Lin William Cong is the Special-Term Professor of Economics at International School of Finance, Fudan University, and the Rudd Family Professor of Management, Full Professor of Finance, and founding director of the FinTech Initiative at Cornell University.

Professor Cong's research spans financial economics, information economics, fintech, digital economy, and entrepreneurship. He and his coauthors pioneered the introduction of goal-oriented search and interpretable AI for finance, laid the foundations of tokenomics (covering categorization of tokens, cryptocurrency pricing, central bank digital currencies/payment systems, and optimal token monetary policy design), analyzed centralization issues and dynamic incentives in blockchains and DeFi, and developed data analytics for detecting market manipulation and better fintech regulation, among others.

Professor Cong has won numerous best paper prizes and research grants and was invited to deliver keynote speeches at numerous international conferences and world-renowned institutions. Cong advises industrial leaders in fintech and quantitative investment, as well as various government and regulatory agencies.

Professor Cong earned his PhD in Finance and MS in Statistics from Stanford University, and a Master of Arts in Physics jointly with a bachelor's in Math and Physics from Harvard University.

(Updated by November 2024)