I am currently building Variational. I was previously VP of Engineering at Genesis Trading after I founded and sold Qu Capital. Prior to Qu, I studied CS at Columbia University as an Egleston Scholar. My background includes experience at Google X (robotics), Goldman Sachs (strats), the Columbia University Robotics Group, the Columbia Computer Graphics Group, the Columbia Bionet Lab, and Wolfram Research.
Experience
Industry
- Founder & CEO | Variational (2021–)
Non-custodial, Arbitrum-based RFQ platform for bilateral derivatives - VP of Engineering | Genesis Trading (2019–2021)
OTC crypto trading desk with >$250B in volume - Founder | Qu Capital (2017–2019)
Acquired in 2019 by DCG - Software Engineer Intern | Google X (2017)
Robotics - Software Engineer | Fero Labs (2016–2017)
First employee - Quantitative Strategist Intern | Goldman Sachs (2016)
Investment Banking Division
Teaching
- Teaching Assistant | COMS 4160 Computer Graphics (Sp 2017)
Designed assignments and curriculum, held office hours, improved grading systems - Teaching Assistant | COMS 3157 Advanced Programming in C (Sp 2016, Fl 2016, Sp 2017)
Taught recitation, held office hours, improved grading systems
Research
Preprint
- Extending Winnowing for Code Similarity Detection
with Zach Schuermann, Columbia Univ. (2019–2020)
Summary: We work to extend past approaches to fingerprinting-based code similarity detection algorithms to incorporate information from git repository commits in an effort to contribute an open-source tool for use in computer science education. - Towards an Autonomous Drosophila Robotic Platform
with Yiyin Zhou, Amol Kapoor, Filipe Peres, et al., Columbia Bionet Lab (2016–2017)
Summary: We work to develop algorithms using deep reinforcement learning on novel open hardware autonomous robotic platforms to reproduce key observable behaviors of the fruit fly for use in the verification and development of discrete system models. - shux: A Language for Particle-Based Physics Simulation
with John Hui, Mert Ussakli, and Andy Xu, Columbia Univ. (2017)
Summary: We seek to design a language optimized for expressing, simulating, and rendering particle-based physics problems such as cloth, fluid, and soft body dynamics by means of useful abstractions and functional paradigms. - Spectral Analysis of Discrete Differential Operators for Geometry Patch Matching
with Keenan Crane and Alec Jacobson, Columbia Computer Graphics Group (2015–2016)
Summary: We work towards developing useful discrete differential operators such as the Laplacian and modified Dirichlet energy for patch matching of arbitrary geometry with applications to mesh resolution upsamping. - Functionals of Cellular Automaton Rules
with Carlos G. Martin, Wolfram Research (2015)
Abstract: We model the collection of possible neighborhood configurations in an elementary cellular automaton as a discrete manifold [...] We obtain a method for gradual rule modification that preserves the Dirichlet energy [...] - Visual and Motor Interfaces for Neurokernel
with Yiyin Zhou and Amol Kapoor, Columbia Bionet Lab (2015–2016)
Summary: We work to build an interface between a parallelized emulation of the vision system of the Drosophila melanogaster on multiple GPUs and real-time sensory inputs from and outputs to the environment, including signal preprocessing. - Classification of Unimodular Einstein Lie Groups Towards Resolving the Alekseevskii Conjecture
with Prof. Michael Jablonski, Univ. of Oklahoma (2013–2014)
Summary: We work towards a parallelized numerical algorithm to classify unimodular Einstein Lie groups with applications to resolving the long-standing generalized Alekseevskii conjecture. - Casimir Torque in Inhomogeneous Dielectric Plates
with Prof. Kimball Milton and William Long, Univ. of Oklahoma (2013)
Abstract: In this work, we consider a torque caused by the well known quantum mechanical Casimir effect arising from quantized field fluctuations between plates with inhomogeneous, sharply discontinuous, dielectric properties [...]
