Chicago Quantitative Alliance

About Us

May 2023

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May Newsletter

Keep up to date on the latest CQA news.

CQA Updates:

The April CQA Las Vegas conference was a success and has us feeling like we're back to "normal". Vegas is certainly back to normal, with large crowds everywhere. We had good attendance and the program was very well received. If you would like to download the presentations from the CQA website, use the link below. The papers are only available for download to CQA members with active accounts. As usual, much of the value of attending CQA conferences comes from the discussion during the Q&A session following the presentations, along with the opportunity to network with colleagues during the social events. The sessions featured ChatGPT prominently and we are planning several presentations in September focused on the impact of AI on the investment management business. If you have any suggestions for speakers or topics in this (or any) area, please drop me a note with your recommendation.

The SQA has done an outstanding job in lining up an impressive slate of speakers for the June Trading Seminar. If you are interested in attending, please see details below. Attendance is free for CQA members. Please make sure to register, as we are required to provide a list of attendees to security in order for you to access the building.

We have decided to do the Academic Review Session virtually again this year. Hopefully we'll be back to a live event in Boston next year. Please mark your calendar for July 6th and join us on the call if you're available. We'll be providing everyone with a link to download the papers after the June 30 deadline. If you know anyone who might be interested in submitting a paper please send them the link below and encourage them to participate be submitting a paper for consideration.

Dan Cardell
CQA/SQA Trading Seminar
The Quant Trading Seminar will be held at the Blackrock offices in in New York City on Thursday, June 8th from 8:00 am until 1:30 pm.
Register Now
Join us for an engaging half-day conference on topics relating to trading, execution, market impact, intra-day strategies, and risk management. Click below to see the full line up of speakers and topics.
Download Agenda
CQA Challenge Winners
Congratulations to the 2023 winners of the annual CQA Challenge. We had participation from 27 schools this year and we would like to once again thank all of those CQA members who were involved coaching and mentoring the teams, and those members who served on the judges panel. Special thanks to Kai Petainen from the University of Michigan for his leadership and commitment to the program.
 
First Place - For the 2nd year in a row!
Rice University
Amro Elhag, Aramide Ajayi, Chris Lopez
Watch Presentation

Second Place
University of California San Diego
Yu Hu, Yuelin Wang, Yue Zhang, Yuanyuan Feng
Watch Presentation

Third Place
University of New Brunswick
Augustine Nawaane, Chukwunonso Amakor, Gaurav Bhardwaj
Watch Presentation
 
Please encourage your school to take part in the competition. Information is available by reaching out to Kai at challenge@cqa.org or using this link.
Applied Finance with R
The fifteenth annual R/Finance conference for applied finance using R will take place May 19-20 at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Chicago, IL. The conference provides a platform for some of the brightest minds in quantitative finance to come together and discuss R, Python, Julia, portfolio construction, statistics, and more.
 
The event is hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago and CQA member Dale Rosenthal, who can be contacted via email for any event-related queries.

Click here for more information.
Spring Conference Presentations
Click below to download.
CQA Academic Competition
Call for Submissions
The CQA Annual Academic Competition will be held at the Chicago conference on Thursday, September 21st. PLEASE send this link to any colleagues you feel might have research that is applicable.

Competitive papers are invited from all non-tenured faculty and students who wish to apply. Preference will be given to those papers which have direct applicability to investment management in one or more of the following areas: Security Valuation/Pricing, Factor Models, Strategic or Tactical Asset Allocation, Risk Budgeting, Optimizing the Allocation of Risk Capital, Multi-period Portfolio Problems, and Performance Attribution.

Click here for more information and submission requirements.

European Finance Association
Amsterdam, Netherlands - August 16-18
The EFA will hold their annual meeting in Amsterdam this summer. In past years the CQA and NASDAQ have co-sponsored the Doctoral Colloquium at the EFA, where the winner was offered a speaking slot at the September CQA meeting. Going forward we have decided to open up the "CQA Prize" to any speaker at the conference. Several CQA members attend the event each year and we encourage you to check it out. With only 700 or so participants, it is much smaller than the ASSA meetings in the U.S., and the host cities are known for their excellent hospitality.

EFA 2023 Highlights:

To celebrate the 50th Annual Meeting, there will be two special events:

  1. Nobel Laureates Panel: Three Nobel laureates will be present at the EFA to discuss the next 50 years of research in financial economics.  
  2. Finance+Humor Program: This program features two rising-star stand-up comedians from California who both have strong academic backgrounds. There are two activities:
    1. “Using Humor To Communicate Finance Ideas” workshop (Wednesday, 4:30-6:15)
    2. “Finance Meets Comedy: A talk show" (Saturday, 1:30-3:30)
Keynote Speaker

The Editor of the Journal of Finance, Professor Antoinette Schoar (MIT),  will give the keynote speech on Friday afternoon.

Networking Events

Participants can catch up with one another and broaden their network during the social events in the evening.

  • On Wednesday, EFA 2023 opens with a Welcome Reception at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
  • On Thursday, there is a Get Together reception at the local modern-art museum (Stedelijk), where you will also have private access to a new  exhibition: MODERN — Van GoghRietveldLéger, and others.
  • On Friday, there is a Conference Dinner at the iconic Muziekgebouw.
Register Now!
Gifts in Memory of Kent Clark
Chicago Booth's Initiative on Global Markets will be renamed the Kent A. Clark Center for Global Markets in honor of the late Kent Clark, a Chicago Booth alumnus from the class of '90. The renaming comes after Clark's friends and colleagues sought a way to pay tribute to his memory, following his untimely death. The generous donation made by the school's community of alumni and friends will allow the center to continue Booth's legacy as a thought leader in the finance industry and global markets.
Read more
Recommended Reads
"Make America Healthy Again - Falling Life Expectancy Is Alarming"
This article highlights the alarming trend of falling life expectancy in the United States and calls for a renewed focus on public health initiatives to address the root causes of this trend.
Read
"How to Build Your Own Custom ChatGPT with Custom Knowledge Base"
A guide on how to build a custom ChatGPT with a custom knowledge base for specific use cases.
Read
"Deconstructing ESG Scores: How to Invest with Your Own Criteria?"
Discover how deconstructing ESG scores into their granular components can lead to more targeted and effective investment strategies that improve ESG category scores while minimizing financial performance impacts.
Read
"Someone Asked an Autonomous AI to 'Destroy Humanity': This Is What Happened"
ChaosGPT has been prompted to "establish global dominance" and "attain immortality."
Read
Upcoming Events
Academic Review Session
Virtual Event - July 6
Once again this year the Academic Review Session will be held virtually. The Zoom link will be shared with all CQA members. Please join us if you are available. The papers will be available for download in the fist week of July. The top 3 papers selected will present in September at the Academic Competition.
CQA Fall 2023 Conference
Chicago - September 20-21
The conference will be held in the large conference center room on the 5th floor of the Gleacher Center in Downtown Chicago. Please note that due to space availability issues, the event is one week later than our usual September date.
Inquire-Europe Autumn Seminar
Bergisch Gladbach, Germany - September 24-26
VISIT CQA.ORG
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Chicago Quantitative Alliance

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