NYU Launches the World's First Alternative Data Course Following the Publication of a Seminal White Paper by Two of Its Professors

NEW YORK, Oct. 21, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The M.S. in Mathematics in Finance program at the Courant Institute, New York University, directed by Professor Petter Kolm, is launching a new masters-level course on finance alternative data. It will prepare students for technical roles in the growing alternative data industry across the asset management ecosystem. The new class represents the first time an accredited institution offers a full university course on alternative data. The course will be available to students in the Courant Master of Science Program in Mathematics in Finance enrolled in the Fall 2020 semester and is to be taught by Gene Ekster throughout the second half of the Fall 2020 semester.

In conjunction with the new class, Professors Petter Kolm and Gene Ekster have published a new white paper (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3715828) on alternative data. Novel findings in the paper describe the relationship between the alternative data ecosystem, investment alpha potential, and the degree to which data is structured. The authors argue that the very fabric of alternative data, which is often unstructured, creates the many varieties of alpha opportunities unique to the alternative data ecosystem. Specifically, the paper associates a lack of structure with high data dimensionality, which in turn creates dynamic insights into the investment decision-making process. Their article identifies and addresses technical challenges, including entity recognition and data missingness, details two dataset valuation strategies, and demonstrates several useful analytical techniques on a real-world dataset. 

Dr. Petter Kolm is a Professor and the Director of the M.S. in Mathematics in Finance program at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University.  Prior to NYU, Dr. Kolm worked in the Quantitative Strategies Group at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. He co-authored the books Financial Modeling of the Equity Market: From CAPM to Cointegration (Wiley, 2006), Trends in Quantitative Finance (CFA Research Institute, 2006), Robust Portfolio Management and Optimization (Wiley, 2007), and Quantitative Equity Investing: Techniques and Strategies (Wiley, 2010). He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University, an M.Phil. in applied mathematics from the Royal Institute of Technology, and an M.S. in mathematics from ETH Zurich. Dr. Kolm is a member of the editorial boards of the International Journal of Portfolio Analysis and Management (IJPAM), Journal of Investment Strategies (JoIS), Journal of Portfolio Management (JPM), and Journal of Financial Data Science (JFDS). 

Gene Ekster is an adjunct professor at NYU, where he teaches a course on alternative-data in finance. He is also the CEO of AltDG, an alternative data software company. Previously, he managed the alternative data team at Point72 Asset Management and worked in alternative-data roles at Balyasny Asset Management, Lone Pine, 1010 Data, and Majestic Research. Gene is a board member of IDSO (a compliance organization), Eagle Alpha, Ottoquant, and Super Signal Capital. He holds a degree in Artificial Intelligence from U.C. Berkeley, an MBA from Cornell University, and is a CFA charter holder. 

Media contact:
Gene Ekster
[email protected]
510-967-7977

SOURCE New York University

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