Dr. Xiongwei Ju Scholarship Award Winners
Dr. Xiongwei Ju graduated from the Gies College of Business in 1999 as a Doctor of Philosophy in Finance and is the founder of Parametrica Network.
The MS Financial Engineering Program is proud to award the following MSFE Class of 2024 students with the Dr. Xiongwei Ju Scholarship Award for excellence in learning and for their contributions to the MSFE Program:
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Kamin Atsavasirilert
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Yiqian Liu
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Goldi Pangayom
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Zeyuan Pan
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Ruyan Jiang
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Hongwei Zhang
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Jiangda Wang
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Hariharan Manickam
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Yunze Liao
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Honglin Qian
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Ananya Singh
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Illinois MSFE Academic Excellence Scholarship
All students enrolled in the MS Financial Engineering Program are eligible for the Illinois MSFE Academic Excellence Scholarship. This scholarship honors students who have achieved a 4.0 GPA after completing one year of study. The winner(s) will receive a monetary scholarship which is applied to their tuition during their final semester of study.
Class of 2025 Illinois MSFE Academic Excellence Scholarship Award Winners
Winner: Chayapon Lee-Isranukul
Undergraduate Degree: Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Undergraduate Institution: University of Nottingham, UK
Why did you choose Illinois?
Among the various Financial Engineering programs available, Illinois stood out to me primarily because of its Practicum Project course. Few programs offer the chance to work on real-world quantitative finance projects in collaboration with industry partners. This demonstrated to me that the Illinois MSFE Program actively invests in building strong industry relationships, which, in-turn, enhances students' job placement prospects. In addition, the quality of teaching at Illinois is exceptional, based on the research I did prior to joining. The Program's unique structure - as a collaboration between the Gies College of Business and the Grainger College of Engineering - provides a broad range of electives, allowing students to tailor their learning to align with their individual career goals. Finally, Professor Liming Feng, MSFE Program Director, is deeply committed to the success of each student, which is evident in the support and guidance he consistently provides.
What was your favorite MSFE course and why?
My favorite course is the Practicum Project. Unlike a traditional course, it's a collaborative project where you work alongside a company representative and a team of classmates to solve a real-world problem. The Practicum gives you the change to apply the skills and knowledge you've developed, both before and during the program, to an industry-level challenge. What makes it my favorite is the freedom to experiment with ideas, receive feedback through weekly meetings with the company advisor, and continuously refine your work. It also offers a valuable opportunity to build meaningful connections with professionals in the industry and to strengthen your teamwork and communication skills - both of which are essential for success in any workplace.
What is your career goal after leaving our program?
My career goal is to become an options trader. While I deeply enjoy the theoretical aspects of options and the complexity of pricing algorithms, my true passion lies in applying that knowledge in the real world. Trading options presents a unique challenge. But, that's exactly what makes it so compelling. It's a career that offers endless room for creativity and the freedom to develop strategies that reflect your own market views and convictions.
Winner: Saurabh Jamadagni
Undergraduate Degree: Electronics and Communication Engineering
Undergraduate Institution: Indian Institute of Information Technology Pune
Why did you choose Illinois?
I chose Illinois MSFE because I was looking for a program that combined academic rigor with practical relevance, and it offered exactly that.
UIUC's recognition as a Public Ivy added to its appeal, reflecting both prestige and quality. The campus offers a comfortable cost of living while being close to Chicago--one of the key hubs for quantitative finance. What stood out to me most was the blend of faculty with both academic and industry experience, which has allowed me to gain a holistic, deeply practical learning experience.
What was your favorite MSFE course and why?
One of my favorite courses was FIN 512 - Financial Derivatives, taught by Professor Martin Widdicks. He had a remarkable way of breaking down the Black-Scholes Theory into simple, digestible parts; making even the most complex concepts approachable. Watching the formulas come together at the end of each proof was genuinely enjoyable. What made the course especially impactful was its project-based structure. We worked on a valuation project that involved data collection, modeling and detailed report writing. While the process was challenging and initially overwhelming, it helped solidify the material in a practical and meaningful way. By the end of the course, reflecting on how much we had learned, step-by-step, was incredibly rewarding.
What is your career goal after leaving our program?
After completing the program, I am to pursue a career in quantitative trading/strategy as my primary focus. I'm also very interested in quantitative research and hope to contribute meaningfully by applying and refining the skills I've developed during the program to the best of my ability. Over the course of the program, I've grown a strong fascination for interpreting and working with data, and I'm excited to turn that curiosity into impactful insights and data-driven decisions in the industry.
Winner: Yixuan (Anna) Huo
Undergraduate Degree: Economics and Finance
Undergraduate Institution: Tsinghua University
Why did you choose Illinois?
I chose Illinois because of the MSFE Program's strong emphasis on practicality and technical skill development. The curriculum is closely tied to real-world financial applications, and the faculty bring deep industry insight into the classroom. The supportive environment created by both faculty and alumni, especially their commitment to student career growth, was another major factor in my decision.
What was your favorite MSFE course and why?
