CFEM celebrates 15th anniversary by hosting Future of Finance Conference

“While I had no doubts this would be a successful forum, I could never imagine the level of positive response. Comments from attendees surpassed any expectation that our panelists or our sponsor envisioned,” Victoria Averbukh, Director of CFEM, said.

The conference brought together senior academics, Wall Street practitioners, finance entrepreneurs, and some non-finance people to discuss the future of quant finance. There were 15 wide-ranging panel discussions and a keynote address delivered by retired US Navy Admiral Scott Sanders on “The Geopolitical Risk of Tomorrow.”

The sheer number and quality of speakers and panelists highlighted the leading role CFEM has come to occupy in its 15 years in Manhattan. Rebellion Research founder Alex Fleiss has been involved in various student projects for six years at CFEM. He has seen first-hand the quality and value of the program. “Working with students at Cornell these past six years has been some of the most rewarding time of my life. As the students learned in various projects, I felt I learned as well and my time with CFEM has been just so rewarding. I felt that the program deserved a conference to celebrate its awesomeness,” Fleiss said.

Cornell Financial Engineering faculty members Andreea Minca and Sasha Stoikov took part in the panel discussions as moderator and panelist and CFEM practitioner-lecturers Andrew Chin and Gordon Ritter also participated as a moderator and a panelist.

“This was an incredible conference and a testament to CFEM’s ability to connect students with practitioners from all levels of quant finance,” Averbukh said. Students at CFEM earn a Master of Engineering degree with a Financial Concentration, and the program’s proximity and access to the financial industry in Manhattan has been a great strength and selling point since its inception.

The program has a flexible curriculum that encourages the study of data science, optimization, analytics, and computing, in addition to a broad range of courses in finance. CFEM has a rich history of providing relevant and practical coursework in line with the demands of the financial industry.

Fleiss has seen just how valuable the program can be. “CFEM is a pillar of the quant community. An essential school for aspiring quants around the country who wish to make it to the elite ranks of Wall Street & Technology,” Fleiss said.

After the success of the 2022 Future of Finance Conference, Averbukh and Fleiss are thinking about the possibility of making this conference an annual event. Stay tuned for updates.