Courant Alumnus Rosenbluth Establishes Fellowship in Financial Mathematics

By Eric Narburgh

When Jeffrey Rosenbluth (CIMS ’99, ’06) first became involved at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, he was asked to provide advice as a finance professional. Now, over 15 years later, Rosenbluth is still actively involved at Courant—giving back to his alma mater by establishing a fellowship for doctoral students interested in financial mathematics. 

      Rosenbluth was recruited in 1991 to serve on a newly formed advisory council for the Mathematics in Finance Program, a professional master’s program that offers advanced training in financial modeling, mathematics, and computation coupled with mentoring by industry professionals. He was appointed chair of the council and was inspired to take some classes.

      “I always wanted to pursue math further,” says Rosenbluth, who was a managing director at Salomon Brothers at the time. “There were many people with Ph.D.s in my department who dealt with higher-level mathematics, and I wanted to better communicate with them and improve my skills.” 

      Rosenbluth earned his M.S. in 1999, a year after retiring from Salomon Brothers, and then decided to pursue his Ph.D., which he finished in 2006. In addition to continuing his role as chair of the mathematics in finance advisory board, Rosenbluth also taught courses, joined Courant’s advisory council, and was a founder of Math for America, a non-profit organization that aims to improve math education in U.S. public schools.

      One especially influential experience for Rosenbluth came during a truly busy period.                 

      “I could not fit a required course into my schedule, and someone recommended I do an independent study and borrow notes from the professor, Peter Lax,” he recalls. “I contacted Peter, and he offered to meet me every week and teach me the course himself.  Now I had a towering figure of mathematics, who I had never met before, teaching me one-on-one. It was incredible.”

      Rosenbluth was so moved by his student experiences that he decided to create a fellowship for those studying in the same program. The Jeffrey and Denise Rosenbluth Fellowship will be awarded to Ph.D. candidates who have completed their exam requirements and have begun dissertation research in financial mathematics. 

      “With New York at the center of the finance industry, research in the mathematics of finance is of interest to many of our students,” says Leslie Greengard, director of the Courant Institute. “The Rosenbluth Fellowship will allow us to support that kind of work, enhance our educational mission, and help us interact with the industry on long-term research projects.”