Esteban Murillo

About Me

Hi! My name is Esteban Murillo. I’ve been passionate about math and statistics since I was young, which has led me to the fascinating realm of A.I. for Business. Through my coursework and research opportunities, I enjoy exploring how technology can streamline tasks and transform business functions. Outside of academics, I’m a huge fan of baseball, basketball, college football, college basketball, and tennis. I'm also an avid reader, with a keen interest in self-transformation books and historical fiction novels. As part of my journey to remain a well-rounded and grounded individual, I find joy in long-distance running and international travel.

What are some of your key professional/career interests?

My key professional career interests lie at the intersection of AI, business, and technology risk. I’m especially drawn to how organizations can innovate through digital transformation while staying compliant and secure. I’m also interested in how updated cybersecurity frameworks and SOC reporting can help companies manage third-party risk and build trust in their system.

What are some of your skills?

Technical: Data Analysis, Programming, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Prompt Engineering, Risk Management, Soft: Problem Solving, Event Planning, Team Management

What are some relevant classes/coursework you have taken?

BUAD 312 Business Statistics and Data Science, BUAD 280 Financial Accounting, BUAD 281 Managerial Accounting, ITP 449 Applications of Machine Learning, CSCI 104 Data Structures and Object-Oriented Design, BUAD 306 Business Finance, BUAD 313 Advanced Operations Management, CSCI 170 Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science, BUAD 307 Marketing Fundamentals, and The Complete SQL Bootcamp.

What are some of your projects or achievements?

-USC Leventhal School of Accounting – Investigative Researcher (May 2024–Present): Currently conducting two independent research projects under faculty guidance.

In the first, I co-developed a BERT model in Python to analyze over 10,000 patient comments from a healthcare database, using sentiment analysis, topic modeling, and feedback trend analysis to better understand patient experiences.

In the second, I’m examining the investment strategies of over 1,000 hedge fund and private investors, analyzing patterns in asset allocation, performance, and strategic behavior.

Separately, I serve as a Research Assistant on a project focused on Schedule 13D filings, which investors must submit when acquiring over 5% of a public company’s stock with intent to influence control. I manually extract stock transaction data from these filings, which lack consistent formatting and cannot be processed with code. These disclosures list trades made within the 60 days prior to filing. My role involves gathering this unstructured data to investigate whether late filings are used strategically—specifically, if investors delay filing to buy shares at lower prices before disclosure.

-USC Marshall School of Business Data Sciences and Operations Department -- Research Assistant:

Quantified the global impact of artificial intelligence on agricultural productivity. I analyzed datasets from 15 countries and reviewed 30 research papers to model potential increases in global crop yields due to AI adoption.

Here is the full paper that I gathered data for: https://foresight.gov.gr/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Blueprint_GREECES_AI_TRANSFORMATION.pdf

-Clare's Place Foundation Collaboration (BUAD 312 Course Project, Fall 2023):

As a data analyst, I led an analysis in R Studio on Giving Tuesday donation trends, comparing local vs. national patterns and evaluating the impact of a new policy for families of Cystic Fibrosis patients—predicting a 50% increase in program applicants.

-SMT Data Challenge – Research Paper & App Development:

Investigated whether specific baseball plays shift team momentum across different competition levels. Used Python to perform advanced statistical testing, create visualizations, uncover key trends through modeling, and co-developed a UI that clearly communicates our findings in visual form

(Please contact me about this one)