New York, NY, June 2, 2016

The IAQF Announces the Winners of the Fifth Annual IAQF Academic Affiliate Membership Student Competition 

The International Association for Quantitative Finance is pleased to announce the winners of the Fifth Annual Academic Affiliate Membership Student Competition. Twenty-seven teams representing seventeen academic programs submitted papers in response to this year’s competition problem, which involved the estimation of industry sensitivities to oil prices and the effectiveness of hedges of oil price risks.

The competition submissions went through a blind, multi-level selection process and were reviewed by a judging panel comprised of IAQF Board and Advisory Board Members. Four teams were selected as winners in a four-way tie, as the final scores were too close to call. Each of the winning teams will be awarded a share of an increased prize of $2000.00 and will be invited to present their solutions at an IAQF-sponsored event in New York.

The winners of the competition, in alphabetical order by academic program, are as follows:

Team Hedge Edge from Baruch College Masters in Financial Engineering Program. The team was led by student team captain Biya Wu. Team members included Qing (Charles) Huang, Zheng (David) Zhang, (Yueyi) Danielle Chen, Meng Wang, and ShengQuan Zhou. The team worked under the direction of Co-Director and Associate Professor Dan Stefanica.

Team Delinquant from the UC Berkeley, Haas School, Master of Financial Engineering Program. The team was led by student team captain Craig Dana. Team members included Subhamoy Basu, Garima Chandel, Mengdan Ma, Qiannan Zhang, and Yusu Zheng. The team worked under the direction of Executive Director and Assistant Dean Linda Kreitzman.

The Quantessentials from the UC Berkeley, Haas School, Master of Financial Engineering Program. The team was led by student team captain Brad Lookabaugh. Team members included Brodie Gay, Vidur Goel, Daron Golden, Yifang (Isabelle) Liu, and Nikhil Paranjape. The team worked under the direction of Executive Director and Assistant Dean Linda Kreitzman.

Team xQuark from the University of Chicago Masters in Financial Mathematics Program. The team was led by student team captain Xintong Li. Team members included: Xin Xing, Xiao Liu, and Chuxuan Zhang. The team worked under the direction of Associate Director Mark Hendricks.