Purdue University · West Lafayette, IN

Tristan
Maqellara.

Taught myself to build — quant trading system, student hedge fund, AI startup. All from scratch.

See my work ↓
Tristan Maqellara
Tristan Maqellara · Purdue University
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Background

"No connections. No roadmap. Built it anyway."

I'm the first in my family to go to college. Nobody handed me a network, a mentor, or a playbook — so I built my own. A quant trading system that reads the market with machine learning, a student hedge fund at a school that didn't have one, and an AI startup targeting businesses that can't afford enterprise software. Every project on this page started with zero guidance and a lot of figuring it out.

Experience Where I've Worked
Mar 2025 – Present
West Lafayette, IN
Nexus Consulting Company
VP of Sales
  • Drove client acquisition and deal execution for a student-led consulting startup, building and managing the full outreach pipeline from prospecting to close
  • Partnered with consulting teams to align sales positioning with client needs, improving engagement quality across active accounts
Sep 2025 – Present
West Lafayette, IN
PurdueHedge
Co-founder & VP of External Affairs
  • Co-founded Purdue's first hedge fund–focused student organization from the ground up — built the founding structure, recruited members, and developed a full semester curriculum spanning fundamental, quantitative, and macro investment strategies
  • Secured and managed relationships with industry professionals from top asset managers and hedge funds, coordinating guest speaker series and mentorship opportunities
  • Launched Python workshops, portfolio simulations, and case competitions to bridge classroom theory with real market practice
Aug 2024 – Present
West Lafayette, IN
Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA)
Member
  • Competed in business case challenges and leadership development programs
  • Built cross-disciplinary network through national organization events and peer collaboration on real-world business problems
Oct 2025 – Present
West Lafayette, IN
First-Gen Business Club
Member
  • Engaged in career development programming — internship prep, professional navigation, and speaker events focused on first-generation student success in business
May 2023 – Jul 2024
Tinton Falls, NJ
Gargiulo's Restaurant
Busser
  • Executed high-volume service operations over 14 months, consistently maintaining standards under pressure
  • Demonstrated reliability, attention to detail, and team coordination across every shift
Projects What I've Built
01
Quant Finance

Regime Trader

A full quantitative trading system built from scratch using a 7-state Hidden Markov Model to classify live market conditions — bull, bear, crash, and volatile regimes. An 8-condition voting engine generates BUY / STAY OUT signals with a complete backtesting engine, risk management rules, and live portfolio dashboard.

PythonHMM / hmmlearn StreamlitPlotlyyfinance
02
AI Engineering

Personal AI Assistant

Custom AI assistant built on Claude's API and Model Context Protocol (MCP) — capable of autonomous tasks, outreach workflows, and external tool integrations. Built for real daily use, not a demo.

Claude APIMCP PythonTool UseAutomation
03
Startup

SMB AI Startup

Founding an AI solutions company targeting small businesses in Lafayette, IN — building tools to automate outreach, customer engagement, and operations for businesses priced out of enterprise software.

Claude APIB2B Lafayette, INAutomation
04
This Site

AI-Powered Portfolio

Built this portfolio end-to-end — Flask backend, Claude Haiku powering a live chat assistant that knows my full resume and can answer questions in real time. Deployed on Render.

FlaskClaude API HTML/CSS/JSRender
05
AI Tools

Ledger

Built an AI study assistant tailored specifically to MGMT 187 — course content, concepts, and structure baked in so it actually helps instead of just answering generically. Built for real use, not a submission.

Claude APIPython MGMT 187Purdue
Awards Honors
🏆
Wells Fargo Wealth Management Case Competition
Top 10 National Finalist · Sep – Oct 2025
Selected among top 10 teams nationally for excellence in financial strategy and client advisory solutions. Developed an investment proposal addressing client risk tolerance, liquidity needs, and long-term financial goals. Presented findings to Wells Fargo executives.
Education Background
Purdue University
B.S. Quantitative Business Economics
Concentration: Supply Chain · West Lafayette, IN
3.0
GPA / 4.0
May 2028
Python Claude API Machine Learning Hidden Markov Models Streamlit Plotly yfinance Quantitative Finance Backtesting Portfolio Management Sales & Outreach Flask HTML / CSS / JS Microsoft Excel Supply Chain

Let's Connect

Internships, collabs, or interesting problems — open to all of it.

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