2015 Hickman Scholars Reception

The Society of Actuaries (SOA) honored the 2015-2016 scholars of the James C. Hickman Scholar program at a reception that took place Oct. 12 during the 2015 SOA Annual Meeting and Exhibit in Austin, Texas.

Faculty from university and college actuarial science programs that are SOA Centers of Actuarial Excellence (CAE), SOA Board members, staff and SOA President, Craig Reynolds FSA, MAAA, were present to celebrate the event.

Reynolds provided an overview of the prestigious James C. Hickman Scholar program,which was named in honor of professor James C. Hickman, who made numerous contributions to teaching during his 40-year academic career, including co-authorship of the Actuarial Mathematics textbook.

The James C. Hickman Scholar program was established in 2009 to increase the number of academic actuaries who hold a PhD and an actuarial designation, and who intend to pursue academic careers.

The new class of 2015-2016 Hickman Scholars include:

• Ahmed Ahmed, University of Chicago, pursuing a Ph.D. in Actuarial Science
• Mingyu Fang, University of Waterloo, pursuing a Ph.D. In Actuarial Science
• James Risk, University of California – Santa Barbara, pursuing a Ph.D. in Statistics & Applied Probability
• Jingong Zhang, University of Waterloo, pursuing a Ph.D. in Actuarial Science
• Kenneth Zhou, University of Waterloo, pursuing a Ph.D. in Actuarial Science

Four scholars who achieved their Ph.D. as Hickman scholars were also recognized:

• Shujuan Huang, Ph.D. in Mathematics at University of Connecticut
• Wenyuan Zheng, Ph.D. in Actuarial Mathematics at University of Connecticut
• Michael Batty, Ph.D. in Economics  at University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Wenjun Zhu, Ph.D. in Actuarial Science at University of Waterloo

The SOA wishes to congratulate all the James C. Hickman Scholars for their achievements.