Program Overview

Master of Science in Actuarial Science

The Master of Science in Actuarial Science is a 36 semester credit hour program that aims to educate future leaders of the actuarial industry. The program provides training in actuarial theory and methods, as well as a wide spectrum of actuarial applications involving probabilistic and statistical models.

Program Objective

The objective of the program is to prepare students to take seven actuarial preliminary exams and two advanced actuarial classes, leading to professional accreditation. Students will also have the opportunity to take classes required for Validation of Educational Experience (VEE) credits in Accounting and Finance, Economics, and Mathematical Statistics. With this combined knowledge, graduates will be able to work as senior actuaries in insurance, consulting, finance, government, and emerging markets.

Course Requirements

The program requires a minimum of 36 semester credit hours, consisting of 24 semester credit hours of required courses and 12 semester credit hours of electives.

Required Courses

• STAT 5351: Probability and Statistics I
• STAT 5352: Probability and Statistics II
• ACTS 6301: Principles of Long Term Actuarial Mathematics I
• ACTS 6303: Principles of Long Term Actuarial Mathematics II
• ACTS 6304: Principles of Short Term Actuarial Mathematics I
• ACTS 6305: Principles of Short Term Actuarial Mathematics II
• ACTS 6307: Advanced Statistics for Risk Modeling
• ACTS 6310: Advanced Predictive Analytics

Prescribed Elective Courses

Students must select four courses from the following:

• ACTS 6302: Investment and Financial Markets
• ACTS 6306: Theory of Credibility
• ACTS 6308: Actuarial Financial Mathematics
• ACCT 6301: Financial Accounting
• ACCT 6305: Accounting for Managers
• FIN 6301: Financial Management
• FIN 6308: Regulation of Business and Financial Markets
• FIN 6310: Investment Theory and Practice
• FIN 6314: Fixed Income Securities
• FIN 6360: Derivatives Markets
• FIN 6382: Numerical and Statistical Methods in Finance
• MATH 6313: Numerical Analysis
• MECO 6303: Business Economics
• OPRE 6301: Statistics and Data Analysis
• OPRE 6335: Risk and Decision Analysis
• PPPE 6321: Economics for Public Policy
• STAT 6329: Applied Probability and Stochastic Processes
• STAT 6331: Statistical Inference I
• STAT 6337: Advanced Statistical Methods I
• STAT 6338: Advanced Statistical Methods II
• STAT 6347: Applied Time Series Analysis
• STAT 6348: Applied Multivariate Analysis
• STAT 6390: Topics in Statistics - Level 6
• STAT 7330: Bayesian Data Analysis
• STAT 7334: Nonparametric and Robust Statistical Methods
• STAT 7338: Time Series Modeling and Filtering

Faculty

The program is supported by a diverse faculty, including:

• Professors: Zalman I. Balanov, Swati Biswas, Min Chen, Pankaj K. Choudhary, Baris Coskunuzer, Mieczyslaw K. Dabkowski, Vladimir Dragovic, Sam Efromovich, Yulia Gel, Wieslaw Krawcewicz, Susan E. Minkoff, L. Felipe Pereira, Dmitry Rachinskiy, Viswanath Ramakrishna, Janos Turi, John Zweck
• Associate Professors: Maxim Arnold, Yan Cao, Liang Hong, Yifei Lou, Oleg Makarenkov, Tomoki Ohsawa, Anh Tran
• Assistant Professors: Carlos Arreche, Sy Han (Steven) Chiou, Ronan Conlon, Qiwei Li, Stephen McKeown, Chuan-Fa Tang, Nathan Williams, Yunan Wu
• Professors Emeriti: Larry P. Ammann, M. Ali Hooshyar, Patrick Odell, John W. Van Ness
• Clinical Professor: Natalia Humphreys
• Clinical Associate Professor: Mohammad Akbar
• Clinical Assistant Professor: Wenyi (Roy) Lu
• Professors of Instruction: Anatoly Eydelzon, Manjula Foley, Bentley T. Garrett, Yuly Koshevnik
• Associate Professors of Instruction: Mohammad Ahsan, Kelly Aman, Malgorzata Dabkowska, Rabin Dahal, Changsong Li, Derege Mussa, My Linh Nguyen, Jigarkumar Patel, Julie Sutton, Tristan Whalen
• Assistant Professors of Instruction: Anani Komla Adabrah, Iris Alvarado, Hui Ding, Adannah Duruoha, Kemelli Estacio-Hiroms, Huizhen Guo, Neha Makhijani, Irina Martynova, Ajaya Paudel, Nasrin Sultana, Kristen Wetzler
• Senior Lecturer: Brady McCary
• UT Dallas Affiliated Faculty: Hervé Abdi, Alain Bensoussan, Stefano Leonardi, Faruck Morcos, Zhenyu Xuan, Michael Qiwei Zhang