Innovative Fintech Research & Extensive Academic Offerings
Our faculty span a wide range of disciplines that defy typical fintech definitions, and our students enter the marketplace as field-tested leaders.
Cornell SC Johnson College of Business faculty combine deep strengths in finance and data science—and expertise in fields as diverse as supply chain, climate impact, international banking, cryptocurrencies, and more—to break new ground. Our students can fluently navigate fintech’s complex opportunities and implications for the financial services industry, the other sectors it touches, and the societies it affects.
Fintech Leadership
Will Cong, PhD, Faculty Director
Susan Joseph, JD/MBA, Executive Director
Faculty Breadth and Distinction
With over thirty fintech-affiliated faculty members, the SC Johnson College has a comparatively large and accomplished group of fintech scholars. Our faculty experts have published on a wide range of fintech topics, including cryptocurrency transaction fees, blockchain disruptions, peer-to-peer fintech lending markets, crowdfunding platform design, the future of central bank digital currencies, big data, social media and markets, and many others.
An Unparalleled Educational Experience
The student experience across our undergraduate and graduate programs is rich with industry immersion and engagement. Students often engage with industry innovators during classroom lectures and through on-site treks, company visits, and conferences. A hallmark offering is our seven-week Fintech Intensive in NYC, which exposes MBA students to startup ideas and ventures, technical concepts, industry leadership, and case studies of tech applications in multiple areas of financial services.
Depth in Data and Technology
Within and beyond fintech, our students and faculty are steeped in the use of data analytics to inform strategy and decisions. They partner fluently with computer scientists, developers, engineers, and other tech-forward thinkers and doers and know how to realize the business and consumer potential of tech innovations. For example, the SC Johnson College offers seven STEM-designated graduate degree programs and a Digital Technology Immersion for MBAs.
Engaged, Entrepreneurial Students
Our students are academically accomplished and personally driven self-starters who don’t hesitate to create new pathways and connections. They’ve embraced the fintech transformation with characteristic enthusiasm, becoming valued and supportive collaborators with faculty, business leaders, and one another. Our MBAs created the Blockchain and Innovation club, while Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration undergraduates founded the campuswide Cornell Blockchain club and championed the first Cornell Blockchain Conference.
Across the college and its networks, our community is active and engaged in fintech research, outreach, curriculum, events, clubs, and more.
Blockchain and Innovation Club
This Johnson MBA club offers opportunities to network with specialists from the fintech industry and to engage in blockchain-based business initiatives.
Trends in Fintech
In this online course, participants analyze five major financial vertical markets in the fintech sector: robo-advising, peer-to-peer lending, insurance tech, currency and payment tech, and digital banking.
Fintech Intensive
The Fintech Intensive at Cornell Tech comprises four courses led by distinguished fintech experts. MBAs complete a real field project, interact with industry leaders, and have the opportunity to present early-stage fintech business ideas in a business plan competition.
From Mining to Markets: The Evolution of Bitcoin Transaction Fees
In this co-authored paper, Maureen O’Hara (Johnson) investigates the role that transaction fees play in the Bitcoin blockchain’s evolution from a mining-based structure to a market-based ecology.
Cornell Blockchain Conference
Founded by undergraduates in the Cornell Nolan School, the Cornell Blockchain club hosts an annual NYC conference that has featured fintech industry leaders and highlighted platforms, regulation, security tokens, and more.
The Future of Money: Digital Currency
Eswar Prasad (Dyson) presents his views on the potential role of digital currencies in the U.S. economy and financial system. His testimony focuses on implications of the evolution of new financial technologies, including cryptocurrencies, for central banking.
Faculty Excellence
Over thirty Cornell SC Johnson College of Business faculty are fintech-affiliated scholars, educators, and influencers. Active across the spectrum from small business to the global economy, our faculty experts have published on a wide range of fintech topics, including transaction fees in cryptocurrencies, blockchain disruptions, peer-to-peer fintech lending markets, crowdfunding platform design, the future of central bank digital currencies, big data, social media and markets, and many others.
