Quant-Finance Lab for industry ready talent development
Principal Investigator
Prof. Usha Mohan
Objective
- To establish a nationally recognised Quant Finance Lab at IIT Madras that develops industry-ready talent, advances practice-oriented research, and deepens academia-industry collaboration in quantitative finance, risk management, and financial engineering, To become a preferred national hub for employers seeking high-quality quant talent, and for students seeking rigorous, practice-linked training in modern finance, Industry-integrated teaching, with jointly designed curriculum, case material and project-based assessments that mirror current industry practices and regulatory contexts, and co-taught courses featuring senior practitioners alongside IIT Madras faculty, Talent development and fellowships, through competitive student fellowships supporting meritorious and economically disadvantaged students, alongside hackathons, coding challenges and structured student engagement programmes, Applied research, capstones and projects built around real problem statements, datasets and trading or risk scenarios, connecting the Lab to frontier initiatives in quantum computing, AI/ML and high-performance computing for finance, Summer internships and experiential learning through pan-India internships with clear pathways to full-time roles in banks, NBFCs, fintechs and capital market institutions, enabled by access to professional market data platforms
Description
- The Quant-Finance Lab is envisioned as a long-term institutional platform that outlives the initial CSR support period. It will function as a dedicated platform for training, research & industry collaboration in quantitative finance.
Impact
- A steady pipeline of industry-ready quant finance graduates from two or more batches each year, building on the current track record of strong placements, 8-10 co-taught courses annually and IDDD-linked offerings delivered with practitioner involvement, 20-25 student fellowships awarded, improving access to advanced quant training for diverse students, 500-600 open internships and 20-25 capstone projects completed with real industry problem statements, Research outputs in the form of working papers, applied models, datasets and prototypes directly linked to industry needs, A recognised academia-industry platform in quantitative finance, with IIT Madras positioned as a key national hub, A long-term institutional platform that outlives the initial support period, progressively generating revenue from executive education and professional certification, industry-sponsored training and consulting, and sponsored research and data partnerships