Erik Kole is an assistant professor in financial econometrics at the Econometric Institute of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research interests include asset pricing, risk management and financial econometrics, with a focus on crises and crashes in financial markets. He has published his research in international academic journals, like the Journal of Banking and Finance and presents his research regularly at international conferences of the European Finance Association, Econometric Society and the Society for Financial Econometrics. Professor Kole teaches in the Quantitative Finance program of the MSc Econometrics and Management Science. He is programme coordinator of the Dutch and International bachelors in Econometrics and Operations Research. Professor Kole obtained his PhD in 2006 from the Rotterdam School of Managament. His dissertation was awarded the ERIM Dissertation Award and the Nokia EBF Phd Award. In 2008 he received a VENI grant from the Netherlands Scientific Organisation for his research on Abrupt Events in Financial Markets. This grant funded his position for three years.