Amanda Ott received her Bachelor’s in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago. Prior to the MSCF program, Amanda worked for three years at Quantitative Risk Management (QRM), a financial software and consulting firm in Chicago focused on balance sheet risk management. After graduating from the MSCF program, Amanda would like to work in a financial services firm doing quantitative research or financial modeling. In her spare time, Amanda enjoys playing soccer, tennis, golf, and music.

Jeevan Paramashivaiah grew up in Bangalore, India, where he obtained his BE degree in Computer Science at BMS College of Engineering. After graduation, he joined SAP Labs as a software engineer in its core Customer Relationship Management product development team. While at SAP, he also underwent a program in Intelligent Systems and Programming at the Indian Institute of Science. With two years of full time work experience and a strong passion for the financial markets, Jeevan joined the MSCF program to develop an advanced skill set in computational finance to complement his robust problem-solving and programming skills. Upon graduation, Jeevan plans to pursue a career in trading or research. In his spare time, he enjoys poker, basketball, skating, drumming and bungee jumping.

Swati Raghupathy obtained her B.Tech in Information Technology from National Institute of Technology Karnataka Surathkal, India in 2008. During her internships she was involved in determining the functionalities of hypothetical proteins through extensive gene pattern matching and sequence alignment techniques. Her inclination towards a career in finance was strengthened when she worked on a Data Mining project for classification of patterns which was used for Stock Time Series pattern matching to analyze market behavior. During her undergrad she completed a few certifications from the National Stock Exchange of India's Certificate in Financial Markets and also earned a Diploma in Finance. Upon completing the program, Swati hopes to apply her quantitative and programming skills combined with the knowledge she will have acquired during the program to pursue a challenging career in finance. Her hobbies include reading, movies and badminton.

Steve Resman was born in Kiev, Ukraine. At the age of six, he and his family immigrated to Baltimore, Maryland where he grew up. He attended the University of Maryland, College Park where he earned three degrees in Mathematics, Economics, and Finance. Upon graduation he took a job with Capital One as a business analyst. While there, he helped build both the subprime and super-prime line management programs. These programs made more money than Steve knew what to do with, so he decided to enroll in the MSCF program to pursue his dream of mastering the markets. He also added an MBA curriculum to his studies to add to his overall well-roundedness. Steve is also a CFA charterholder.

Chuh-Hun (Sean) Ryo received his Master's degree in Computer Science from University of Pennsylvania, and his Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Seoul National University in Korea. After graduation, Sean joined Samsung Electronics and worked as a C/C++ software engineer in a global team at R&D Center of Telecommunication, developing commercial software platforms for Samsung hand mobile sets. Sean also served as a consultant at Open Mate, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution and consulting company, performing statistical analysis on clients’ database and developing database-driven solutions to support client management’s decision making process on sales and marketing. While consulting with clients such as major banks, insurance companies, and credit card companies, Sean became interested in the world of finance. Driven by his strong interest in financial markets, Sean joined Carnegie Mellon's MSCF program to learn how to apply his quantitative and programming skills to development of profitable investment strategies. Post MSCF, Sean would like to pursue a career in fixed income/equity trading or derivatives pricing and analytics at an investment bank. In his spare time, Sean enjoys swimming, playing tennis, traveling, snowboarding and practicing kendo.

Ali Saad grew up in Lebanon, graduating with honors from the American University of Beirut, where he completed his Bachelor degree in Computer and Communication Engineering. Before joining the MSCF program, Ali was a Consultant at Murex, a leading financial software company where he was responsible of designing, developing and maintaining automated tests that simulate clients trading activities and making sure they are technically and financially validated with Murex front and back office platform. In the summer of 2006 Ali interned at the California Center for Innovative Transportation where he had a big contribution in designing and building the communication software for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system consisting of four planes. Ali is also a soccer player and he used to play for his university varsity soccer team as well as in the Lebanese national soccer league.

Sam Shapiro graduated in May 2008 from Yeshiva University with a BA in Mathematics. During his time at Yeshiva, he explored a broad range of interests while taking an active role in improving the school and student experience. He was elected to the student senate, where he worked on a joint committee with faculty and administration to resolve student life and curriculum issues. Later, he traveled to Honduras to aid rural education and upon his return he founded a social action movement which continues to this day. After his junior year he worked as a summer analyst at JPMorgan Chase developing a strong interest in quantitative finance. He further pursued that interest the following semester in an applied statistical physics course by analyzing Benoit Mandelbrot’s theory of a power law distribution in the financial markets. He joined the MSCF program to gain additional training in advanced financial mathematics, statistical modeling, and computer simulation. Upon completion of the MSCF program Sam looks forward to a career in quantitative trading, research or asset management.

Nidhi Sharma graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India in 2003. She joined ST Microelectronics where she spent time designing Analog Integrated Circuits for audio and automotive applications. Prior to joining CMU she worked as a Senior Design Engineer at Texas Instruments and delivered competitive data converter solutions for industrial applications. Her interest in financial markets brought her to pursue MSCF. She seeks to build an advanced skill set in finance that would complement her technical and quantitative strengths. Nidhi currently serves as one of the leaders of the MSCF Quantitative Finance Club. Upon graduation, she plans a career as a derivatives trader or strategist in a global investment bank. Her personal interests include hiking, listening to music and watching movies.