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| Other name | Baum Tenpers Global Investment |
|---|---|
| Motto | Developing and Harnessing Research Talents in Africa |
| Founder(s) | BAUM Tenpers |
| Established | 2014 |
| Mission | Positioning African Minority students for Global Education |
| Focus | Education & Research |
| Location | United States and NIGERIA , Virginia and Lagos |
| Website | www.baumtenpers.com |
History
editBAUM Tenpers Institute, more commonly known as BT Research or BTR, is the not-for-profit academic arm of Baum Tenpers Global Investment, an organization dedicated to the investment in human capital and research for capacity building in developing countries. Since its inception in 2013, BTR has actively contributed to training and capacity building across Africa. The institute has 3 main sections: research, capacity building, and scholarships.
Mission
editThe research section of BTR is dedicated to producing research of global relevance which advances the frontiers of knowledge in the fields of economics, finance, and the quantitative sciences, with an emphasis on Africa. The capacity building section offers the flagship ' Certificate in Economic Theory, Econometrics, and Mathematical Economics to prepare African students for doctoral studies at leading institutions globally. This 12-month certificate program is intensive and highly selective and admits students who have performed brilliantly in their previous studies. The program emphasizes quantitative rigor and is only suitable for students who want to become researchers down the road. The scholarship arm identifies talented high school and undergraduate students across Africa, especially those from low-income households, and provides them with a monthly scholarship stipend to support their education. The aim is to recognize the academic achievements of young Africans and instill in them the attitude of continuous excellence to propel them to significant achievements down the road, in whatever endeavor they choose.
About
editBTR is a leading research group with research-active members who hold faculty or research positions at institutions globally and are among the most productive in their respective research fields. The rigorous Certificate in Economic Theory, Econometrics, and Mathematical Economics is an integrated certificate program where students take courses ranging from undergraduate and master’s level mathematical and statistical theory courses to first-year doctoral courses in economics and finance. All students, particularly students who want to pursue doctoral degrees, also complete mini dissertations under the guidance of BTR researchers. Although the certificate program is at the level of a rigorous master’s degree or the first year of a standard Ph.D., BTR does not currently offer a degree since it is not currently a degree-granting institution. Nonetheless, attending the program empowers students with knowledge and skills that greatly improve their graduate school experience subsequently.
'BTR is a founding member of the Lagos Graduate Institute for Economics and Finance, a graduate institute that will offer graduate degrees when fully accredited. Students admitted to the BTR Certificate in Economic Theory, Econometrics, and Mathematical Economics benefit from collaborative research activities with researchers from around the world.
The research arm of BTR pursues research and development activities in such research areas as: • econometrics and statistics
• macroeconomics
• microeconomics
• international finance
• stochastic analysis
• financial economics
• empirical corporate finance
• banking, financial markets and quantitative finance
• international trade
• machine learning and robotics
Certificate
editThe certificate program is fully funded for low-income students and receives many applications for limited spots. The minimum requirement to qualify for the first stage assessment is a bachelor’s degree in the top 20 percent of each student's graduating class or a master’s degree in the top 10 percent.
Successful applicants are then invited to sit written admission tests similar in spirit to the standard GRE and GMAT. Students who exceed the required minimum, as determined by the academic management, are invited for several rounds of interviews with our researchers. The final list of selected students is chosen based on the performances during the interview as well as the evaluation of the applicant’s potential to succeed in the certificate program.
The program officially begins in January of each year and is held via Zoom. Students start by taking college-level mathematics and economics courses that cover such essential foundational areas as microeconomics and macroeconomics in economics, real analysis, multivariate calculus, functional analysis, linear algebra, and differential equations in mathematics. This lasts for 7 months and prepares students for the more advanced phase (Ph.D. level) of the program.
In the advanced phase, students take actual first-year Ph.D. level courses covering econometric theory, microeconomic theory, dynamic macroeconomic theory, dynamic programming, and additional courses such as mathematical statistics, measure-theoretic probability, and stochastic calculus. There is also training in the elements of research writing and computing software skills acquisition: LaTeX, DYNARE, MATLAB, Python, EViews, and STATA. The last phase is research training, where each student is required to produce a research paper under the guidance of our researchers. This can extend for as long as the student and assigned research mentor are comfortable working together.
Performances in all phases of the program are aggregated and the top 10 students, who achieve a grade point average equivalent to an A- or better, are fully supported with application fees and standardized test funding to defray the prohibitive costs of applying to graduate school. Other students not among the top 10 but have performed well are partially supported.
At the end of the certificate course, students acquire advanced skills to critically read through technically challenging research papers, replicate the proofs and empirical results in such papers, and are equipped for a rigorous graduate at any institution globally. Successful students who complete all phases of the program are awarded a Certificate in Economic Theory, Econometrics, and Mathematical Economics.
Faculty
editThe faculty members and senior research fellows at BTR are generous and dedicated volunteers and comprise mathematicians, statisticians, economists, and finance experts from institutions across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, many of whom have published research in such journals as Econometrica, Journal of Finance, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of Econometrics, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Applied Econometrics, Stochastic Processes, and their Applications, Annals of Applied Probability, among several others. They also have years of experience in teaching demanding courses and supervising research at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Placements
editBTR alumni have gone on to obtain positions for graduate studies at universities in the U.S. (e.g., Princeton, Berkeley, Yale, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Memphis), in Europe, and in the UK (e.g., Barcelona, Kent, Warwick, Exeter, Bologna) and in Africa (e.g., UNISA, Ibadan, Lagos).