UD statistics alumni Bowei Dong succeeds as secondary market analyst

After earning an undergraduate degree in economics from Xuzhou University of Technology, Bowei Dong wanted to pursue a career in finance. To prepare for the industry, he saw a path through graduate school. Bowei wanted to study quantitative methods to compliment his economics background. Statistics was the perfect discipline and the University of Delaware M.S in Statistics was the right program. 

“Statistics is a traditional, yet innovative field with a robust approach in both natural and social research,” underscored Dong. “Students have more options based on the interests whether it’s the financial, biological, environmental or another industry.”

As part of the master’s degree, Dong took part in the Department of Applied Economics and Statistics vaunted internship program, working as a marketing analytics consultant at JPMorgan Chase.

After graduating in May 2020, the UD alumnus landed a position with Centennial Bank. As a secondary market analyst, Bowei uses Tableau, an interactive data software, to visualize regional data for home lending. He’s learned mortgage-backed securities (MBS), experienced different data warehouse tools and trades MBS with government sponsored enterprises and financial corporations. 

“UD has a strong reputation in academia,” said Dong. “It also has mild weather, convenient transportation and a quiet ambience and lifestyle. Delaware is a diverse place.”

Bowei studied under UD faculty Jing Qiu, Cencheng Shen. Tom Ilvento, Wei Qian and Shanshan Ding.

“My professors were always there to help. I am really into computational courses such as mathematical statistics and multivariate methods,” said Dong. 

In Multivariate Methods (STAT617), Bowei collected wildland data on the burning of forests in Portugal. He analyzed different factors, such as humidity in the air and wind speed in the given area.

“We sifted significant variables, analyzed interactions with them and gave reasonable forecasts based on the model. The project made me realize how powerful statistics is.

Bowei suggests that future statisticians focus on SAS/SQL/R/Python programming skills and learn additional tools like Tableau and pivot tables.

“Be open to opportunities, be open to learn new technologies and be open to different business cultures."