IIT Stuart Team Advances to Semi-Final Round of CFA Institute Research Challenge

IIT Stuart’s team was one of only 22 that advanced to the semi-final round of the CFA Institute Research Challenge Americas Regional competition in Atlanta, Georgia, from April 15-16.

Team members included M.S. Finance students Diana Olarnvoravuth, April Wang, Karen Wang, Yunbang Xu, Jialin Zhao, and team alternate Rohan Sathe. IIT Stuart team members were among the youngest competitors in the challenge, and advanced to regionals after finishing in first place in the local level final on February 6.

Michael Rybak, senior lecturer of finance, served as the team’s advisor. Rybak discussed the team’s performance at regionals, saying that they showed such “tremendous composure through two days of meetings, interviews, and competition, [that] CFA Institute wanted to know what made IIT Stuart so successful, given that we have reached the Americas Regional competition the last three of four years.” The team that bested IIT Stuart, Canisius College of New York, ultimately went on to become the world champions. Next year’s Americas Regional and World Finals will be held in Chicago, and Rybak is looking forward to another great competition.