Pictured above from left to right: Susan White,
Chuck LaHaie, Russ Werners, Howard
Frank (Dean R.H.Smith School of Business), William W. Destler (Provost),
Jeffery Huskamp (CIO-OIT)
Susan White, Russ Wermers, Chuck LaHaie, Dilip Madan
Finance Department
Smith School of Business
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The 2005 UMITT award winner is the team of Susan White, Russ Wermers, Chuck LaHaie, and Dilip Madan from the Finance Department in the Smith School of Business. The field of finance has changed dramatically over the past several years, both in terms of the speed and availability of market and securities information, and in terms of the expectations for students entering the securities industry. With the Internet and other portals, real-time pricing and analysis has not only become possible, but standard for many of the major markets. This team integrated the use of the Financial Markets Netcentric Laboratories at the Smith School with the theories described in their textbooks and case materials, as well as their student intern program, to demonstrate how to model securities prices and to interpret market information in a "low-risk" atmosphere for student learning.
The team developed several lab "modules," which can be easily used by other Smith School finance faculty members who wish to use an "off-the-shelf" laboratory exercise for integration into their classes. Their emphasis was on creating course modules that have a large impact on the entire finance department curriculum, thus providing benefits to as many undergraduate and MBA students as possible. Courses that are using this technology include BMGT 340 (a core corporate finance course), BUFN 714 (Advanced Financial Management), an undergraduate elective course on Futures and Options Markets, and a new undergraduate intern program instituted last year through the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program. Their work on creating these course modules exposes students to real-time financial technology and information, applies various finance theories to real-world problems, and provides reusable modules that can be easily integrated into other finance courses. Students have been extremely enthusiastic about learning in the laboratory and evaluations indicate a high level of student satisfaction with the lab. Because of the success of these modules, the team is currently planning on creating additional modules to support additional courses and integrating additional data services.
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