Student wins fake $12M in international stock contest

Magically turning $250,000 into $12 million made Juan Riveros the winner of the international stock competition for Latino/a college students sponsored by Eurobanco Commercial Bank in Venezuala.

The contest did not involve real money - all hypothetical investments were entered into a computer database and no profits actually were made.

Not only did he devise a way to make the most money, but he made $11.5 million more than the runner-up.

Riveros, a student in the financial engineering master's program and a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University, was one of the 2,500 students of Latino/a descent who participated in the international competition.

"It was a trading competition where you start with $250,000 and you have three months to trade, buy and sell different financial information and make a profit," Riveros said. "The person who has the highest returns wins."

JOHN KRAFT/Daily Engineering student Juan Riveros won an international contest for Latino/a students sponsored by the Eurobanco Commercial Bank in Venezuela.

Using a strategy developed with the help of Engineering Prof. Vadim Linetsky, managing director of the department of industrial and operations engineering, Riveros increased his initial endowment 50 times in three months.

The new master's program may have helped in his winnings, Riveros said, since he has learned to apply much of what he has learned to trading stock.

"I found this program appealing because I can apply the technical skills I learned in undergrad to systems engineering," Riveros said of the financial engineering program.

Engineering Prof. John Birge, chair of the department of industrial and operations engineering, said the program helps students in finance management.

"The program helps to prepare people to work in the quantitative analysis type of business ... in general, risk management," Birge said.

The master's program is new to the University. It began about a year ago and consists of about 20 students, Birge said.

"It's very interdisciplinary. It is combined with engineering, math, computer science, economics, statistics and finance in the business school," Birge said.

After completing his studies at the University, Riveros said he plans to return to Venezuela.

"I'm considering an academic position in Venezuela or a position in investment banks," Riveros said. "I'll probably work and teach part-time."

Regarding the program, Vadim emphasized the importance of computing skills. He agreed with Birge that the financial engineering program encompasses many other programs.

"It overlaps with essentially any department in Engineering," Vadim said.

For more information about the program, visit its Website at http://www.umich.edu/~fep.

02-24-98