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Baking provides a creative outlet for WorldQuant University instructor Vincent Wu, who makes cookies, macaroons, and cupcakes at his home in rural Connecticut, United States. His kitchen is like an art studio, but also a laboratory for science.

“Baking requires both precision and creativity,” he says. “You must follow certain rules, but you also have freedom to make adjustments.”

Vincent has spent his life refining both parts of his brain. He brings this dual mindset to the classroom, where he encourages learners to combine existing knowledge with their own ideas to create new applications.

“My teaching philosophy is learning by doing,” he says. “By solving a problem, one has to conduct research and really think through different options.”

Vincent’s own learning journey started in Taipei, Taiwan, where he was born and raised. As a child, he gravitated toward art.

“I used to paint when I was in junior high school,” he says. “And I was pretty good at that.”

Vincent also excelled in core subjects like mathematics and English. During his final years of high school, he often studied until 9 p.m. at a local “cram school.” His efforts paid off, and he qualified for an economics program at National Taiwan University, the country’s top higher education institution.

After graduating in 1998, Vincent started his career in the financial industry. An expatriate assignment at Taiwan Central Bank brought him to New York in 2008, and while there he enrolled in a Master of Science in Statistics program at Baruch College.

“I fell in love with New York City,” he says. “It’s the Big Apple and a melting pot with people from different parts of the world.”

Marketing analytics jobs at Neustar MarketShare and McKinsey & Company kept Vincent in New York. Connecting with customers requires creativity, but he started with quantitative methods.

During one consulting project, he dug into the data and showed a cruise line how it could reach younger travelers by providing more experiences beyond casinos. Following his advice, the company redesigned its ships for activities like wine tasting and cooking classes.

“It made me proud to see the results of my analysis turned into action,” he says.

Vincent stayed in New York until 2018, when he moved a few hours away to Connecticut. Shortly afterward, he heard about WorldQuant University and joined the instructional team. Today he teaches Financial Econometrics and Financial Data in the Master of Science in Financial Engineering program.

Vincent praises WorldQuant University Founder Igor Tulchinsky for creating access to education with rigorous, accredited, global, free academic programs, delivered entirely online.

“In the United States, education is not cheap,” Vincent says. “It was very ambitious to provide not only free but also high-quality education for talented students who otherwise would not have the access to this kind of education.”

Watch on YouTube
• Faculty Spotlight: Vincent Wu (2:37)
• Learn by Doing (0:37)
• Free, High-Quality Education (0:40)
• WorldQuant University's Global Perspectives (0:56)