Autumn 2005 picnic at Blendon Woods to welcome new Ph.D. students

A key feature of our doctoral program is the high level of interaction that exists between PhD students and faculty. This interaction is naturally fostered by the rich and lively research environment to which all of the faculty are dedicated.

Usually, in the first year, students are busy in the Economics department tooling up on the Microeconomic theory and Econometrics sequences. However, they start collaborating with faculty as research or teaching associates. There is also a weekly seminar series in which faculty from Ohio State and other universities are invited to present their papers. This not only exposes students to the breadth of topics in finance, but also provides an active platform where faculty and student interaction occurs.

After the first year, students begin to take finance theory courses and start writing papers, with faculty supervision and often as co-authors. Transitioning through the theory exam and candidacy, they strike up faculty advisor committees and begin serious work on their dissertations. Often, there is co-authoring as a result of such apprenticeship.

Frequently, students continue to maintain partnerships with the faculty after graduation. Collaborations, many of which are ongoing, continue to exist between faculty and graduated students with associated research interests. Between 1996 and 2002, five OSU PhD students were successful in publishing their dissertations in one of the top-tier Finance journals (JF, JFE & RFS). During this same period of time, the graduating students as a group published 24 articles in those top journals, of which 14 were co-authored with their faculty advisors.  
 

See: | Steve Buser Seminar Series |