Matt White among the first students to take a master’s in fintech at UMSL

When the pandemic hit, Matt White, who teaches world religions and ethics at a high school in Chicago, had to switch to online learning, along with most teachers across the country. More than a job adjustment, the big adjustment piqued White’s curiosity about how technology affects our lives.

This was just another addition to the St. Louis native’s already varied interests, having earned a double degree in history and political science at Loyola University Chicago and a master’s in philosophy at Fordham University in New York. He even taught screenwriting at the famous Second City comedy organization in Chicago, exploring his creative talents.

Now, after deepening his interest in technology and its daily impact, he has ventured into finance and technology, pursuing his Master of Science in Financial Technology, or fintech, as part of a program launched in January at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

“My political science degree definitely got me interested,” White said. “I studied a lot of international relations and especially the global economy. That was kind of where I focused my studies, and all the time I would come back to my research and my classes and realize how everything is just incredibly connected.”

White found out about the new program from his sister, Katie, a UMSL alumna who graduated with a degree in nursing. Looking for an opportunity to brush up on his knowledge, he was intrigued. He was unsure at first what he could get out of the fintech courses, but he thought he would at least connect with the joy of learning and teaching about the development of community functionality.

“I think now we live in a time where we actually have some understanding of the impact of the way things are changing,” White said. “Take, for example, how our entire understanding of a number of institutions and relationships can change within a couple of months with one small advance like AI. A year ago I never knew the term ChatGPT, but now it’s kind of all you hear. So I think it’s exciting to live in this time when not only are things changing, but we’re really aware of it. I think the opportunities are huge.”

UMSL is the only university in the Midwest to offer the unique fintech program, a 30-hour program designed to build a highly educated fintech workforce with knowledge of not only traditional finance modules and data-driven financial modeling and analysis, but also fintech tools. These include everything from blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning to mobile payment systems, robo-advice and more.

At 20,000 dollars, the program is, compared to other master’s programs, cost-effective. Professor Nasser Arshadi, who chairs UMSL’s Department of Finance and Legal Studies, wanted the program to be available.

“A lot of times, new programs end up being a little expensive,” Arshadi said. “So my intent was that we are a state university, we have this wonderful program and we have great people teaching it. Let’s keep the cost down so as not to create a barrier to entry into the program.”

Arshadi also wanted the program to be very specific to fintech, leaving out extraneous courses and material to give students the most focused experience possible.

“We created a 30-credit program,” he said. “It’s a very compact program.”

Although the courses didn’t start until January, White has found areas of the curriculum he connects with and can apply to his everyday life.

“At the heart of fintech is how technology has really, really opened up the ability for consumers to maybe have a better experience, certainly a faster experience,” he said. “Whether it’s ordering something on Amazon or just consuming information, you’re quickly looking up something that we couldn’t otherwise. So I’m very interested in that. I’m very interested in the way artificial intelligence and machine learning can help human analysts evaluate factors that will affect the markets. I’m thinking of things like robo-investing or using computer algorithms.”

In addition to learning about AI and how it works, White learns how to use it effectively to his advantage, but not rely on it for reports and analytics. Tim Dombrowski, who teaches five courses in the program, including AI Applications in Finance, explained this further.

“How do you use artificial intelligence to supplement your work and complement your work rather than just being replaced by automated tools?” he has asked his class. “Because, as we’ve seen, some of the new AI tools that have come out in the last few months are becoming very impressive. So we learn how to use them and make your job easier and use them properly, as opposed to just try to get it to do all your work for you and then you realize, ‘Oh, my employer doesn’t need me.'”

While White doesn’t know exactly how he’ll implement what he’s learning in the fintech program yet, he understands the knowledge will be a professional asset.

“I really want to build a solid financial skill set,” he said. “I want to figure out how that skill set can be expanded and applied through really solid technology. Not necessarily through things that just look good because they’re the next new thing, but are really solid. I’d like to get the skills through this program. I think I’ll be able to really discern the pieces of technology that are really going to shape our lives.”