Kerim Kochekov

Kerim Kochekov is a PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at HKUST (Sept 2022 - Aug 2026), advised by Prof. Amir Goharshady, researching parameterized algorithms for verification and compiler optimization, funded by the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme. He co-founded Baky Tylla, an education centre preparing students for the IOI and other competitive programming contests. He was a Visiting Researcher at the University of Oxford (Feb-Dec 2025) working on function merging at the IR level. Earlier roles include Backend Engineer/Algorithm Team at Getir (2023-2024), Quantitative Researcher at Morphy Capital (May-Aug 2022), and Data Engineer at innopo/Innopolis (2021). He represented Turkmenistan at IOI 2016, 2017 and 2018, winning a bronze medal in 2018.

Notes9

• Quant employment verification: CONFIRMED. Kochekov held a May-Aug 2022 Quantitative Researcher role at Morphy Capital, corroborated by both his own CV and his LinkedIn profile (past_roles); Morphy Capital is a self-described science/technology-driven quantitative algorithmic trading firm based in Istanbul (established 2021, founded by an ex-Citadel Securities quant), so the employer genuinely operates in quantitative finance. Identity is supported: the same CV, personal site, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and IOI stats page carry the identical name, HKUST PhD, Innopolis BSc and Turkmenistan IOI history. The role is an actual work position (not a student program, camp, insight day or scholarship).Aug 2022
• Identity confirmed across LinkedIn, personal site, GitHub, Google Scholar and IOI stats: name, HKUST PhD, Innopolis BSc and Turkmenistan IOI representation all align.2026
• Morphy Capital is an algorithmic trading firm based in Istanbul, established 2021; Kochekov's May-Aug 2022 role there as Quantitative Researcher was a quant finance role, not a student program. Reported work: dynamic feature-selection algorithm in Python and a BIST-30 CatBoost model that beat company baselines by 9%.Aug 2022
• Career timeline from CV: Getir backend engineer in the Algorithm Team (Feb 2023 - Jul 2024, courier-optimization clustering on OR-Tools, 20-30% courier-utilization gain), Oxford Visiting Researcher (Feb-Dec 2025, IR-level function merging), HKUST Teaching Assistant (Feb 2023 - present), and Data Engineer at innopo (2021).2026
• IOI record: represented Turkmenistan in 2016 (rank 187), 2017 (rank 221) and 2018 (bronze, rank 133, score 220/600).Sep 8, 2018
• Later IOI involvement as staff: IOI stats lists Turkmenistan roles including Deputy leader, Guest and Leader.2026
• Co-founded Baky Tylla education centre (Turkmenistan), preparing students for the IOI and other competitive programming contests; active since 2019 and publishing lecture content.2019
• Recognised as an inzva Mentorship Program 23-24 mentor alongside other Turkish competitive-programming figures.Oct 2023
• Presents at HKUST PG research-sharing events as an HKPFS awardee, per HKUST postgraduate Facebook/Instagram posts featuring him.2026