Georgia State University’s (GSU) actuarial science program, established in 1958, has seven actuarial faculty members and 133 actuarial students. The university particularly impressed the judges through its curriculum and teaching methods which leverage a variety of innovative techniques including the use of real-world case studies, presentations on topics like ASOPs, and an excellent use of practical applications using public data sets and leveraging R, Python, Excel and other tools.
Program Highlights:
- GSU’s actuarial science program prepares students for CAS Exams MAS I and MAS II and CAS Exam 5. Actuarial science students are required to take these courses as part of a sequence on P&C actuarial mathematics. The program supports students pursuing their property and casualty credentials, reimbursing students for CAS exams through Exam 6.
- The program’s regression modeling course covers regression, time series and generalized linear models with applications in R. Projects are assigned that use P&C data to perform various statistical tests and fit predictive models using datasets including the Singapore Automobile Claims and Massachusetts Bodily Injury data.
- The program's ratemaking and loss reserving course focuses on CAS Exam 5 materials and uses as assigned textbooks Werner & Modlin’s Basic Ratemaking and Friedland’s Estimating Unpaid Claims Using Basic Techniques. The course incorporates projects that relate the theory to the practice of P&C insurance; for example, students are asked to design rating manuals in Excel/VBA or R that uses data in chapter 2 of Werner-Modlin, or to implement the work of Appendix A-D depending on their interest in personal auto, homeowner's, medical malpractice, or workers compensation.
- GSU also offers innovative RMI courses as actuarial science major electives. Their InsurTech course uses real world data to teach, focusing on the application of technology (machine learning and blockchain) to insurance. Examples of successful P&C applications are studied from startups providing specialized solutions at specific points of a P&C insurer’s value chain to full stack insurtechs.
“We are deeply gratified to receive the 2021 CAS University Award. It is a tribute to our efforts to train actuarial students in property & casualty insurance and equip them with the skills they need to be successful in their careers. This award will enable us to support travel to Casualty Actuarial Society conferences and to reward students for passing CAS exams. We also place great emphasis on research that covers the full spectrum of actuarial practice and on working together with our industry partners to benefit our diverse student population and the profession.”
—Stephen Shore, RMI Chair and Stefanos Orfanos, Director of Undergraduate AS Program.
