As a field Financial Engineering has emerged because of the growing complexity required in describing and solving advanced business problems. Financial Engineers use fundamental economic principles and finance theory coupled with state-of-the-art mathematical methods, computational tools, and computer programming expertise.

Combining deep intellectual appeal and practical importance, Financial Engineering has become a flourishing sub-field over the past two decades; indeed, several recent Nobel prizes in economics have been awarded for work that constitutes the foundation of Financial Engineering. Much current research in finance, operations research, and mathematics studies the many emerging issues associated with new financial instruments, risk assessment, risk measurement and optimization.

The growth of Financial Engineering has been fueled by an active corporate community asset management companies (including mutual funds and hedge funds), insurance companies, and some advanced corporate treasury departments. Long-term outlooks in the financial services industry suggest a trend toward ever more quantitative analysis and methods.

The Illinois Master of Science in Financial Engineering degree is both technical and pragmatic. Students receive training in the most advanced techniques, providing them the grounding and tools to advance quickly in the field. The program features practice-based learning opportunities which assure the curriculum is always demanding and contemporary. Further, the featured Practicum in the third semester of the program serves as a bridge with industry focusing on real world financial modeling problems.