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The Department of Actuarial Science and Statistics has three faculty members. Here is some brief information about them:

Rahul
Rahul A. Parsa, PhD -- Principal Financial Group Professor of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Coordinator of Actuarial Science Program. Rahul has been teaching at Drake since 1990. He received his PhD in Statistics from the Texas A & M university. In 2003, Rahul received the Fulbright scholarship award that enabled him to teach and conduct research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. He is also a recipient of the Harry Wolk researcher of the Year award given by the college. His research interests include copulas, biostatistics, and correspondence analysis. Email him at Rahul.Parsa@drake.edu.

 

Paul S. Judd, MS, ASA, FMLI -- Assistant Professor of Statistics and Actuarial Science. Paul taught in the Math department at Drake in the College of Arts and Sciences in the fall of 2002. He moved to the CBPA in August of 2003. Paul graduated from the University of Dayton with a Math degree and from the University of Iowa with a masters degree in Actuarial Science. He then joined the Principal Financial Group. Paul won the CBPA's David B. Lawrence Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, 2006-2007, as selected by the students. Ee-mail him at paul.judd@drake.edu. Further information is available at his College home page.

 

Toby White, PhD, FSA, CFA -- Assistant Professor of Actuarial Science and Finance. Toby joined Drake's faculty in 2008.  He recently earned his PhD in Statistics from the University of Washington.  Prior to his graduate studies, Toby worked for five years as an actuary at both Lincoln Financial Group and Tillinghast-Towers Perrin. He has also taught actuarial courses for the University of Illinois and the Chicago Actuarial Association.  His research interests include latent class transition models, Hidden Markov models, and trends in U.S. old-age morbidity. E-mail him at toby.white@drake.edu.


Paul G. Ferrara, FSA, CERA, Ph D -- is Assistant Professor of Actuarial Science at Drake University and an Associate of the Society of Actuaries. Ferrara holds two Master's degrees (Pure Mathematics and Statistics) and will defend his dissertation at the University of Virginia in the area of Bayesian Analysis later this year. Co-author of the 2010 Joint Statistical Meeting conference paper, Determining the appropriate implementation of a repeated measures analysis comparing two periodic estimates on economic survey data, Ferrara also worked as an Actuarial Analyst for several years prior to pursuing his doctorate. E-mail him at paul.ferrara@drake.edu.

 

Thomas Struppeck, PhD, FCAS, ASA -- the Robb B. Kelly Distinguished Visitor in Risk Management and Actuarial Science and Associate Professor joined Drake's faculty in 2010. He earned his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin in Number Theory. Over the years Tom has worked as an actuary and risk professional overseeing operations in Europe, Bermuda and the US. More recently he has been teaching at the University of Texas at Austin and running his consulting company, Longhorn Analytics, LLC. His e-mail address is thomas.struppeck@drake.edu.


Stuart A. Klugman, FSA, CERA, PhD -- Professor Emeritus.  Stuart taught at Drake from 1988-2009.  Prior to that, he taught actuarial science at the University of Iowa.  He is co-author of three books, and from 2001-2003 served as an elected Vice-President of the Society of Actuaries.  He was the recipient of Drake's Levitt Award as University Teacher of the Year in 2007.  Stuart currently works for the Society of Actuaries as a Staff Fellow. Email him at Stuart.Klugman@drake.edu.

 Stuart Klugman

 

Newton Bowers
Newton L. Bowers, Ph.D.,FSA,M.A.A.A. -- Professor Emeritus. Newt retired in 1996 after working for Drake for 27 years. He held the position of Ellis and Nelle Levitt Professor of Actuarial Science. Prior to Drake, he was on the faculty at the University of Michigan for four years. He also worked at New York Life as an actuary. He is co-author of the textbook Actuarial Mathematics, used by the SOA for exam MLC. Newt was known for his teaching and won numerous teaching awards. He still lives in Des Moines and you can find him at most of the Drake basketball games cheering on his favorite Bulldogs.

 


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Last modified: September 8, 2011