The Quant / Financial Engineering Podcast

Crypto SAZZ is an independent publication launched in April 2025 by Gurraj Sangha https://www.cryptosazz.com/about/

In this insightful episode, I sit down with Edson Bope, a master’s student from Zimbabwe studying Financial Engineering in Pennsylvania, who shares his journey navigating the competitive U.S. job market in search of quantitative finance roles. Edson opens up about the unique challenges international students face, from visa constraints to cultural differences in networking. He talks about his experience attending quant conferences, participating in hackathons, and leveraging LinkedIn cold outreach to build real connections with professionals at hedge funds, banks, and prop trading firms. We dive into: • 💬 How to turn an informational interview into a genuine relationship • 📊 The importance of technical prep, including case studies, coding tests, and probability brainteasers • 💼 Why many firms prefer candidates who can “hit the ground running” and how international students can bridge that expectation gap Edson also reflects on the mental resilience required during long job hunts and shares tips that worked: from making a networking spreadsheet to sending value-driven follow-ups. Whether you’re an international student or just someone looking to break into quant, this episode is packed with practical advice, real-life stories, and a reminder that persistence pays off—even across borders.

Zuber Seth and I discussed his firm (Orchid) out of his London office. The discussion starts with Zuber's background, his foray into the hedge fund world, barista coffee, a chance accouter, lots of networking, a Math degree, London, #Qatar, a prince, #seedfunding and ultimately the creation of this AI firm aimed at #HedgeFunds to create an Autonomous analyst in order to free their time in generating Alpha.

As the market is heading down, we bring in Aidan Oster who is top ranked amongst 500+ entrants in the 2025 United States Investing Championship to give us his views on the stock market. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidan-oster/

Professor Salas, a Lehigh University professor and tariff expert, dives into the notable impacts of the Trump tariffs on trade relations. He discusses the legal justifications surrounding recent tariff changes, focusing on China while addressing market reactions from Canada and Mexico. The conversation highlights the shifts from NAFTA to the USMCA, and the broader economic implications, including potential GDP effects and inflation concerns. Salas also explores how U.S. foreign policy decisions are reshaping alliances and affecting global trade dynamics.

Discussion with Professor Salas on the impending "Trump" Tariffs. Salas is the author of peer reviewed research on Tariffs. The discussion starts with the previous Trump Tariffs on China, then the impending Tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada are addressed in a lively discussion.

Professor zoro’s guests discussed the project they have been working on since 2024: Corporate Material Event Sequences with LLMs3 and associated sentiment scores (Historical and Real-Time with Forecasts). https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-z-08bb5b5a/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/lehigh-master-in-financial-engineering/ Lehigh MFEs shared their experience and views on LLMs and Deepseek with Professor Zoro who manages Lehigh MFE program: https://business.lehigh.edu/academics/graduate/masters-programs/ms-financial-engineering Fathmat Bakayoko is a MFE, working on extracting insights from SEC 8-K filings using language models and exploring crypto compliance. www.linkedin.com/in/fathmat-samira-bakayoko-30715024a." Nicholas Wagner is a MFE co-founded lab automation company Opentrons Labworks and works on blending quantitative finance with Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs). He sees these emerging technologies as catalysts for data-driven breakthroughs in capital markets. https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-wagner-b7b743229/ Hariom Tastat is an MFE and Experienced quant and leader with expertise in the areas of quantitative research, financial AI/machine learning and derivative pricing. Co-author of the book “Machine Learning and Data Science Blueprints for Finance”. Website: https://htatsat.com/

Professor Zoro speaks with the CEO of Safebooks AI about accounting and AI. https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-z-08bb5b5a/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/lehigh-master-in-financial-engineering/ Safebooks.ai is the first AI-powered financial data governance platform built for finance teams who demand accuracy, trust, and speed. It seamlessly integrates with all systems in the Office of the CFO such as ERPs, CRMs, billing systems, banks, AP systems, payroll, and more, unifying data from these sources into a centralized financial data warehouse. By ensuring 100% financial data coverage without sampling, Safebooks delivers real-time insights, automated controls and cross systems reconciliations, and fraud detection to help organizations eliminate errors, accelerate month end close, and stay audit ready. With seamless integration and complete visibility, Safebooks empowers finance teams to reduce manual workloads, ensure compliance, and make confident, data-driven decisions.

3 Lehigh MFEs shared their experience and views on LLMs and Deepseek with Professor Zoro who manages Lehigh MFE program: https://business.lehigh.edu/academics/graduate/masters-programs/ms-financial-engineering Fathmat Bakayoko is a MFE, working on extracting insights from SEC 8-K filings using language models and exploring crypto compliance. www.linkedin.com/in/fathmat-samira-bakayoko-30715024a." Nicholas Wagner co-founded lab automation company Opentrons Labworks and works on blending quantitative finance with Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Large Language Models (LLMs). He sees these emerging technologies as catalysts for data-driven breakthroughs in capital markets. Rish Kumar works on innovative projects in finance and blockchain analytics. He analyzes and labels swap transactions to enrich data, builds algorithms to classify blockchain accounts. He maintains and optimizes Python-based systems to track top publicly traded companies in Pennsylvania and creates dynamic data visualizations https://www.linkedin.com/in/riskumar/linkedin.com

Edris Loftpouri, a recent graduate from Lehigh University’s Master of Financial Engineering program, dives into his research on Bayesian Neural Networks (BNNs). He discusses their innovative applications for macroeconomic forecasting and catastrophe modeling. Edris highlights how BNNs tackle the challenges of limited data and complex relationships, showcasing their advantages over traditional models. He also emphasizes the growing importance of catastrophe bonds in managing risks linked to climate change and natural disasters, stressing the need for advanced predictive techniques.