Martin Widdicks
Senior Lecturer of Finance
Educational Background
Ph.D., Mathematical Finance, University of Manchester, 2002B.Sc., Mathematics, University of Manchester, 1999
Positions Held
Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011-2012Senior Lecturer in Finance, Lancaster University, 2007-2012
Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2005-2007
Senior Lecturer in Finance, University of Manchester, 2004-2007
Lecturer in Finance, University of Manchester, 2003-2004
Recent Publications
Widdicks, M., Taylor, S., Tzeng, C. 2018. Information About Price and Volatility Jumps Inferred from Option Prices. Journal of Futures Markets, 1-21Widdicks, M., Sun, L. 2016. Why Do Employees Like To Be Paid With Options?: A Multi-period Prospect Theory Approach. Journal of Corporate Finance, 38: 106 - 125
Widdicks, M., Pinto, H. 2014. Do compensation plans with performance targets provide better incentives? Journal of Corporate Finance, 29: 662-694
Honors and Awards
CBAA award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, UIUC, 2017Selected the Best Professor in a Small Elective Course for the MS Finance Program (for FIN 514: Financial Engineering II), UIUC, 2017
Selected the Best Professor in a Small Elective Course for the MS Finance Program (for FIN 514: Financial Engineering II), UIUC, 2016
Selected the Best Professor in a Large Elective Course for the MS Finance Program (for FIN 512: Financial Derivatives), UIUC, 2015
Selected the Best Professor in a Small Elective Course for the MS Finance Program (for FIN 514: Financial Engineering II), UIUC, 2015
Best Paper Award, Taiwan Finance Association, 2014
Selected the Best Professor in a Large Elective Course for the MS Finance Program (for FIN 512: Financial Derivatives), UIUC, 2014
Selected the Best Professor in a Small Elective Course for the MS Finance Program (for FIN 514: Financial Engineering II), UIUC, 2014
Teaching and Research Interests
I teach classes in Financial Engineering (FIN514, FIN516) and Financial Derivatives (FIN512) on the MSF and MSFE programs as well as classes in Statistics (FIN502) and general finance (FIN500).
I have been included on the list of excellent teachers (* = 'outstanding') in: Fall 2011*, 2012*, 2013*, 2014*, 2015*, 2016*, 2017*; Spring 2012, 2013, 2014*, 2015*, 2016*, 2017*; Summer 2014, 2015.
My research interests cover what could broadly be described as mathematical finance problems. I have developed new and adapted existing derivative pricing methodologies, applied singular perturbation theory to derivative pricing problems, and developed models for executive stock options to determine their value and the incentives that they provide.