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.

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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:

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Ding Ding
Education: China Foreign Affairs U/LSE, Uchicago
Faculty Supervisors: Karen Lewis and Yao Zeng

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Avinash Goss
Education: University of Pennsylvania
Faculty Supervisors: Allison Nicoletti and Christina Zhu.

Yiming Ma Headshot

Yiming Ma
Education: University of Chicago/University of Cambridge
Faculty Supervisors: Sylvain Catherine, Lu Liu, and Huan Tang

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Paige Stevenson
Education: Macalester College, St Paul MN
Faculty Supervisors: Gideon Bornstein, Sasha Indarte, and Sergio Salgado

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Daniel Wilkerson
Education: Brigham Young University
Faculty Supervisors: Lu Liu and Julie Fonseca

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Shuman Zhang
Education: U Minnesota/NYU
Faculty Supervisors: Winston Dou and Marius Guenzel

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Chris Zhu
Education: Colby College
Faculty Supervisors: Joao Gomes and Luke Taylor

Undergraduate Research Fellow Program

Highly qualified Penn undergraduates can become Rodney White Center Research Fellows. Fellows assist PhD candidates and faculty members with their research. This work can include building financial models and collecting and analyzing data.

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 Wharton and Penn undergraduate students only. Position openings are ongoing. Click here to apply

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Meet our Fellows:

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Arjun Agrawal SEAS’26
Computer Science and Mathematical Economics
PhD Supervisor: Jack Fu

Brianna Geng smiles before a brick wall

Brianna Geng W’26
Economics and Computer Science
PhD Supervisor: Clara Xu

Amy Zhang smiles in front of a curtain and brick wall

Amy Zhang W’26
Finance and statistics
Faculty Supervisor: Amy Huber