The National Science Foundation has named Patrick Cheridito, an assistant professor of operations research and financial engineering, as the recipient of a CAREER award. The award is the foundation’s most prestigious grant to support the development of teacher-scholars early in their careers.

Cheridito received a $400,000, five-year grant to explore the quantification and management of risks faced by individuals, companies and society in different situations of uncertainty. The main focus of the project is to provide mathematical tools for the assessment, control, mitigation and minimization of risk. Over the course of the project, Cheridito will address many practical problems, including the assessment of risk caused by financial crises, under-funded pension plans or natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes.

“We are very pleased that he has won this award, especially since the Division of Mathematical Sciences at NSF makes very few such awards,” said Robert Vanderbei, chairman of the department of operations research and financial engineering.

Cheridito joined the Princeton faculty in 2003, following a year as a visiting research fellow at the University. A specialist in financial engineering, he holds bachelors and doctoral degrees from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.