Anyone up for drinks in the Columbia area tomorrow? I'm giving a talk and we could go out afterwards. Risk SeminarColumbia University, 1255 Amsterdam Avenue, Room 903 SSW, 9th FloorOrganizers: Olympia Hadjiliadis, Gerardo Hernandez-del-Valle, Hongzhong ZhangWednesday, Nov 2 4:10 - 5:25 PMSpeaker: Aaron Brown, AQR Capital ManagementTitle: Revenge of the rocket scientistsAbstract:The modern field of quantitative financial risk management was developed between 1987 and 1992 by a group of practitioners who were known as "rocket scientists," and the ideas can be understood best by considering the history of this group and the problems members were trying to solve. There were three main subgroups of rocket scientists: frequentists, Bayesians and exploratory data analysts. These were not intellectual positions, these were theories used as business models and trading strategies. Constant betting taught the rocket scientist lessons that led their versions of these ideas to diverge considerably from academic treatments. The pressure of financial events in the five years after the market crash of October 19, 1987 caused a fusion of the three camps. To everyone?s surprise, this fusion proved far more effective than any previous attempts to manage risk, and this led to a fundamental restructuring of the statistical basis of market trading.

Will there anything like this but for London Wilmotters? I guess here we're more reserved and it might well be a very bad idea.

I've been to three of them myself, and I live in New York. All you have to do is start a thread and see what you can get.I'm thinking of coming over myself March 20-23, 2012 for the Risk Annual Summit. Maybe we can do it then if nothing can be arranged earlier.

QuoteOriginally posted by: DevonFangsWill there anything like this but for London Wilmotters? I guess here we're more reserved and it might well be a very bad idea.Not at all, there have been quite a few in the past. Sometimes they coincide with a visit from a transatlantic visitor, other times just when someone fancies a drink..... Set up a date and see who's interested in showing up.