Curriculum Vitae

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Research profile

Interdisciplinary researcher with ~15 years of combined academic and industry experience bridging cognitive neuroscience, behavioral economics, artificial intelligence and finance.
2.5 years as a Postdoctoral & Fulbright Scholar at Caltech, designing behavioral and neuroscience experiments on decision-making under risk and uncertainty.
Built one of the first passive brain–computer interaction platforms to classify overconfidence and predict performance inside an experimentally induced asset-bubble market (3 peer-reviewed publications).
Current agenda focuses on human–AI interaction, cognitive digital twins, AI-assisted forecasting of financial bubble crashes, and preserving human agency in a world of algorithmic decision-making.

Research interests

Human–AI interaction via passive brain–computer interfaces (EEG, eye-tracking, biometrics)
Forecasting asset-bubble crashes using neural, physiological and behavioral data
Building cognitive digital twins for individual and collective decision-making
Maintaining agency in AI-mediated decisions (finance, consumer, politics)
Supernormal stimuli and the peak-shift effect on decisions in humans

Academic appointments

Lecturer (Associate Prof. equivalent), PhD

02/2025 – present

Bucharest University of Economic Studies — Bucharest Business School

Bucharest, Romania

Teaching: Behavioral Economics & AI; Artificial Intelligence & Digital Transformation; Economics of Information.
Research: 1) Boom-and-bust dynamics with AI agents and behavioral biases; 2) Member of the AI for Energy Finance project, building an Energy Risk Finance Meter.
Awarded ANIS national scholarship (5,000 EUR, Nov. 2025) for integrating AI/ML concepts into an undergraduate course: Business Decision-Making using ML.

Fulbright & Postdoctoral Research Scholar

04/2022 – 04/2025

California Institute of Technology (Caltech) — Camerer & Shimojo labs

Pasadena, CA, USA

Designed and executed behavioral and neuroscience experiments on decision-making under risk and uncertainty.
Supernormal stimuli & peak-shift in humans — psychophysics of preference intensification, with consumer, marketing, pricing and product-design implications.
Forecasting financial bubble crashes using attention, emotion and biometric readouts; work under preparation for Review of Financial Studies.
Fulbright project (6 months) — independently coordinated a research programme on mask-wearing reluctance during COVID-19 as social risk-taking, combining EEG and behavior.
Teaching Assistant for Brain, Mind and Society, course held by Colin F. Camerer.
Completed the Caltech Summer School in Data Science & AI (July 2022).

Teaching Assistant

10/2013 – 10/2017

Bucharest University of Economic Studies — Finance & Banking

Bucharest, Romania

Undergraduate: Financial Engineering; International Finance; Economics of Money, Banking & Financial Markets.
Graduate (CEFIN MSc): Neuroeconomics, Financial Econometrics (Matlab, EViews), Risk Management, Fixed Income.

Industry & Policy Experience

(Senior) Model Manager, Sustainable Finance — ESG Scores

05/2024 – present

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG)

Bucharest, Romania

End-to-end delivery of ESG-related sustainable-finance models.
Data-quality governance through variance checks on input/output pipelines.
Cross-functional coordination with engineering, content operations, marketing and sales.

Expert Financial Risk Engineer & Data Science / AI Project Manager

04/2018 – 09/2021

Finastra

Bucharest, Romania

Led the AI team: delivered NLP/ML models (Python, TensorFlow) that saved 300 man-hours/month.
Led the Quantitative Risk Finance team; main contact for RFR transition (SOFR, ESTR).
Consulting and C++ investigations on curve construction, valuation, market and credit risk.

Economist — Financial Stability Division

09/2015 – 04/2018

National Bank of Romania

Bucharest, Romania

Member, ECB Internal Working Group on structural macroprudential instruments.
Identified other systemically important banks (O-SII) and calibrated the O-SII buffer for Romania.
Supervised validation of internal credit and operational risk models for two largest Romanian banks (> 2 bn EUR in assets).
Co-authored sections of the Financial Stability Review on financial markets dynamics.

Financial Markets Consultant

08/2013 – 10/2015

Misys International Financial Systems

Bucharest, Romania

Front- and Middle-Office analytics consulting for major investment banks; VaR training delivery.
Customer Advocate for Summit V5.7 rollout at a top global investment bank; C++ pricing/risk work.

Education

PhD in Finance (Summa cum Laude)

10/2013 – 07/2018

Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Bucharest, Romania

Thesis: The Neuroeconomics of Financial Markets.
Designed Romania's first neurofinance experiment on the neural correlates of bubble formation, and Romania's first experimental dynamic-trading market.
Built an EEG + eye-tracking human–computer interaction platform for financial decision-making.

MSc in Finance & Banking (Erasmus: Université Paris Dauphine)

10/2011 – 05/2013

Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Bucharest & Paris

Major: Econometrics — Time-Series Analysis & Risk Management.
Thesis: Estimating Market Risk Using an Asymmetric GARCH Model and Extreme Value Theory.

BSc in Finance & Banking

10/2008 – 07/2011

Bucharest University of Economic Studies

Bucharest, Romania

Major: Financial Engineering. Thesis grade: 93%.

Professional Development & Training

34th Workshop for EEGLAB, University of California San Diego, November 2022.
Summer School in Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Caltech, July 2022.
Machine Learning & Artificial Neural Networks, Udemy, April 2020.
FRM Level 1 — Financial Risk Manager, GARP, May 2019.
Shanghai Summer School in Neuroeconomics, NYU Shanghai, July 2019.
Risk Management & Financial Supervision, Bank of England, October 2017.
Financial Risk Management, Luxembourg School of Finance, September 2016.
Frontiers in Neuroeconomics Summer School, Heidelberg University, April 2014.

Skills

Programming: Python (>7 yrs, incl. TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn); C++, Java (working-level); SQL.
Scientific / Stats: Matlab, R, SPSS, Stata, EViews, Gauss.
Neuro / Behavioral: PsychoPy, EEGLAB, eye-tracking pipelines, biometric data analysis, passive BCI design.
Experimental: Behavioral experiment design; fMRI/EEG/eye-tracking preprocessing; psychophysics.
Finance / Quant: Risk models (VaR, EVT, GARCH), curve construction, ESG methodology, RFR (SOFR/ESTR).
Project / Product: Agile, Jira, Salesforce; AI team & quant team leadership; stakeholder management.

Grants, Scholarships & Honors

ANIS Romania scholarship (5,000 EUR) — Integrating AI/ML in Teaching, Nov 2025.
Fulbright Scholar Award — Caltech, 2022 (6-month independently-run research project).
Caltech Postdoc in Decision Neuroscience Fellowship, 2022–2024 — Supernormal stimuli.
PhD awarded Summa cum Laude, 2018.
CAE — Cambridge Advanced English (2007); National French Olympics finalist (2007); County English Olympics — 1st place (2008).

Languages

Romanian (native)
English (bilingual, CAE)
French (advanced)
Spanish (beginner)