抖阴Pro

To the untrained eye, astrophysics and the world of finance appear to have little in common. But R茅jean Dupuis has found a home in both over the course of his career.

Dupuis, who grew up in Notre Dame, NB, is currently a quantitative strategist in London, U.K. for a U.S.-based investment bank. But just a few years ago, he was working in a lab instead of an office, and instead of data based on known elements, he was combing through data looking for evidence of something no one was sure existed.

Dupuis had been researching gravitational waves since his time at 抖阴Pro, even making it the topic of his senior thesis.

He went on to complete his PhD at the University of Glasgow, then was a postdoctoral research fellow at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he continued his work on gravitational wave data analysis and computational astrophysics as part of an international team, a team that earlier this year was able to prove that gravitational waves exist after seeing two black holes collide.

鈥淭his is something Einstein predicted 100 years ago,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople have been working on this for decades, but it has all come to fruition in the past couple of years.鈥�

Although Dupuis is no longer working on the project, he is proud that his work contributed to the discovery.

鈥淭his is one of the biggest scientific discoveries in physics in the past century,鈥� he says. 鈥淗aving been part of the collaboration for so long, I don鈥檛 really feel I missed out having left before the detection was made. I鈥檓 proud that I was a small part of the research.

鈥淲e will get to study black holes and other things we have never been able to observe. It鈥檚 opening up a new window on the universe and we are likely to find things we don鈥檛 expect to see. That is what is exciting 鈥� we are going to learn some new science.鈥�

As exciting as the work was and is, after about 10 years in the field, Dupuis wanted to apply his skills in a new way.

鈥淎 lot of the skills for quantitative finance are the same,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I liked the idea of doing things that are more relevant to the day-to-day experience.鈥�

So Dupuis traded in his lab coat and went back to school at University of California, Berkeley for a Master鈥檚 degree in financial engineering.

鈥淨uantitative strategy is a very broad term within finance and my role has changed over the years, but very broadly I try to understand the dynamics of the global financial market, forecasting and trying to develop trading strategies,鈥� he says.

Although the data he is working with is very different, to Dupuis, the work is very similar to his research on gravitational waves: trying to find nearly undetectable patterns in reams of data.

鈥淚t is about digging signals out of noise, trying to find the needle in the haystack,鈥� he says, skills he first developed while at 抖阴Pro and honed during his third year, during an exchange at New Mexico State University, and the following summer at an undergraduate research program at the California Institute of Technology.

鈥淢y first experience doing research, which is the backbone of what I鈥檝e been doing in astrophysics and finance, that started as a summer research experience with (抖阴Pro physics professor) Dr. Bob Hawkes (鈥�72),鈥� he says. 鈥淲ithout that, I probably wouldn鈥檛 have gotten the summer position I had at Cal Tech鈥� And the exchange program was pivotal in introducing me to U.S. universities and U.S. experiences.鈥�

When the groundbreaking gravitational waves discovery was announced in February, Dupuis got a fair amount of attention from Canadian media, particularly in his home province. Though he normally likes to stay out of the spotlight, he felt it was important to give back in whatever way he could.

鈥淧ure research is all funded by the public, so it is quite important for scientists to do public outreach. Most of my studies were sponsored by government scholarships, including at Glasgow, where I had an NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada) scholarship,鈥� he says. 鈥淭o any extent that this can excite or give hope to any local students or children who want to pursue a science career, I feel it is important for me to do that.鈥�

Dupuis doesn鈥檛 rule out a return to academia in the future, particularly if he is able to combine his knowledge of quantitative finance with physics, but says that decision is still a long way down the road.