Gerald Pambo-Awich '08

Kenyan student Gerald Pambo-Awich found his education at Bard rewarding because it gave him tools to offer society some of the benefits he feels he’s received. He was a member of the Trustee Leader Scholar (TLS) Habitat for Humanity project; served on the Bard student government’s Committee for Socially Responsible Investing; belonged to the College’s emergency medical services squad; and cochaired the Black Student Organization. While attending BGIA in New York City, he interned at Banyan Global, a consulting firm that works on projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and other multilateral donors. “Because of where I come from, I’m very interested in finding some ways to give back,” he says.

He also worked at investment firm Goldman Sachs’s market risk management division, where he is beginning a full-time position this summer. That’s where he got the idea for his Senior Project (in computer science) on artificial intelligence and finance. “It requires a lot of knowledge in both computer science and economics,” Pambo-Awich notes. “Everyone looks at outcomes and analyses, but my focus is making the system learn from all past decisions and statistical results—not only from the last time. A learning system can help us improve upon the human analysis of decisions and statistical data in finance.”

He is thoughtful about the differences between education at Alliance High School, the Kenyan boarding school he attended, and Bard: “A lot of learning in Kenya is by rote; you learn the facts and procedures, but do not get to ask how or why. Here, you’re taught to question and deconstruct what the teacher said. Once they teach you, how you piece it together is up to you.”