Kazuhiro Shimbo, Ph.D. student

After working for a time in the financial sector, Kazuhiro Shimbo came to ORIE to earn a Ph.D. in financial engineering and launch a new career in academia. Four years later, he’s rethinking that plan. “I am becoming more attracted to applied fields,” he says. “In that case, going back to industry is one possibility.”

Shimbo’s research focuses on issues arising from the pricing of contingent claims: financial instruments, such as futures and options, whose payoffs are contingent on one or more specified outcomes. He has augmented this work by taking more than 30 courses. “It was not necessarily the contents or material but the instructors that made the courses helpful to me. In each course, there was a moment that excited me and opened my eyes. It was a great experience,” he says.

“In this field, I feel that Cornell ORIE is one of the very best in terms of quality of faculty members and reputation,” Shimbo adds. Would he recommend Cornell to a friend or relative who was thinking of pursuing a graduate degree? “Cornell is an excellent place to study, so I would definitely tell them to consider it,” Shimbo says, but, “I will not forget to mention that Cornell is a demanding place, and we have tough winters in Ithaca. They should be well prepared!”