Dr. Naftali Cohen

Adjunct Professor

Columbia University

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Dr. Naftali Cohen is a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, earning his degree in 2013 from the Courant Institute of New York University (NYU). His dissertation focused on the interaction of atmospheric waves in the climatological system, with the goal of improving weather forecasting and enhancing climate change simulations. Before attending NYU, Dr. Cohen earned his M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry from the Hebrew University in Israel. His M.Sc. dissertation examined the effect of atmospheric dust on lightning formation in landfalling hurricanes.

After completing his Ph.D., Dr. Cohen joined Yale University as a researcher, where he used data mining methods and a hierarchy of numerical models to assess and track high-impact storms and other atmospheric perturbations in the climatological system. He later moved to the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, where he studied the influence of uncertainty in the climatological system in response to climate change.

Dr. Cohen then joined J.P. Morgan as a Vice President of AI Research, leading a team of machine learning and AI researchers in applying these technologies to the financial industry. He has published work on financial trading, decision-making, computer vision, and other topics. Currently, he works as a Senior Data Scientist at the hedge fund Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, using his expertise to build statistically robust and systemic systems for using alternative data in financial trading.

Dr. Cohen has an extensive academic background and publication list and holds several patents. Throughout his career, he has worked on various data sets and projects, building and managing teams of engineers and leading data initiatives across financial corporations, hedge funds, and universities. He excels at working closely with technical and non-technical stakeholders to develop and implement successful data strategies.

In addition to his professional experience, Dr. Cohen holds a lecturer position at the IEOR Department of Columbia University and an adjunct professorship position at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, where he teaches courses in operations research, optimization, and quantitative finance. His research interests include machine learning, artificial intelligence, quantitative finance, and climate science."