Scholars Opportunity Fund
Student competition · November 4–6, 2026
SOF Microcap Signal Competition
A hybrid case competition for student teams of 2–3, run on SOF Scholars. Registration is free and closes November 3.
Register your team →Est. 2025
Systematic strategies in public equities.
A student-run fund that builds systematic strategies in U.S. stocks, led by Dr. Jonathan Brogaard.
Our approach
Several strategies, one shared process.
Each strategy targets one repeatable inefficiency in stock prices, often in smaller companies.
Read the full approach →Investment process
From idea to live trading
Every strategy goes through the same steps before it trades.
01 / 04
01
Idea and research
A hypothesis about why some stocks are mispriced. Ideas come from academic research, market data and corporate events like mergers, spin-offs and index changes.
02
Build and backtest
Analysts build the strategy and test it on years of historical data, including trading costs.
03
Independent review
Someone who didn't build the strategy tries to break it. If the evidence holds up, the investment committee decides whether it moves on to trading.
04
Paper and live trading
Before a strategy trades, we write down the results that would count as a pass or a fail. Approved strategies trade on paper first, then with capital, under fund-wide risk limits.
Dr. Jonathan Brogaard
Chief Investment OfficerLeadership
Led by Dr. Jonathan Brogaard
Associate Dean of Research and Kendall D. Garff Chaired Professor of Finance at the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business. Published in the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies. Member of FINRA's Market Regulation Committee. Founded the University of Utah's Institute for Advanced Investment Management (IAIM) in 2023.
JF · JFE · RFS
PublishedFINRA
Market Regulation Committee2023
Founded IAIMStudent analyst program
Run by student analysts
Students from any university do the research, testing and monitoring.