People / Students / Class of 2026
Shan (Shawn) Zhong graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Mathematics with highest honors (Summa Cum Laude) due to his exceptional academic performance. During his undergraduate studies, in addition to studying a wide range of topics in economics and mathematics, he pursued coursework in machine learning, programming, and data science, which provided him with a solid foundation in analytics. He is proficient in multiple programming languages, including Python, C++, and R, as well as analytical tools such as SQL, Stata, Tableau, MATLAB, and Neo4j.
Professionally, he obtained hands-on experience in the financial sector as an investment assistant. At Huatai Securities, he worked with investment managers to compile customized asset allocation reports and conduct historical performance analysis using data from mutual funds and ETFs, and synthesized key takeaways from industry research to support client recommendations. He also supported the analytics team through data extraction, cleaning, and visualization by using SQL and Excel to enable well-informed portfolio choices. Earlier, at Founder Securities, Shan gained exposure to institutional investment research by assisting analysts in maintaining financial databases and building multi-factor valuation models that integrated discounted cash flow and multiple market-based factors, and authored industry trend reports, which were distributed to clients. In fall 2024, he joined a team-based consulting project to assess In-N-Out Burger's store location strategy throughout the Los Angeles region. Working in a culturally diverse team from China, Australia, India, and the U.S., they explored how various socioeconomic and geographic factors contribute to store placement decisions. Shan contributed to data analysis, and the team ultimately constructed several robust regression models incorporating these multifaceted insights. Outside the classroom, he is actively engaged in student organizations such as the Trojan Investing Society and Association for Computing Machinery, and has gained hands-on experience with projects that blend financial modeling, consulting, and programming.
Now, Shan is excited to join the MLDS program at Northwestern University to further advance his machine learning and data analytics skills. He looks forward to collaborating with fellow students on interdisciplinary practicum projects, with the ultimate goal of exploring the intersection of data science, finance, artificial intelligence, and business in greater depth. In his free time, Shan enjoys playing badminton, piano, ultimate frisbee, and other sports, as well as discovering interesting films and TV shows.
