Research & Policy Center

Robert C. Merton’s research contributions to CFA Institute range from webinars and multimedia presentations to articles published in the Financial Analysts Journal. In 2003, he received the CFA Institute Nicholas Molodovsky Award (now known as the Outstanding Contribution to Investment Research Award), and in 2023, he received the Vertin Award from CFA Institute Research Foundation.

Robert C. Merton is the School of Management Distinguished Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management and John and Natty McArthur University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. He serves as a resident scientist at Dimensional Fund Advisors.

Merton's research focuses on finance theory: life cycle and retirement finance, optimal portfolio selection, capital asset and derivatives pricing, credit risk, loan guarantees, and improving the methods of measuring and managing macro-financial risk. He received the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1997 for a new method to determine the value of derivatives. He is past president of the American Finance Association, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.