Kick-Off MeetingTuesday, September 29, 2015

OUTLINE

Officer Board Introduction

About the Org

Events Planned Speakers + Career Opportunities

Becoming a Quant

Officer Board

Brian Zhou Co-President

James Kim Co-President

Contact us if interested in leadership position

ABOUT SMF

• Goals: Connect and educate students with quantitative backgrounds who are interested in quantitative financial applications, specifically those interested in either academia or a potential career.

• E-mail list: http://groups.google.com/group/uwsmf/• Copy of Presentation will be posted to the group after

• Events:• Speaker Events• Company Info Sessions• Admission Events (Grad. School)• Trading Competition (?)

• Contact me: Bqzhou@wisc.edu or nkim42@wisc.edu

Speaker Events

• Past• Professor Brown (Finance) – Momentum (tax-incentives)• Professor Zhang (Statistics) – Concurrent Declines of Stock

Returns

• Current Plans• Professor Linderoth (I.E) – Portfolio Optimization• Jonathan Welburn (PhD I.E, Co-Founder) – Eurozone Crisis• Professor Brown (?)

• Any recommendations?

Financial Careers (Undergrad)

• Sales & Trading• J.P. Morgan• Citigroup

• Prop. Trading + High Frequency Trading• Optiver• Akuna Capital• Belvedere Trading

• “Front Office” Positions (IB, AM, ER)

• Networking is KEY

• “Heard on the Street” – Book for Interviews (Personally have it)

Current Opportunities

• BuckyNet• JPM, M.S., G.S. etc.

• Goldman Sachs Information Session• Friday, October 2nd, 2:00 PM in Grainger 1100

• Akuna Capital (Union South, 9/30/15, 11:00 – 4:00)• Intern + Full-Time (Trader + Developer)

• BlackEdge Capital (Union South, 9/30/15, 11:00 – 4:00)• Intern

• Belvedare Trading• Intern + Full-Time• Join Google Group for info

• Be prepared for mental math tests for interview

Mathematical Finance (Grad. School)

Mathematical Finance is also known as

Quantitative Finance

Financial Engineering

Financial Mathematics

Computational Finance

HISTORY

Came into existence in the 70’s

Was not an actual field until 90’s

Today, academic programs train specifically for MF Used to be mostly PhDs in Math/Physics entering

Finance

Quants have significantly changed the financial landscape

Mathematical Finance

Field has been growing exponentially (Risk & Gov. Regulation) Growth in educational programs (Masters) Berkeley was able to place 95% of it’s 2015 MFE Master’s

class in full-time positions

WHAT DOES A QUANT DO?

• Use/make mathematical tools to model uncertainty in financial markets as well as price products such as options and derivatives

• Job Titles: Quantitative Analyst, Equity Derivatives Structurer, Model Validation, Portfolio Strategist, Credit and Portfolio Risk Manager

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE AQUANT?

Expertise in math, finance, computer science, and statistics

Excellent at analyzing and solving problems

Enjoy a fast-paced and high pressure environment

Quants come from many different backgrounds Not aimed at a typical M.B.A candidate

WHAT KIND OF TOOLS DO QUANTSUTILIZE?

Math Stochastic Calculus, Linear Algebra, Differential Equations (Partial),

Numerical Analysis

Stats Probability Theory, Statistical Inference

CS C++, OOP, Artificial Intelligence, Data-Mining

Operations Research Stochastic Processes, Simulation, Optimization

Finance & Econ Investment Theory, Asset Pricing Theory, Derivative

Securities, Fixed-Income, Econometrics

Types of Programs

Masters (New York)• Berkeley – Financial Engineering• Columbia – Financial Engineering + Op. Research• Carnegie Mellon – Computational Finance• Baruch – Financial Engineering• Cornell – Financial Engineering• Etc.PhD• Physics, Math, Engineering, CS

Resources

• https://www.quantnet.com/• https://tfetimes.com/rankings/• E-Mail James (nkim42@wisc.edu) -> He is applying for

these programs!• Reading List• Liar’s Poker• When Genius Failed• More Money Than God• How I Became a Quant• The Big Short• Nerds on Wall Street• Recommendations?

Conclusion

Events planned Speaker Events Company Info. Sessions Admission Events Trading Competition (TBD)

Please join our e-mail list: http://groups.google.com/group/uwsmf/ and feel free to come talk to me about any concerns, recommendations, advice.