PhD in Actuarial Science, Risk Management, and Insurance

Ph.D. Study & Placement

The Wisconsin Ph.D. Program offered by the Department of Risk and Insurance focuses on our core areas of research in actuarial science, analytics, risk management, insurance, and decision making under risk and uncertainty.

Program Structure

Full funding typically available Core courses include microeconomics, econometrics sequence, panel data analysis, and seminar courses Additional coursework customized to individual background and research interests

Access to applied, data-driven research Ph.D. earned following a completed dissertation, typically in fifth year

Academic Requirements

BA in business, actuarial science, economics, statistics, or related field Strong math background: coursework in multivariate calculus, linear algebra strongly encouraged Research and/or work experience in area of interest within actuarial science, risk management, or insurance valued

2018-2022 Ph.D. Graduate Placement

Appalachian State University

Florida State University

St. John’s University

Tsinghua University

University of Alabama

University of Calgary

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

University of Sydney

University of Waterloo

Research Highlights

The University of Wisconsin Madison is one of the world’s great research and teaching institutions, with the Risk and Insurance Department faculty being strong Contributors to this reputation.

Specific areas of expertise include: Behavioral economics, corporate risk management, health analytics, insurance economics, insurance regulation, insurance technology, public policy, quantitative insurance, risk analytics, and social insurance.

Select publications in top-tier Journals:

Nan Zhu, Daniel Bauer (2022). “Modeling the Risk in Mortality Projections.” Operations Research, 70(4), 2069 2084.

Vaibhav Anand, Tyler Leverty, Kenny Wunder (2021). “Paying for Expertise: The Effect of Experience on Reinsurance Demand.” Journal of Risk and Insurance, 88(3), 727 756.

Lucas Goodman, Anita Mukherjee, Shanthi Ramnath (Forthcoming). "Set it and Forget it? Financing Retirement in the Age of Defaults." Journal of Financial Economics.

Marjorie Rosenberg, Fanghao Zhong (2022). “Using Clusters Based on Social Determinants to Identify the Top 5% Utilizers of Health Care.” North American Actuarial Journal, 26(3), 456 469.

Ithai Z. Lurie, Daniel W. Sacks, Bradley Heim (2021). “Does the Individual Mandate Affect Insurance Coverage? Evidence from Tax Returns.” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 13(2), 378 407. Zifeng Zhao, Peng Shi, Xiaoping Feng (2021). “Knowledge Learning of Insurance Risks Using Dependence Models.” INFORMS Journal on Computing, 33(3), 1177 1196.

Mariana Carrera, Heather Royer, Mark Stehr, Justin Sydnor, Dmitry Taubinsky (May 2022). “Who Chooses Commitment? Evidence and Welfare Implications.” Review of Economic Studies, 89(3), 1205–1244.

Susan L. Averett, Julie Smith, Yang Wang (2019). “Medicaid Expansion and Opioid Deaths.” Health Economics, 28(12), 1491-1496.

World-Renowned Faculty

Excellence in research defines what and how we teach, enriches our exchange with industry and policy leaders, and opens unique partnership opportunities among our community.

Daniel Bauer Professor, Department Chair

Hickman/Larson Chair in Actuarial Science Research interests: Interface of actuarial science, quantitative finance, insurance economics, and data analytics

J. Tyler Leverty Associate Professor

Gerald D. Stephens CPCU Chair in Risk Management and Insurance Research interests: Economics of insurance markets, insurance company operations, insurance regulation, public policy issues in insurance

Anita Mukherjee Assistant Professor

Michael E. Lehman Distinguished Chair for Inspired Learning in Business Research interests: Insurance economics, insurance regulation, healthcare analytics, public policy, social insurance

Marjorie Rosenberg FSA Professor

Assurant Health Professor in Actuarial Science Research interests: Applications of statistical modeling with regards to health, health care costs and utilization, health disparities, and health policy

Research interests: Insurance economics, public policy, social insurance

American Family Insurance Distinguished Chair of Risk Management and Insurance

Research interests: Development of insurance in emerging markets, insurance regulation, reputation risk, economics of litigation strategies

Charles & Laura Albright Professor in Business and Finance

Research interests: Actuarial data science, insurance and risk analytics, probabilistic forecasting, dependence models, longitudinal data methods, applied statistics and statistical learning

Leslie P. Schultz Professor in Risk Management and Insurance

Research interests: Psychology and economics, applied microeconomics, decision-making under risk, insurance markets, behavioral industrial organization

Research interests: Health economics, applied microeconomics, health outcomes of public policy, risky health behaviors, economics of aging

Peng Shi ACAS, FSA Associate Professor

Joan Schmit Professor

Justin Sydnor Professor Yang Wang Associate Professor

Dan Sacks Associate Professor