I was born right after a gipsy kid in my hometown of Tarnaveni, Romania. That might have been of some influence on my path in life: gipsies are traditionally associated with luck and resourcefulness.

I have managed to prove both, on the main aspects of my life and career, at least so far.

 

Probably the most outstanding characteristic is my curiosity and my thirst for knowledge. They have led me to leave the cosy and peaceful life of Cluj-Napoca where I graduated with a Telecommunications Engineer MS degree, and to join the challenging and fast-paced life of the american academic environment.

 

Joining the grad school at Purdue turned out to be a very suitable choice, as the mid-western style of Indiana has proven to be a welcome buffer from the aggressiveness of a place like Chicago, where no doubt I would have been eaten alive during my first years in the United States

 

Where to ? Mostly I’m looking for collaborations and work with smart people, from which I can learn many interesting things. My interests span distributed systems design and implementation, economics interactions in decentralized environments, and financial analysis of markets. All these, and more I have found at the University of Chicago, where I am happily camped ever since receiving my PhD from Purdue.

 

What next? Grow my knowledge, improve my skills (both technical and social) and try to give back something useful to the society.