Pre Doctoral Research Fellow

This position is a unique opportunity to work alongside financial experts in conducting original finance and economic research. The position involves responsibilities that serve as excellent preparation for Ph.D. programs in finance or economics, including data processing and analysis, model design, simulation techniques, literature reviews, and presentations. The research fellows will work closely with Dr. John Griffin (and his co-authors) on research projects in forensic finance, blockchain and cryptocurrency, structured finance, or healthcare. Dr. Griffin is seeking applicants who are dedicated to rigorous research and motivated to study fraud. Research fellows are welcome to request recommendation letters from the financial experts with whom they work.  

Dr. Griffin is a leading expert in forensic finance, the James A. Elkins Centennial Chair in Finance at The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, as well as CEO and president of Integra FEC. His expertise is in structured finance, credit ratings, international finance, and institutional investments with topics of papers including: the financial crisis, manipulation, cryptocurrencies, mortgage misreporting, credit ratings, insider trading, investment banking, corruption, trading behavior, and international finance. Dr. Griffin’s research has been extensively published and cited in top journals such as American Economic Review, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Review of Financial Studies and featured in over 600 media outlets including Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times.  

Integra is a forensic data analytics firm that seeks to identify, investigate, and analyze securities and financial fraud. Integra’s clients include federal and state enforcement agencies. Integra has a team of experts comprising of leading academics and professionals with deep experience in trading markets, cryptocurrencies, structured finance, and credit ratings.

This is a two-year position based in Austin, TX.

Main responsibilities include:

• Conducting research to develop and investigate hypotheses in forensic finance: topics may include cryptocurrencies, derivatives, or other complex financial instruments
• Data extraction and processing: writing scripts to retrieve and organize data
• Data analysis: analyzing large datasets to find insights and fraudulent patterns, by thoughtfully applying the appropriate tools and algorithms

The desired qualifications are as follows:

• Bachelor's degree in mathematics, economics, computer science, statistics, engineering, physics, or other quantitative field
• Demonstrated experience with Python and SQL, or R
• Attention to detail
• Intellectual curiosity and interest in fraud analysis
• Highest ethical standards
• Strong teamwork abilities
• Prior research experience, either for independent research or as research assistant
• Excellent grades
• Potential interest in pursuing a Ph.D. in Finance, Statistics, Economics, or other quantitative field in the future.