The Salomon Center at New York University Stern School of Business was founded in 1972 as a vehicle for focusing high quality research attention on the global financial services industry and its principal institutions. Among its activities, the Center conducts new research on a variety of financial topics; conducts high profile conference for academics, practitioners and regulators; and distributes newsletters to the relevant community highlighting important research developments in specific areas covered by the Center. The Center has an excellent reputation outside the NYU community and benefits from an outstanding external academic board, including Myron Scholes (1997 Nobel Laureate in Economics and past AFA president), Sanford Grossman (1987 John Bates Clark Medal in Economics and past AFA president), and Robert Litzenberger (past AFA president). Research Initiatives Currently, the Center, under the direction of Matthew Richardson, is involved in five research initiatives, each directed by an NYU Stern professor: Asset Management directed by Martin J. Gruber (past Chairman of CREF Board and past AFA President) - focuses on examining and explaining the existence, management, and performance of pools of capital, concentrating on institutions such as pension funds, mutual funds, and hedge funds. Credit and Debt Markets directed by Edward I. Altman (past FMA President) -focuses on efficient functioning and dynamic nature of the world's credit and debt markets. The NASDAQ Derivatives Research Project directed by Stephen Figlewski (Founding Editor, Journal of Derivatives) - focuses on theoretical and applied research on derivative instruments and markets, risk management and financial engineering. Center for Financial Econometrics directed by Robert F. Engle (2003 Nobel Laureate in Economics) - focuses on the application of econometrics to the field of finance with special attention to the development of techniques for risk management, derivatives pricing, and market performance Financial Institutions directed by Alexander Ljungqvist-focuses not only on "traditional" banking questions, such as the regulation of commercial banks and the monetary transmission channels between the banking sector and the real economy, but also on the role and efficiency of investment banks and private equity funds in helping companies raise capital. Database Center The NYU Salomon Center's partnership with a number of important financial institutions, called Corporate Associates, has led to the formation of a Database Center. The Database Center allows academics to address questions using a variety of proprietary data sources. In addition, the Center processes particular data of interest to practitioners. For example, the Center maintains a monthly time-series of indices on defaulted bond and bank loan prices since the 1980s. With the recent development of the database facility, this type of offering is an expanding part of the Salomon Center. Using this data, the Center's various research programs are becoming online portals for news, academic research, and data processing in their particular areas of interest. NYU Salomon Center's Upcoming Conferences NYU Stern Five-Star Conference on Research in Finance, December 1, 2006 NYU Stern and the Financial Community Celebrate Ed Altman's 65th Birthday and 40 Years at Stern, November 9, 2006 Third Annual Credit Risk Conference: Recent Advances in Credit Risk Research, May 16-17, 2006 (sponsored by Moody's Corporation) NASDAQ Derivatives Research Project Symposium on Trading Correlation, April 21, 2006 Past Conferences NASDAQ Derivatives Research Project Symposium on Trading Volatility, February 24, 2006 Hedge Funds Active Investing Strategies: From Distressed to Private Equity, February 15, 2006 (co-sponsored by Droege & Comp., Inc) NASDAQ Derivatives Research Project Symposium on Credit Derivatives, January 27, 2006 NYU Stern Five-Star Conference on Research in Finance, December 2, 2005 The New York City Area Conference on Financial Intermediation November 18, 2005 (co-sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York) IXIS-NYU Banking Conference Series: HEDGE FUNDS, November 18, 2005 NYU-ISE Symposium on The Transformation of Options Trading: In Celebration of ISE's 5th Anniversary May 10, 2005 (in conjunction with IAFE) Research Conference for Corporate Associates, April 1, 2005 Website address: www.stern.nyu.edu/salomon