Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets

For two decades, CISDM has been in the forefront of research, education, and pragmatic applications involving derivatives, alternative investments, and asset and risk management.  These areas have been the fastest growing areas of finance during this period and CISDM has contributed to this growth.  

Our ongoing research appears in refereed academic journals, and we are home to The Journal of Alternative Investments, the leading academic-practitioner journal in the area of alternative investments. We host our own research conferences and participate in national and international research gatherings. And we actively involve PhD and MBA students, preparing them for careers in industry and academia.

We offer financial practitioners and academics paid subscription access to our Morningstar CISDM Hedge Fund Database, which tracks more than 7,000 hedge funds, commodity trading advisors, and funds of funds.  Each month, we highlight the performance of the managers that report to this database by releasing CISDM Hedge Fund and CTA Indices. The historical performances of these indices are available to the public free of charge.

Finally, as co-founder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA)—the leading professional accreditor of alternative investment professionals—CISDM supports standards and continuing education for practitioners in this increasingly impactful profession.

Hossein B. Kazemi
Michael and Cheryl Philipp Endowed Professor