Current Finance PhD Students
Md Nurul Islam
Md Nurul Islam is a third-year Finance PhD student from Bogura, Bangladesh. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in finance from the University of Dhaka. Later, he started a career in banking by joining Eastern Bank PLC, a leading private commercial bank in Bangladesh, where he worked in various capacities, including asset-liability management, fixed-income securities portfolio management, fund-transfer pricing, and money market dealing. The bank recognized his exceptional contributions with prestigious awards, including the esteemed Outstanding Performer award for two consecutive years. He advanced his professional credentials with a banking diploma (JAIBB) from the Institute of Bankers Bangladesh and passed the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) level II exam.
His academic journey continued with an MBA (Research Concentration) from Eastern Illinois University, where he received several notable awards, including the International Education Award, Booth Library Awards for Excellence in Student Research and Creativity, and Graduate Alumni Board Outstanding Research Award for academic excellence. His research interests include insider trading, political finance and ethics, banking, and corporate governance.
Islam's research has earned invitations to present at numerous conferences, including the Southern Finance Association, Southwestern Finance Association, MBAA International Conference, USA Research in International Business and Finance Conference, and Mississippi-Memphis-MSU-Alabama (MMMA) Finance Conference. He was selected as the 2023 MSU College of Business Graduate Research Ambassador, and his research was showcased through a professional video at the MSU annual Research Awards. He received 2nd Place in the Oral Presentation for the Fall 2023 Graduate Student Research Symposium.
Islam has been the instructor of record for two Financial Management courses, with class sizes ranging from 60 to 90 students, and is teaching International Financial Management in the fall semester of 2024. Since 2022, he has been working as a TA for TVA Investment Challenge, a program in which MSU students manage real stock investment portfolios. He collaborates closely with the students in this capacity, actively participating in portfolio management activities.