Mystique and misperception surround what financial industry quantitative researchers (“quants”) do. For example, post financial crisis, quants who were involved in building quantitative models for structured products such as Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) were blamed for contributing to the crisis. Most recently, quants who work for hedge funds in algorithmic trading are being portrayed as the new ruling class on Wall Street. Dr. Jing Zhang, global head of Moody’s Analytics Research and Modeling Group, will share stories that shed light on the role quants play in our day-to-day lives. Taking a first-principles based approach, Dr. Zhang will discuss what Finance is really about and how it plays a central role in our lives.