Aparna Gupta

Aparna Gupta is a Professor of Quantitative Finance at the Lally School of Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She previously co-founded and co-directed the NSF IUCRC Center for Research toward Advancing Financial Technologies (CRAFT) and served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Lally School. Her research focuses on financial decision support systems, risk management, and applying machine learning/mathematical modeling to financial engineering and renewable energy sectors. She has held a visiting researcher position at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and contributed to over 80 indexed publications across Computer Science, Decision Sciences, and Mathematics.

Education: PhD (2000) and MS (1997) in Operations Research from Stanford University; B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mathematics from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.

Research interests include blockchain technology applications, climate change impact analysis, renewable energy risk mitigation, and financial regulatory frameworks. Notable work includes developing frameworks for assessing risk culture in banks/insurance firms and creating algorithms for predicting financial performance from SEC filings. Her book Risk Management and Simulation remains a key reference in the field.

Awards include the 2018 Financial Management Association Best Paper Award and 2019 FRAP Conference Best Paper Award. She serves on the editorial boards of quantitative finance journals and the GARP FRM Advisory Board.

Her interdisciplinary projects involve collaborations with federal agencies (SEC), industry partners, and international academic networks. Current focus areas include AI-driven fraud detection, cross-border payment innovations, and systemic risk management in interconnected financial systems.