which employed proprietary algorithms for securities trading. In 2018, Forbes estimated his net worth at $6.2 billion. He is also a senior research fellow at the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at Columbia University, and an adjunct professor of biomedical informatics at Columbia's medical school. Shaw is chief scientist of D. E. Shaw Research, which conducts interdisciplinary research in the field of computational biochemistry. According to the Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine's annual ranking for 2014, D. E. Shaw, who made $530 million in 2014, and James H. Simons of Renaissance Technologies who made $1.2 billion were among the top 25 earners in the hedge fund industry. They are both "quantitative strategists who founded firms that build algorithms for trading." Political and philanthropic donations Shaw has donated US$2.25 million to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and $1 million to Organizing for Action. Through the Shaw Family Endowment Fund, by 2014 he and his wife have donated $400,000 to the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, $400,000 to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and $800,000 to the Horace Mann School. From 2011 to 2017, the Fund annually donated $1 million to Yale University, Stanford University, Harvard University, Princeton University, and $500,000 to Columbia University and Brown University. The college donations represent over 60% of the Fund's philanthropy. Shaw was on the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Personal life Shaw is married to personal finance commentator and journalist Beth Kobliner. Shaw is Jewish and he and his wife are members of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York. They have three children, and live in New York City. In 2014, Shaw purchased several homes in Westchester County, New York and combined them into a mansion that received press attention. See also List of computer scientists Computational chemistry References External links D. E. Shaw Research D. E. Shaw & Co. official website Bio and photo at D. E. Shaw Research website New Architectures for a New Biology - a 2006 lecture by David E. Shaw for the Stanford University Computer Systems Colloquium The Deal Weekly News David E. Shaw at Columbia Systems Biology 1951 births 20th-century American Jews American biochemists American billionaires American chief executives American computer scientists American hedge fund managers American investors American money managers American philanthropists American stock traders Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Columbia University