cv
Basics
| Name | Dafu Zhu |
| Label | Quantitative Researcher |
| dafuzhu@uchicago.edu | |
| Url | https://dafu-zhu.github.io |
Education
-
2025.09 - 2026.12 Master of Science
The University of Chicago
Financial Mathematics
- Options Pricing
- Statistical Inference
- Stochastic Calculus
- Computing for Finance in C++
-
2021.09 - 2025.06 Bachelor of Economics
Xiamen University
Economics
- Mathematical Statistics
- Time Series Analysis
- Numerical Analysis
- Stochastic Processes
- Machine Learning
Work
-
2025.10 - Present Chicago, IL
Quantitative Developer
7 Chord Inc.
University of Chicago Project Lab
- Develop Java shared library for FIX 4.4 bond feed ingestion processing 11,500 messages/sec, publishing to RabbitMQ with automated alerting and PostgreSQL logging
- Building full-depth order book pipeline in Docker extracting top-of-book quotes and spread analytics
-
2024.08 - 2024.11 Hangzhou, China
Quantitative Developer Intern
DolphinDB Inc.
- Developed Barra-CNE6 risk model with 33 factors covering 4,800+ equities using Newey-West HAC estimator
- Designed portfolio optimizer supporting 8 objectives and 10+ constraints, improving annualized return by 1.13%
-
2024.03 - 2024.07 Shenzhen, China
Quantitative Researcher Intern
Infinity Capital Management Co., Ltd.
- Devised multi-factor equity model with dynamic factor weighting, achieving IC 0.087 with ICIR 0.589
- Constructed risk parity strategy with Ledoit-Wolf covariance shrinkage, achieving Sharpe 1.34 and -7.68% max drawdown
-
2023.09 - 2024.02 Shanghai, China
Quantitative Analyst Intern
China Industrial Securities Co., Ltd.
- Validated jump-intensity anomaly on CSI300 using Lee-Mykland detection, improving Sharpe by 3.5x with regime filter
- Implemented 3-state Hidden Markov Model for macro regime classification, generating 2.15x cumulative return
Projects
- 2025.10 - 2025.12
End-to-end Trading System with Backtesting
- Built asynchronous pipeline with WebSocket streams enabling sub-100ms order execution
- SQLite cache reduced data latency 10x with volume-based slippage modeling
- 2025.11 - Present
Alpha Research Platform
- Integrated SEC EDGAR XBRL fundamentals and Alpaca daily ticks
- Architected alpha research API with 60+ vectorized operators and expression parser
- 2024.12 - Present
Genetic Programming Factor Mining System
- 13.9% of mined factors achieved 5%+ IC out-of-sample across 3,000+ A-share equities
- Extended with Maskable PPO agent achieving 8-11% IC and 1.0-1.4 ICIR
Skills
| Programming Languages | |
| Python | |
| Java | |
| SQL | |
| R | |
| MATLAB |
| Libraries & Infrastructure | |
| NumPy | |
| Polars | |
| scikit-learn | |
| PyTorch | |
| PostgreSQL | |
| MongoDB | |
| Linux | |
| Docker | |
| AWS | |
| Git |