My favorite MSFE course was the Practicum. I spent the entire semester working on a project focused on pricing convertible bonds using numerical methods, machine learning and reinforcement learning. It gave me the opportunity to apply models on real-world data, which significantly improved my modeling skills. It also deepened my understanding of the gap that often exists between theoretical pricing and actual market prices.
What is your career goal after leaving our program?
After completing the MSFE Program, my goal is to work in the field of quantitative pricing and modeling.
Class of 2024 Illinois MSFE Academic Excellence Scholarship Award Winner
Winner: Kamin Atsavasirilert
Undergraduate Degree: Mechanical Engineering
Undergraduate Institution: Chulalongkorn University
Why did you choose Illinois?
UIUC has a very good reputation in both engineering and business schools. There are many well-integrated courses taught by prestigious professors and practitioners, which cannot be easily found at other schools. One of the key strengths of being an MSFE student at UIUC is the Practicum, which allows students to work closely with professionals from many prestigious firms. Before joining this program, I wanted to work with professionals at JP Morgan Chase. Now, I have had that opportunity! I have learned a lot of practical and advanced techniques from my practicum project. Additionally, in terms of cost effectiveness, MSFE at UIUC is the best and the program quality is one of the best, as well!
What was your favorite MSFE course and why?
My favorite course from MSFE at UIUC is Financial Risk Management, taught by Professor Neil Pearson. The course is very comprehensive and quantitatively practical. It is not only about risk management techniques but also about the practical applications that have been collected by Professor Pearson from his personal experience and numerous, successful UIUC Alumni from different professional areas. With his excellent teaching techniques, I was able to understand each one deeply, even without a background in Finance and Risk Management. This course is actually a perfect opportunity to directly study from the author of many legendary books.
What is your career goal after leaving the MS Financial Engineering Program?
My career goal is to utilize my analytical and research skills as a quantitative analyst or researcher in derivative trading, hedging or pricing arena. I want to work in the United States, as it is one of the best places to learn about financial markets. I intend to collect advanced experience and contribute to improving my home country of Thailand when I become an expert in the field.
Class of 2023 Illinois MSFE Academic Excellence Scholarship Award Winner
Winner: Sipeng Li
Undergraduate Degree: Bachelor of Arts, Economics
Undergraduate Institution: Wuhan University
Why did you choose Illinois?
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Close to Chicago.
- The celebrated Grainger College of Engineering.
- This program provides resources and opportunities from both Gies Business School and Grainger Engineering School, and many strong alumni are working in related industries, which will be helpful in job finding.
- The cost of living is relatively lower.
- UIUC is a world-famous public university with a very good reputation, and have cultivated a large number of outstanding alumni.
- Prefer Illinois campus culture.
What was your favorite MSFE course and why?
I think many courses are great and helpful. As for me, my favorite course is the Practicum I did this semester, because it allowed me to apply what we have learned in class to real-world problems. I have benefited a lot from both the hard skills, like coding, data analysis, fast-learning, problem-solving ability, and soft skills, like teamwork, presenting work result and communicating, that I have accumulated during this practicum. Other courses like Statistical Methods in Finance, Financial Computing, Financial Risk Management, Financial Derivatives, are all very extremely good courses.
What is your career goal after leaving our program?
I’m still trying, exploring and looking for the career path that suits me well. I will always do as best as I can at every stage of my life.
Class of 2022 Illinois MSFE Academic Excellence Scholarship Award Winners
Binglian (Lucy) Luo
Undergraduate Degree: Bachelor’s in Financial Engineering
Undergraduate Institution: East China Normal University
Why did you choose Illinois?
The Master of Science in Financial Engineering at Illinois is an outstanding STEM program with strong faculties and a well-designed curriculum. It is particularly appealing to me because of the “Practicum” course, which is a project on real-world topics under the guidance of professionals from the financial industry. The strong desire to learn more advanced and professional analytical skills helped me make my decision to join MSFE @ UIUC.
My experiences at MSFE convinced me that I have made a great decision in joining UIUC. In the second semester, I did my practicum project under the guidance of JP Morgan Chase on the topic "Constructing Arbitrage-Free Implied Volatility Surface with Sinkhorn Algorithm". During the meetings with the industrial sponsors, we gained much deeper understanding about how the real market runs and how to analyze problems in a practical way. This experience plays a vital role in my professional development.
What was your favorite MSFE course and why?
My favorite MSFE course was IE 523 Financial Computing instructed by Professor Ramavarapu S Sreenivas. This course is under the Grainger College of Engineering. It covered many interesting and practical topics in financial engineering, including exotic option pricing and Monte Carlo simulation. More importantly, we learned how to solve financial problems from an engineering perspective, such as using Linear Programming to build bond immunization strategies and adopting optimization techniques like memorization to speed up computation.
What is your career goal after leaving our program?
My career goal upon completion of the MSFE program is to work as a quantitative analyst. Thanks to the MSFE program, I found a quantitative summer internship at Reinsurance Group of America. During the internship, I applied a lot of practical knowledge I have learned in my master's program, such as calibrating interest rate models and implementing quantitative analysis with programming. I would like to further my professional skills in this area, and I believe that the well-designed curriculum and the excellent career services from MSFE at UIUC can help me find my dream job successfully.