Episode 103: Computational Economics, Statistical Arbitrage, and Adaptable Data Consolidation with Eric Daimler

Show Notes(02:15) Eric reflected on his early interest in computer science and his decision to study at Carnegie Mellon University in the early 90s.(05:40) Eric recalled his academic and overall college experience, emphasizing the importance of the people he was surrounded with.(08:22) Eric talked about his time working as a quant analyst early in his career, the moment he encountered the birth of the Mosaic browser, and his decision to join the tech industry.(13:01) Eric imparted wisdom learned from venture investing during the dot-com boom.(18:02) Eric talked about the next phase of his academic career - earning a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon and dropping out of a Ph.D. program at Stanford.(21:06) Eric discussed his academic research on Computational Economics for corporate malfeasance during his time as a Ph.D. student.(27:39) Eric shared different initiatives he worked on with Carnegie Mellon University - serving as the Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor of Software Engineering, launching CMU's Silicon Valley Campus, and founding CMU's Entrepreneurial Management program.(31:54) Eric described his journey in founding Hg Analytics, a hedge fund focused on statistical arbitrage, alongside other CMU's Computer Science PhDs.(37:36) Eric revisited his passion for AI and robotics, which eventually led to serving as a Presidential Innovation Fellow during the Obama Administration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.(42:54) Eric shared his perspective on the role of AI in geopolitics and highlighted the challenges with data integration.(47:29) Eric explained his company Conexus, which develops a technology spin-off from MIT's Mathematics department using a branch of math called Category Theory.(50:55) Eric went over a customer case study that uses Conexus's solution to guarantee the semantics of data integrity during data transformation.(54:20) Eric showed his enthusiasm for the concept of data relationships.(56:59) Eric provided a sneak peek of his forthcoming book, "The Coming Composability: The roadmap for using technology to solve society's biggest problems."(58:38) Closing segment.Eric's Contact InfoTwitterLinkedInConexus' ResourcesWebsite | ResourcesMentioned ContentPeopleKai-Fu LeeAndrew NgEric XingBook"ReCulturing: Design Your Company Culture to Connect with Strategy and Purpose for Lasting Success" (by Melissa Daimler)About the showDatacast features long-form, in-depth conversations with practitioners and researchers in the data community to walk through their professional journeys and unpack the lessons learned along the way. I invite guests coming from a wide range of career paths — from scientists and analysts to founders and investors — to analyze the case for using data in the real world and ext