Stevens Institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) have been awarded the first National Science Foundation (NSF) grant committed to establishing an industry-university research center. Known as The Center for Research in Advancing Financial Technologies (CRAFT), it is focused on the emerging industry of financial technology (fintech). The NSF is typically centered around the natural sciences like physics, biology, and chemistry, but this focus on finance and technology is new for the foundation.
The idea of creating a fintech cooperative research center began three years ago. According to Steve Yang, a graduate and PhD professor of the Stevens School of Business, Stevens was looking for a partner in New York , Chicago, London and Hong Kong to partner with. Because New York and New Jersey are in close proximity and Stevens has a history with RPI, the collaboration between Stevens and RPI was natural. In the past, the universities have collaborated on research and attended conferences focused in computer science, business, and computer engineering. Additionally, a professor in the Stevens School of Business graduated from RPI, so “you can see that the relationship we have is pretty strong,” said Yang.
In 2019, Yang, along with George Calhoun (School of Business professor), Jeff Nickerson (Professor and Steven Shulman ‘62 Endowed Chair for Business Leadership), Darinka Dentscheva (Chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences), and Giuseppe Ateniese (Chair of the Computer Science Department) rolled out a preliminary proposal to the NSF which was accepted soon after. At the start of the pandemic, progress slowed down. During the pandemic, the planning committee reached out to faculty for research projects and met with industry partners to gain insight on proposed projects. There will be an official launch meeting October 28 and 29 which will serve as an inauguration with faculty, industry professionals, and students.
CRAFT is spearheaded by Yang, Calhoun, and Aparna Gupta at the Lally School of Management at RPI. CRAFT will receive about $1 million in its initial year of opening and $300,000 for the following five years from NSF. Other donations to CRAFT will be from industry partners. Currently, there are 20 industry partners. There is still a lot of groundwork to be done in terms of governing documents and legal documents.
CRAFT is intended to be a center with faculty from diverse backgrounds in engineering, science, and computer science. “So we have two universities, with almost 60 faculty involved, so this is intended to be a multidisciplinary research center to focus on financial technology and it will involve many different disciplines. For example, computer science, mathematics, data science, finance, economics, quantitative finance, and systems, including software engineering,” said Yang.
Innovation and collaboration is at the heart of the research center. While RPI is the only other university involved, Yang and Calhoun have had discussions about bringing on other universities like New York University, Rutgers University, the University of Illinois as well as international universities such as Imperial College in England and the London School of Business. The quality of research that will be produced will be of high prestige as it will undergo evaluations to meet NSF standards.
This research center will engage students through summer programs, internships, conferences, and projects. Through these programs, students will be exposed to opportunities with industry partners. As of now, if students want to get involved, they have to work with a faculty member on a project and then propose the project to CRAFT. Projects are a collaborative effort initiated by professors and students; some examples are senior design, capstone projects, master’s thesis, and dissertations. Collaboration with CRAFT will allow students to explore an interdisciplinary approach to today’s financial systems and gain insight from leaders in the financial world.
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