Every physics major, whether a Bachelor's, Master's or PhD candidate, should give thoughtful consideration to employment prospects outside of an academic physics setting. There is exciting work available, in industry or government, that either directly involves physics problems or uses skills that are central to a physicist's training.

Scott McDermott, managing director at Goldman Sachs and an alumni of MIT's physics department (see biography below), will speak during IAP about his perceptions of what physics graduates can offer the financial services industry. Wall Street, hedge funds, investment management, mortgage finance, and consumer lending are all areas where physics training can be helpful in solving business problems.

During his talk, Scott will give some examples of where physicists have been successful in the financial services industry, and describe some of the roles that newly-hired physics students might play. More practically, Scott has been active in recruiting MIT students and physics students generally to his firm, and will give his opinions about what financial services recruiters are looking for in a candidate, and how physics students might prepare for their interviews.

Scott McDermott, Ph.D. Managing Director - GSAM, Global Investment Strategies Scott is a managing director in the Global Investment Strategies (GIS) group within Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). In this role, he focuses on strategic asset management issues that are of primary concern to GSAM's institutional clients, including: strategic asset allocation, principally for pension funds; asset/liability management; portfolio risk analysis; and risk budgeting and diversification.

Scott has authored or co-authored several research articles with other members of the GIS team.

Scott has more than 14 years of investment experience, having first joined the firm in 1991 as a research strategist in the firm's New York office. Later, Scott moved to the firm's London office. He returned to New York and joined GSAM in 2003. Scott became a managing director in 2005.

Prior to joining the firm, Scott worked as a staff scientist at MIT's Plasma Fusion Center , a visiting scientist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, and a visiting scientist at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata , India.

Scott received a BS in Physics from MIT, an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1991 and a PhD in Physics from MIT in 1985. Scott and his wife, Rachel, have one son and live in Manhattan.