Will Cong
Faculty Director, Fintech at Cornell Initiative; Rudd Family Professor of Management and Associate Professor of Finance, Johnson
Dan Awrey
Professor, Cornell Law
Elena Belavina
Associate Professor of Operations, Technology, and Information Management, Nolan
Khaled Boughanmi
Assistant Professor of Marketing and Management Communication, Johnson
Murillo Campello
Lewis H. Durland Professor of Management, Johnson
Lourdes Casanova
Senior Lecturer and the Gail and Roberto Cañizares Director of the Emerging Markets Institute
Li Chen
Breazzano Family Term Professor of Management, Johnson
Ya-Ru Chen
Academic Dean of China Initiatives, Johnson
Matthew D’Amore
Associate Dean and Professor of Practice, Cornell Tech
Vishal Gaur
Emerson Professor of Manufacturing Management, Johnson
Karan Girotra
Charles H. Dyson Family Professor of Management Chair, Cornell Tech
James Grimmelman
Tessler Family Professor of Digital and Information Law, Cornell Tech and Cornell Law
Ryan Guggenmos
Assistant Professor of Accounting, Johnson
Robert Jarrow
Ronald P. Lynch Professor of Investment Management, Johnson
Lawrence Jin
Associate Professor of Finance, Dyson
Justin Johnson
Deane W. Malott Professor of Management, Johnson
Ari Juels
Weill Family Foundation and Joan and Sanford I. Weill Professor, Cornell Tech
Vrinda Kadiyali
Director of Graduate Studies for the Graduate Field of Management, Johnson
Andrew Karolyi
Charles Field Knight Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business; Harold Bierman, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Management, Johnson
Margaret (Peggy) Kingsley
Instructor, NYC FinTech Intensive; Corporate Finance Senior Vice president, M&T Bank
Sarah Kreps
Director, Cornell Tech Policy Lab; John L. Wetherill Professor of Government; Adjunct Professor of Law, Cornell
Marcos Lopez de Prado
Professor of Practice, Cornell College of Engineering; Global Head of Quantitative Research, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority
Peng Liu
Director of Real Estate and Singapore Tourism Board; Distinguished Professor in Asian Hospitality, Nolan
Yao Lu
Assistant Professor of Accounting, Johnson
Pamela Moulton
Associate Professor of Finance, Nolan
Maureen O’Hara
Robert W. Purcell Professor of Finance, Johnson
Young-Hoon Park
Sung-Whan Suh Professor of Management, Johnson
Drew Pascarella
Rempe Wilson Distinguished Lecturer of Finance; Associate Dean of MBA Programs; Founder of the Fintech Intensive, Johnson
Rafael Pass
Professor of Computer Science, Cornell Tech
Eswar Prasad
Nandlal P. Tolani Senior Professor of International Trade Policy, Dyson
Omid Rafieian
Demir Sabanci Faculty Fellow of Marketing and Management; Assistant Professor of Marketing and Management Communication, Johnson
Kristina Rennekamp
Associate Professor of Accounting, Johnson
Gideon Saar
Dr. Philip and Rosalyn Professor of Management and Professor of Finance, Johnson
Charles Whitehead
Myron C. Taylor Alumni Professor of Business Law, Cornell Law
Nathan Yang
Assistant Professor of Marketing, Dyson
Mao Ye
Associate Professor of Finance, Johnson
Yian Yin
Assistant Professor of Information Science, Bowers CIS, Cornell UniversityExternal Research Fellows
Across the college and its networks, our community is active and engaged in fintech research, outreach, curriculum, events, clubs, and more.
Daron Acemoglu
Institute Professor, MIT
Sumit Agarwal
Low Tuck Kwong Distinguished Professor of Finance, Professor of Economics and Real Estate, National University of Singapore
Tania Babina
Assistant Professor of Finance, Columbia Business School
Bruno Biais
Professor, HEC Paris
Markus Brunnermeier
Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Economics, Princeton
Agostino Capponi
Associate Professor, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Columbia University
Francesco D'Acunto
A. James Clark Chair and Associate Professor of Finance, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
Darrell Duffie
Distinguished Professor of Management and Professor of Finance, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Jianqing Fan
Frederick L. Moore '18 Professor of Finance, Princeton UniversityJianqing Fan
Itay Fainmesser
Associate Professor, Carey Business School and Economics Department, The Johns Hopkins University
Maryam Farboodi
Jon D. Gruber Career Development Professor, Assistant Professor of Finance, MIT
Gavin FENG Guanhao
Assistant Professor of Business Statistics, City University of Hong KongAssistant Professor of Business Statistics, City University of Hong Kong
Itay Goldstein
Joel S. Ehrenkranz Family Professor, Professor of Finance, Professor of Economics, Wharton School of Business
Hanna Halaburda
Associate Professor of Technology, Operations, and Statistics, NYU Stern
Zhiguo He
Fuji Bank and Heller Professor of Finance, Jeuck Faculty Fellow, The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Yael Hochberg
Head, Rice University Entrepreneurship Initiative and Ralph S. O'Connor Professor in Entrepreneurship, Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University
Xiang Hui
Assistant Professor, Washington University, St. Louis
Shota Ichihashi
Assistant Professor, Queen's University Department of Economics
Urban Jermann
Safra Professor of International Finance and Capital Markets, Professor of Economics Professor of Finance, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Wei Jiang
Arthur E. Burns Professor of Free and Competitive Enterprise, Columbia Business School
Bryan Kelly
Professor of Finance, Yale School of Management
Josh Lerner
Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard Business School
Bo Li
Assistant Professor in Computer Science, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
Kai Li
Professor and W.M. Young Chair in Finance, UBC Sauder School of Business
Ye Li
Assistant Professor/William W. Alberts Endowed Professor in Finance, Foster School of Business, University of Washington
Gordon Liao
Chief Economist, Circle Internet Financial, LLC
Laura Liu
Professor of Finance, Peking University
Evgeny Lyandres
Professor, Tel Aviv University
Simon Mayer
Assistant Professor of Finance, HEC Paris
Christine Parlour
Professor and Sylvan C. Coleman Chair in Finance and Accounting, Berkeley Haas
Markus Pelger
Assistant Professor of Management, Reid and Polly Anderson Faculty Fellow, Stanford University
Manju Puri
J.B. Fuqua Professor, The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Uday Rajan
David B. Hermelin Professor of Business Administration, Professor of finance and Chair, Finance Area, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Alberto Rossi
Provost Distinguished Associate Professor of Finance, Associate Director, Center for Financial Markets and Policy, Georgetown University
Fahad Saleh
Associate Professor of Finance, Wake Forest University
Lee Schneider
General Counsel, Ava Labs and Co-founder, Owl Explains
Antoinette Schoar
Stewart C. Myers-Horn Family Professor of Finance, Sloan School of Business, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Azeem Shaikh
Ralph and Mary Otis isham Professor in Economics and the College and Thornber Research Felllow, University of Chicago
Suraj Srinivasan
Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
Johannes Stroebel
David S. Loeb Professor of Finance, NYU Stern School of Business
Rob Townsend
Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics, MIT
Gerry Tsoukalas
Associate Professor, Boston University; Senior Fellow, The Wharton School; Fellow, The Luohan Academy
Aleh Tsyvinski
Arthur M. Okin Professor of Economics, Yale University
Toni Whited
Dale L. Dykema Professor of Business Administration, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Kairong Xiao
Roger F. Murray Associate Professor of Business, Columbia Business School
Wei Xiong
John H. Scully '66 Professor in Finance, Professor of Economics, Princeton University
Dacheng Xiu
Professor of Econometrics and Statistics, Chicago Booth
Baozhong Yang
Talmage Dobbs Jr. Chair in Finance, Associate Professor of Finance, J. Mack Robinson College of Business, Georgia State University
Liyan Yang
Professor of Finance, Foundation Chair in Investment Strategy, Rotman School of Business, University of Toronto
David Yermack
Albert Fingerhut Professor of Finance and Business Transformation, NYU Stern