The Rodney L. White Center for Financial research is committed to cultivating the next generation of finance leaders in academia and industry. We offer programs that teach, hone, and apply quantitative research skills that will advance candidates into finance PhD programs and related careers.
Pre-Doctoral Research Associate Program
The center offers specially qualified recent college graduates interested in applying to PhD programs the opportunity to work directly with Wharton finance faculty as full-time Research Associates. Each Research Associate will work in this challenging position for 1-2 years and emerge prepared to apply for PhD programs in economics, finance, public policy, business, or other quantitative social-science programs.
Research Associates will be encouraged to be an active part of the Wharton research community, which can include attending seminars, exploring personal research interests, and taking graduate-level classes at Wharton. The Research Associates will join a cohort of pre-doctoral research associates both in the Finance Department and across other departments at the Wharton School.
Interested in Becoming a Pre-Doctoral Research Associate?
The Center encourages outstanding recent college graduates with an interest in pursuing a PhD in a finance related field to apply to open positions. A complete application includes a cover letter explaining why you want to become a pre-doc, a resume/CV, and the most recent transcript.
Read about Tanvi Jindal’s journey to becoming a pre-doc.
Current Openings (July 2025 start date):
Pre-Doctoral Research Specialist, Professors Amy W. Huber, Karen K. Lewis, and Yao Zeng
Pre-Doctoral Research Specialist, Professors Dan Garrett and Marius Guenzel
Meet our Associates:
Ding Ding
Education: China Foreign Affairs U/LSE, Uchicago
Faculty Supervisors: Karen Lewis and Yao Zeng
Avinash Goss
Education: University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Supervisors: Allison Nicoletti and Christina Zhu.
Yiming Ma
Education: University of Chicago/University of Cambridge
Faculty Supervisors: Sylvain Catherine, Lu Liu, and Huan Tang
Paige Stevenson
Education: Macalester College, St Paul MN
Faculty Supervisors: Gideon Bornstein, Sasha Indarte, and Sergio Salgado
Daniel Wilkerson
Education: Brigham Young University
Faculty Supervisors: Lu Liu and Julie Fonseca
Shuman Zhang
Education: U Minnesota/NYU
Faculty Supervisors: Winston Dou and Marius Guenzel
Chris Zhu
Education: Colby College
Faculty Supervisors: Joao Gomes and Luke Taylor
Interested in Becoming a Pre-Doctoral Research Associate?
The Center encourages outstanding recent college graduates with an interest in pursuing a PhD in a finance related field to apply to open positions. A complete application includes a cover letter explaining why you want to become a pre-doc, a resume/CV, and the most recent transcript.
Read about Tanvi Jindal’s journey to becoming a pre-doc.
There are currently no openings, all pre-doc positions have been filled.
Undergraduate Research Fellow Program
Highly qualified Penn undergraduates can become Center Research Fellows. Fellows assist PhD candidates with their advanced dissertation research. This work can include building financial models and collecting and analyzing data. The PhD candidates serve as mentors, training Fellows on financial tools, concepts, and research.
Additionally, interested Fellows will have the opportunity to assist in various aspects of conference planning, including registration and attendance, for high-profile conferences, workshops and seminars. throughout the year.
The program is open to UPenn undergraduate students only. Announcements are posted each spring and fall in specific department, Wharton School and University research opportunity websites. Position openings are ongoing. Click here to apply
Meet our Fellows:
Arjun Agrawal SEAS’26
Computer Science and Mathematical Economics
PhD Supervisor: Jack Fu
Brianna Geng W’26
Economics and Computer Science
PhD Supervisor: Clara Xu
Amy Zhang W’26
Finance and statistics
Faculty Supervisor: Amy Huber