Our diverse interests and viewpoints
The Center for Computational Finance and Economic Systems (CoFES) at Rice University is dedicated to the quantitative study of financial markets and economic systems and their ultimate impact on society.
Founded in 2002, the center represents a cooperative effort between the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the School of Social Sciences, and the Jones Graduate School of Business. Through programs in education and research, CoFES is advancing the boundaries of computational, statistical and mathematical techniques used to solve complex problems in finance and risk analytics.
Throughout our history, we have sought to build educational programs and research focus areas that integrate methods in probabilistic and statistical modeling for complex, multidisciplinary investigations. This has included:
- Mathematical foundations for financial and economic statistical analysis, including advances in probability theory and Bayesian methodologies;
- Advances in financial time series that use stochastic differential equations and nonparametric statistics with technologies in data science to analyze dynamic microeconomic and macroeconomic systems, price derivatives, assess risk and optimize portfolio selection;
- Novel and emerging financial markets, such as climate change and ESG investment, blockchain and cryptocurrency; and
- Modern applications in data science, including machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing, topological data analysis and neural networks.
