

Sample Project Titles from Previous Years:

  • "Strategies in Oil Options"
  • "The Application of Data Science in Prospect Acquisition Modeling"
  • "Modeling Corporate Bond and MBS Credit Risk Premiums in a Multifactor Framework"
  • "Single and Multi-Asset Market Making"
  • "The Impact of Option Market Maker’s Activity on Stock Prices"
  • "Financial Text Mining in Chinese"
  • "Relative Value Trading: Capture Volatility"

Projects also offer our students significant opportunities to meet practitioners, secure employment, and establish a long-lasting professional relationship with sponsors.

CFEM Facilities @ Bloomberg Center, Cornell Tech

CFEM is located at 2 West Loop Road at the Bloomberg Center, on Roosevelt Island. The facility consists of open and refreshing spaces, campus feeling with the luxury apts/dorms, private conference rooms and state of the art classroom technology. Students have space in the Masters' Studio where they may utilize open study areas, and private meeting rooms with video conferencing capacity for live, interactive broadcasting between Ithaca campus and CFEM. Whether our students are attending a class lecture, working on their team projects, or hosting an interview in a quiet conference room, they can easily find places well suited for their needs. Take a look at the futuristic campus.

Life in NYC

New York is an exciting and demanding city. Commonly referred to as the financial capital of the world, it offers our students many opportunities to meet like-minded finance professionals. But this is not all New York City has to offer.  A wealth of entertainment, sporting and social events, and epicurean venues are at your disposal when you are here during your CFEM semester. Cornell's expanded presence in NYC is also reflected in many alumni events hosted at Cornell Club NYC and around other Cornell divisions in New York. It is all yours to experience and enjoy!