Women at MIT Sloan

Jun Pan

Associate Professor of Finance

Teaching at MIT Sloan since: 2000

Striking a chord

I read about MIT Sloan as a PhD student in Physics contemplating a switch to finance. InCapital Ideas, Peter Bernstein wrote about MIT Sloan in the 70s, when Merton, Black, and Scholes took part in shaping the landscape of modern finance. The reading struck such a deep chord within me that I can still recall the moment. Riding on the N train to NYU campus with the book in my hand, I told myself that MIT Sloan was where I wanted to go.

I joined MIT Sloan as soon as I got my PhD in Finance from Stanford GSB. Although not trained at MIT Sloan, I felt right at home with the research tradition and the research philosophy of here. My research falls under the general category of asset pricing, with a special focus on options and derivatives. My particular interest in options and derivatives arises from the unique opportunity they offer to further our understanding of financial markets. An important component of my research is driven by the view that, rather than being something derivative or redundant, options and derivatives open a unique and often informative window to reveal aspects of financial markets that are otherwise difficult or impossible to identify.

Since joining MIT Sloan, I managed to write (jointly with various co-authors) several papers that I feel truly proud of. In Chinese culture, we have this saying, “drink the water and contemplate the source.” I think very frequently of that fortunate day riding on the New York subway when my intellectual mind was completely turned on by the groundbreaking work accomplished by Merton, Black, and Scholes at MIT Sloan.

Academic exchange

Teaching at MIT Sloan has been both enjoyable and challenging. Although I have been teaching an investments class at MIT Sloan for the past five years, I still find myself spending many hours working on improving my lecture notes and classroom delivery. To be honest, teaching hasn't come easily to me, but when my students are doing well, I am happier than they are. This is what has kept me going as a teacher, and maybe one day I will be a wonderful teacher like my mom.

When I'm not teaching or doing research, I enjoy reading and going to yoga. I have also become used to listening to audio books on my iPod while taking long walks in the city. To uphold my Chinese upbringing, I ride my bike almost every day (weather permitting) to and from work. On summer weekends, I take the commuter rail to bike for long hours around Concord and Weston, or the North Shore.

Living in the U.S. for the past 15-plus years has been the most rewarding experience in my life. At a deeper level, however, I still feel very much connected to China. I miss the people, the land, the culture, and the streets of Shanghai. I feel that I have much to learn about my native culture. At the same time, I also feel that I might be able to contribute to the academic exchange between Chinese and American universities. I see myself traveling more broadly in China in the next few years.

-Jun Pan's faculty biography

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