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Qin Lu, assistant professor of mathematics, has recently earned the prestigious Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
The CFA charter is a globally recognized credential for investment analysis and management. The CFA Program sets an international standard for measuring the competence and integrity of financial analysts, portfolio managers and investment advisers. Currently, more than 76,000 investment professionals in 124 nations and territories hold the CFA charter.
To earn the charter, Lu had to complete a graduate-level, self-study curriculum and series of three intensive examinations taken sequentially.
“I am thrilled to finally receive my charter,” Lu said. “It represents the successful culmination of hundreds of hours of study and a demonstrated commitment to professionalism and ethics.”
Since the inception of the CFA Program 44 years ago, pass rates at each of the three exam levels have averaged about 52 percent. Because of the rigor of the program, only about one in five candidates who enter the program pass all three exams and successfully complete all the requirements to earn the charter.
The three, six-hour exams cover ethical and professional standards, securities analysis and valuation, financial statement analysis, quantitative methods, economics, corporate finance, portfolio management, and performance measurement.
Lu became a member of the Lafayette faculty in 1999 and teaches courses in derivatives and financial mathematics. She is a member of the CFA Institute and the Mathematics Association of America and earned her Ph.D. from the OhioStateUniversity.
Lu regularly includes students in her research and has mentored numerous students in honors thesis research. She has guided Lindsey Carifi ’02and Katharine Wolchik ’05, both mathematics and economics & business graduates; Usman Khan ’05, anelectrical and computer engineering and mathematics-economics graduate; and Mark Coslett ’01, a mathematics graduate, in various projects.
Some of her most recent research dealt with comparing and contrasting different pricing methods for convertible bonds. Lindsay Bryant ’07 (Clinton Corners, N.Y.), a mathematics major, and Jinjin Qian ’08 (Shanghai, China), who is pursuing a B.S. in mathematics and an A.B. in economics and business, worked with Lu as EXCEL scholars.
The CFA Program is administered worldwide by CFA Institute, a not-for-profit professional association with offices in Virginia, New York, London, and Hong Kong.
Robert R. Johnson, managing director of the CFA, explains what motivates candidates to make such a significant investment of their time and energy and earn the CFA designation.
“For more than 40 years, candidates have sought to earn the CFA charter for two chief reasons,” Johnson says. “One, to expand and test their knowledge of current practice across a broad range of investment topics, and two, to demonstrate to clients, employers and peers, their mastery of a demanding body of knowledge.”