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 homely and peaceful life of Cluj-Napoca where I graduated with a MS in Telecommunications, 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 lifestyle of Indiana has proven to be an opportune buffer for the rapid pace normal to some big metropolis, 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 evolved from:

1. •distributed systems design,
   

2. •financial markets analysis systems,
   

3. •economics interactions in decentralized environments,
   

...to: ...

1. •computational economics, including neoclassical growth models
   

2. •the treatment of uncertainty in economic systems
   

3. •eliminating computational bottlenecks for economists who want to scale up the scope of their research
   

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.