Projects & Open Source
- Ten Minute Physics (XPBD) Demos in Rust (2022–2023)
Experiments porting Matthias Müller's XPBD physics simulations to Rust/WebAssembly including soft bodies, cloth, fluids, and more. Works with modern browsers - Real-Time Position-Based Fluid Simulation (2021)
Experiments with Rust PBD fluid simulation targeting both native binary and WebAssembly. Works with modern browsers - Real-Time In-Browser Fluid Simulation with WebAssembly and WebGL2 (2021)
Experiments with Rust SPH simulation including a WebAssembly thread parallel solver rendering to an HTML canvas context. Works with modern browsers - Müller SPH in Rust (2021)
Experiment porting a fluid simulation to Rust. Concise, idiomatic implementation with added parallel solver - Real-Time Raytracing of Black Holes in Interactive VR (2017, 2020)
Awarded engineering project grant to develop a raytraced approximation of the visual phenomena of black holes in real-time virtual reality - RL Grasping | CS6731 Final Project (2019)
Deep deterministic policy gradients and hindsight experience replay seeded with demonstrations applied to grasping problems for FetchIt! at ICRA 2019 - Cellular Automata in LISP | CS3101 Final Project (2017)
Elegant implementation of cellular automata simulation in LISP. Supports elementary cellular automata and Conway's "Game of Life" - Spectral Energy Visualization (2016)
Experiments with FFT-based audio spectral energy visualization towards onset detection. Works with modern browsers - Incompressible SPH | CS4167 Final Project (2015)
Experiments with predictive-corrective integration methods applied to enforcing the incompressibility of SPH simulations - Quadcopter Research Platform (2015–2016)
Awarded engineering project grant to create extensible low-cost platform for autopilot control system research - Laminar Dynamics | Columbia Venture Competition (2015–2016)
Founded team to build autonomous drones for medical supply delivery in Africa. Columbia Venture Competition finalist - Pingr | Columbia Residential Incubator (2014–2015)
Tested location-based social network through product-market fit analysis with surveys. Developed MVP as part of selective entrepreneurship incubator - FFFT of Generated Functions | ELEN1201 Final Project (2014)
Function generation using variable inductor-capacitor circuits and frequency spectrum display using a fixed fast Fourier transform - ANNs for Robot Navigation (2011–2012)
Early independent project to train feedforward neural networks using genetic algorithms for collision avoidance - Experiments with Physically-based Animation (2007–2011)
Developed fully-featured rigid body physics engine. Particle-based fluid dynamics, cloth simulation, shadows, raytracing, and more - Long-Distance Control for UAVs (photos) (2005–2007)
Developed robotic directional antenna for communication with fixed-wing UAVs including smooth tracking algorithm - Real-Time Video for Robot Remote Control (photos) (2002–2004)
Developed a wheeled robot with servo mounted camera combining a PC and microcontroller to demonstrate remote movement with real-time video
Presentations
- The CEX to DEX Transition | Liquidity Day @ Token 2049, Singapore (2024)
Talk on the market structure shift from centralized to decentralized crypto derivatives trading - Google Cloud for Data Science | Columbia University (2017)
Curriculum covering virtual machine creation, containerization, and basic devops. Lecture given with 75+ attendees at Columbia's largest data hackathon - Avoiding Overfitting in Finance | Columbia University (2017)
Lecture given as part of a larger series I coordinated on modern quantitative finance. Brief talk notes covering common pitfalls in creating financial models - Introduction to Data Science | Columbia University (2017)
Basic curriculum covering visualization, regression, and clustering. Two workshops with 80+ attendees given at Columbia's largest hackathon - Software Engineering: Writing Good Code | Columbia University (2016)
Given as part of a larger series I coordinated on best practices in software engineering. Covers code style, static analysis, design patterns, and testing
Education
- Computer Science | Stanford University (2020–2021)
Part-time graduate coursework - BS, Computer Science | Columbia University (2014–2019)
Egleston Scholar (top <1% of class) - Mathematics | University of Oklahoma (2008–2014)
Began coursework at age 12
Selected Activities
- Columbia Engineering Entrepreneurship | Entrepreneur in Residence (2018–2021)
- Columbia Data Science Society | Executive Board Member (2015–2017)
- Columbia Application Development Initiative | Executive Board Member (2015–2017)
- Columbia Egleston Scholars Executive Board | Founder (2015–2017)
- Columbia Engineering Student Council | Representative (2015–2016)
Press
Selected Media
- "Omni unifies stocks, crypto, and RWA as Korea entry looms" | ChosunBiz (2026)
- "Peer-to-peer trading startup Variational raises $50 million for real-world perps" | CoinDesk (2026)
- "Variational raises $50 million Series A" | Fortune (2026)
- "Variational raises $10.3 million in seed funding" | The Block (2024)
- "Rising to the Perfect Pitch" | Columbia Engineering (2019)
- "Outstanding First-Years" | Columbia Engineering (2014)
Selected Honors
- Columbia Venture Competition Finalist | Laminar Dynamics (2016)
- Kakehashi Project Fellow | Columbia University, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe (2015)
- Egleston Scholar | Columbia University (2014)
- National Merit Scholar | National Merit Scholarship Corporation (2014)
- Presidential Scholar Nominee | U.S. Department of Education (2014)
- Siemens Competition Semifinalist | Siemens Foundation (2013)