Lu Qin: Building an AI Chatbot

Hometown: Shanghai
Graduated: December 2022

“Duke’s seminars and workshops gave me many opportunities to connect with industry leaders and gain valuable insights .”

Lu Qin | Master of Engineering in Financial Technology

What was your best experience as a master’s student in Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering?

My best experience at Pratt is the various opportunities to make professional connections. For example, the resume review with the Duke Engineering Alumni Council helped me polish my resume and form a clear idea of my career plan. The Friday afternoon “Pratt Chat” events for graduate students offered great chances to communicate with my peers.

The seminars and workshops offered by my program gave me the opportunity to connect with fintech industry leaders and gain valuable insights from them.

What was your favorite course?

My favorite course was 512: Software Engineering for FinTech. This course focuses on the concepts and practices of large projects and large-scale systems in software development. One of the course projects was to develop a stock trading platform in Java. Through this project, I gained a solid command of programming and software engineering skills.

Moreover, I learned how to move from being an individual developer to working in a development team on big projects. The experiences I gained from this course helped me greatly in my internship and job hunting.

Where did you do your internship?

I did my summer internship with the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the FinTech and financial services infrastructure company. It provides most of the clearing and settlement services for securities transactions in the United States. During this internship, I participated in a project to build a conversational AI chatbot with natural language processing (NLP) techniques and machine learning models.

This chatbot could help bring automation in the process of addressing clients’ inquiries and resolving trade data discrepancies. The chatbot helps reduce manual work for DTCC agents, improve efficiency and give their clients a better experience.

What are your career aspirations?

My career aspirations are at the intersection of finance and technology. I’m interested in using cutting-edge technology and innovative ideas to transform traditional financial services. The skills and knowledge I got from the Duke FinTech Master of Engineering program will be good support for my career aspirations.

What advice would you give to students considering Duke Engineering?

My advice is to make good use of the many resources that Duke Engineering offers and figure out what you’re good at and what you’re interested in. It’s important to explore your career interest and find the industry you’re truly passionate about. 

The FinTech Master of Engineering is a degree program in Duke Engineering’s Institute for Enterprise Engineering. To explore all our education programs, visit ene.duke.edu »