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Robert C. Merton

Nobel Laureate, Professor of Finance, School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Nobel Laureate Robert C. Merton is the School of Management Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management, and University Professor Emeritus, Harvard University.

Professor Merton also has had a long association with Harvard Business School. From 1988 to 1998, he was the George Fisher Baker Professor of Business Administration and from 1998 to 2010 he was the John and Natty McArthur University Professor.

Previously, Professor Merton served on the finance faculty of the Sloan School from 1970 to 1988.
He is a former president of the American Finance Association, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Merton received the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Myron Scholes in 1997 for a new method to determine the value of derivatives. He also received the inaugural Financial Engineer of the Year Award from the International Association of Financial Engineers, which elected him a senior fellow.

Professor Merton is the recipient of the Nicholas Molodovsky Award from the CFA Institute, a distinguished fellow of the Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance and a fellow of the Financial Management Association. In 1993, he co-founded Long-Term Capital Management.

In terms of his own education, he received a BS in engineering mathematics from Columbia University, an MS in applied mathematics from California Institute of Technology and a PhD in economics from MIT.
He also holds honorary degrees from the University of Chicago, Claremont Graduate University and from seven universities outside the US.

Alongside his academic positions, Professor Merton is resident scientist at Dimensional Fund Advisors, a global asset management firm known for translating academic research into practical investment solutions.

Experience

  • –present
    Nobel Laureate, Professor of Finance, School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology