SPOTLIGHT ON THE MATH DEPARTMENT | Baruch MFE Ranked #1 in the Nation in 2026 QuantNet Rankings
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Baruch College has once again been ranked #1 in the United States in the 2026 QuantNet Ranking of MFE Programs, solidifying its position as the premier quantitative finance program in the country.
Baruch placed first in every single major placement metric—including compensation, placement at graduation, and placement three months after graduation—as well as in student selectivity, achieving the lowest acceptance rate and highest yield among all ranked programs. The program also earned a top-tier peer assessment score, tying for the highest among all institutions.
This year’s ranking marks the largest gap ever recorded between first and second place, and Baruch’s performance improved across every indicator compared with last year, an extraordinary signal of sustained and growing excellence.
The program’s continued success reflects the talent, drive, and achievements of its students; the dedication and mentorship of its faculty; and the deeply engaged network of alumni who consistently support and elevate Baruch’s reputation across the financial industry.
“We are proud of our students and thankful to our alumni for all their support,” Prof. Dan Stefanica, director of the program, shared in his announcement. “The support of the entire Baruch community is quintessential for the success of our students and alumni. They work tirelessly to grow the reputation of Baruch College students in New York and beyond.”
The 2026 QuantNet Top 5
- Baruch College – 100
- Princeton University – 93
- Carnegie Mellon University – 91
- Columbia University (MFE) – 86
- MIT (MFin) – 84
The full ranking is available at QuantNet.
| | | MFE Program Featured in Risk.net Quantcast Master’s Series
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A bit more outstanding news for Baruch's Master of Financial Engineering (MFE): the program received further recognition this month with a feature episode in Risk.net’s Quantcast Master’s Series, spotlighting Prof. Dan Stefanica, director of the program, and Prof. Jim Gatheral, Presidential Professor of Mathematics and a leading figure in quantitative finance.
In the episode, Stefanica and Gatheral discussed how Baruch has sustained its No. 1 ranking in the Risk.net Quant Finance Master’s Guide for the past two years—an achievement driven by exceptional faculty, strong mentorship, and a consistently high placement rate with top financial institutions. With more than 400 applications annually and an acceptance rate below 6%, the program has become one of the most selective and respected in the world.
Stefanica highlighted innovations in admissions and training, including a rigorous quant background assessment introduced in 2022 and the program’s early adoption of large language models (LLMs) to support student coding. As he noted, AI tools have transformed the skill sets expected of new quants: “Everyone is coding more efficiently…every quant has become a better coder.” The challenge now, he added, is developing high-level talent capable of debugging and interpreting LLM-generated code—skills increasingly demanded by financial firms.
Gatheral, one of the pioneers of rough volatility modeling, spoke about his long-standing dual calling as both researcher and educator. He emphasized that Baruch’s academic environment allows him to pursue cutting-edge research “free of commercial constraints,” while mentoring students who will shape the next generation of quant finance.
Together, Stefanica and Gatheral offered insights not only into Baruch’s program design, but also into the shifting landscape of quantitative finance and the academic preparation required to excel at the very highest level of the industry.
The full episode is available through Risk.net’s Quantcast series on Spotify, Amazon Music, iTunes, and the Risk.net website.
| | | Baruch Computer Science Students Shine at Two Major 2025 Hackathons | |
Baruch’s Computer Science students continue to make their mark in New York’s most competitive hackathons, and this year’s results send one message loud and clear: Weissman is home to some extraordinary young technologists. Most of them have been nurtured and supported by Prof. Adam Sheffer, whose mentorship has become a defining force for the program.
This fall, Zachary Stybel and Ye Moe, both Computer Science majors, entered Byte Hacks 2025 at City College, a well-regarded regional hackathon that draws teams from across CUNY and the tri-state area. Their project impressed judges for its clarity, creativity, and technical execution, earning them Second Place out of dozens of teams.
Pushing themselves further still, they applied to DivHacks 2025 at Columbia University, a significantly more competitive event known for attracting elite teams from institutions such as MIT, Oxford, Columbia, and NYU.
Zachary and Ye advanced all the way to the final round, ultimately placing Second in one of the major categories—a remarkable outcome for undergraduates especially considering the program from which they emerged is still in its nascent years of expansion.
Prof. Sheffer emphasized that rankings alone are not the whole story. “What matters most,” he said, “is that our students are fearless. They walk into rooms filled with competitors from some of the world’s most prestigious universities and show that Baruch students can go toe-to-toe with anybody. Their hard work and their confidence are what make these results possible.”
This is not an isolated success. Last year, another Baruch CS major earned an award at Columbia’s hackathon, though he chose to remain quiet about his achievement. Prof. Sheffer notes that this humility is common among the students he mentors—but so is outsize talent.
The Computer Science major continues to grow and attract students eager for advanced opportunities in AI, cybersecurity, software development, and applied math. All the while, Prof. Sheffer continues to regularly support students in preparing for competitions, connecting them with research opportunities, and building the confidence needed to thrive in high-pressure environments.
“Our students’ achievements reflect something important about Baruch,” Sheffer added. “Talent is everywhere. Opportunity is not. When our students get access to the right opportunities, they excel at the highest levels.”
| | | Strengthening Students’ Professional Skills | As part of their effort to strengthen students’ interviewing skills, the Math department held a mock interview event with volunteer professionals from leading companies including Amazon, Bloomberg, Google, Morgan Stanley, and Figma. The session gave students the opportunity to practice real-world interview scenarios, receive individualized feedback, and build confidence as they prepare for internships and full-time roles. | | | Prof. David Gruber Publishes Major Op-Ed in The New York Times on Decoding Whale Language | |
Baruch College Distinguished Professor David Gruber was featured prominently in The New York Times with an Op-Ed detailing groundbreaking progress from Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative), the international research effort he leads to understand and translate sperm whale communication.
In the piece, Gruber reflects on years of fieldwork with sperm whales in Dominica, describing how new advances in artificial intelligence are transforming our ability to study the perplexities of animal communication. His team’s research suggests that sperm whales possess a communication system with structural features that function like vowels and diphthongs—elements long associated exclusively with human language.
By combining marine biology, robotics, linguistics, cryptography, and cutting-edge AI, Project CETI is beginning to detect patterns within whale “codas,” the series of clicks whales use to socialize. Early AI models trained on large annotated datasets have already achieved over 90 percent accuracy in identifying whale vocal clans and even individual whales. This work, Gruber writes, brings scientists closer than ever to interpreting the meaning behind whale exchanges.
Perhaps most exciting, Gruber's Op-Ed also previews Project CETI’s upcoming Whale Acoustics Model, an AI system designed to translate any audio into sperm whale vocalizations. This tool offers the tantalizing possibility that humans may one day experience what it feels like to 'speak' in the whales’ acoustic world. Such innovations, Gruber argues, offer a powerful reminder that technology, when used thoughtfully, can deepen our connection to the natural world rather than distance us from it.
| | | Weissman Religious Studies Alumna Allegra Kuney Becomes a Four-Time Jeopardy! Champion | |
Baruch College is celebrating an extraordinary achievement by Weissman Religious Studies alumna Allegra Kuney, who is now a four-time Jeopardy! champion with winnings totaling more than $95,000. Her impressive run has also earned her a coveted invitation to compete in the show’s Tournament of Champions this January—one of the highest distinctions in the world of quiz competition.
After graduating from Baruch Weissman, Allegra went on to complete an MA at Queens College and is now pursuing her PhD in Media Studies at Rutgers University. Her success on Jeopardy! adds a remarkable new chapter to an already inspiring academic and intellectual journey.
Weissman is proud to celebrate Allegra’s accomplishments and looks forward to cheering her on in the Tournament of Champions....
| | | Weissman Student Highlights Students Struggle to Spot Misinformation | |
Baruch senior Khushi Gupta—an English Literature and Digital Communications double major and Senior Copy Editor for The Ticker—wrote a recent Campus News article on a CUNY Graduate Center study by Arshia Lodhi and Professor Patricia Brooks examining how college students evaluate online information. The research found that while many students understand strategies like lateral reading, far fewer apply them when confronted with actual posts, including AI-generated viral content.
The study highlights the usefulness of the SIFT method to help students pause, investigate sources, seek better coverage, and trace claims. Gupta’s reporting discussed how easily misinformation spreads online and why strengthening digital literacy remains essential for today’s students.
| | | NSF Grant Fuels Innovation in Baruch’s Science Labs | |
Baruch College is advancing innovation in science teaching and learning with a new $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The award, secured by Grace Avecilla, doctoral lecturer and Associate Professor Krista Dobi, both in the Department of Natural Sciences, will fund the purchase of 49 Zeiss 3 Digital Microscopes equipped with 5-megapixel cameras and integrated with digital classroom software.
The new microscopes—set to be installed next summer in biology and environmental science teaching labs—will directly benefit more than 950 students each semester, including those in general education courses and biology majors and minors.
“The microscopes provided by this grant represent a significant step forward for our students,” said Stephen Gosnell, PhD, Professor and Chair of the department, housed in the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences.
“Not only will the new scopes make it easier for students to view slides, but they also allow students to send images to connected devices and share them with other students and instructors.”
Gosnell added, “This technology brings the ‘invisible’ microscopic world to the big screen in our classrooms. We will be able to focus on what students see, not how hard it is to see it, and open the door to discussion and exploration in teaching labs.”
The new technology will enable faculty to create interactive, collaborative learning experiences that promote engagement and mastery of scientific techniques. Students will be able to share, annotate, and analyze high-resolution images in real time, while receiving personalized feedback from professors.
Baruch students use microscopes to view living single-celled organisms, examine plant reproductive structures, and examine cells and bacteria. For the upper-level biology courses, students will have the ability to capture publication-quality images, deepening their research expertise.
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Career-Focused Pedagogy: A Faculty Insights Panel
In this special edition of the Starr Career Development Center (Starr)'s “This is How I Embed Career Readiness” blog series, Starr provides a summary of the insights shared during their recent Career-Focused Pedagogy Faculty Panel. Although the panelists are no strangers to this blog series, they provided additional strategies and resources since producing their individual features this past spring semester.
https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/starr/2025/11/19/special-edition-career-focused-pedagogy-a-faculty-insights-panel/
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On November 13, students attended an event hosted by the New York Review of Books (NYRB). Since 2020, the Harman Writer-in-Residence Program's partnership with the NYRB has offered four Baruch undergraduates and recent grads the chance to complete six-month paid internships each year. Interns often publish interviews with prominent writers in the NYRB newsletter, gaining early professional experience and bylines.
The program also proved to be a strong pipeline into the publishing industry, with former interns moving into roles at major houses including Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Penguin Random House, Cambridge University Press, and New Directions.
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On November 18, Baruch students participated in the 2025–2026 Black–Jewish Unity Dinner series, a national initiative led by the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, UNCF, and Hillel International to strengthen dialogue between Jewish, Black, and Black and Jewish students.
At the Manhattan-campus gathering hosted at John Jay College, Baruch students joined peers from across CUNY for an evening of guided conversations about identity, belonging, and shared experiences. Mixed-campus tables encouraged new connections, and students engaged deeply with one another throughout the program.
| On November 20, the New Media Arts Open House welcomed prospective students and guests to experience student artwork, learn about the program, and experiment with the technology used in NMA courses. | | | OTHER FACULTY NEWS AND PUBLICATIONS | | |
FPA Professor Mar Morosse Publishes Ancient Art History: The Essential Book
Dr. Mar Morosse, Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, has published a new textbook, Ancient Art History: The Essential Book (Cognella Academic Publishing, 2025).
Written over four years, the volume offers a comprehensive and global introduction to ancient visual cultures, with one of its most distinctive contributions being a full chapter devoted to Jewish Art History—freshly treated as an autonomous and richly developed tradition rather than a marginal subset of Roman art.
The book also incorporates updated theoretical and museological perspectives, particularly in its discussion of Byzantine art, reflecting recent reclassifications at major institutions such as the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Check it out here.
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Safia Jama of the English Dept. Hosted Conversation with Harman Writer-in-Residence Oksana Maksymchuk
Poet and Lecturer of English, Safia Jama, introduced and interviewed our Harman Writer-in-Residence, Oksana Maksymchuk, in a wide-ranging conversation that drew an engaged audience of students, faculty, and staff. Jama guided the discussion with characteristic insight and warmth, inviting Maksymchuk to explore her writing, her creative process, and the experiences that shape her work.
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Psychology Prof. Andrea Bazzoli Featured on CUNY’s The Thought Project Podcast
Prof. Andrea Bazzoli, an occupational health psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Baruch College and conducts research at the CUNY Graduate Center, was recently featured on The Thought Project, a podcast hosted by Tanya L. Domi at the CUNY Graduate Center.
In the episode, Bazzoli discussed his latest research on how workers experience and navigate job insecurity amid rapid technological change, shifting economic conditions, and evolving workplace policies.
Bazzoli’s research highlights the human implications of organizational and technological change—an area of growing importance as workplaces adapt to automation and shifting labor demands.
Listeners interested in the intersection of organizational science, technology, and worker wellbeing should explore the full conversation here.
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English Prof. Corey Mead Featured in New Documentary on “The Poet” Stalking Case
A new true-crime documentary, Who Stalked Ruth Finley? The Mystery of ‘The Poet’, revisits a little-known Wichita case from the late 1970s involving a woman who reported being stalked by someone calling himself “The Poet.” The harassment unfolded at the same time the city was searching for the BTK serial killer, raising questions about whether the two cases were connected.
Corey Mead, Associate Professor of English at Baruch College, appears in the documentary to discuss the case and its unusual investigative turns, drawing on his recent book The Pursued. The film highlights the surprising conclusion of the decades-long mystery and explores how the case fit into the broader climate of fear in Wichita at the time.
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Psychology Prof. Patrycja Sleboda Announces New Study on Public Trust in Medical AI
A new study co-authored by Prof. Patrycja Sleboda, Assistant Professor of Psychology, examines how the public views the use of AI in healthcare, especially for cancer diagnosis. Based on two nationally representative surveys, the research finds that while people generally trust doctors more than AI, many see strong potential in AI tools that assist with early cancer detection. Individuals who have used AI technologies also reported greater understanding and trust.
Prof. Sleboda will present the study next week at the Society for Risk Analysis Conference in Washington, D.C., and the work has already attracted multiple media inquiries.
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