This episode we are talking to Chris Bothur and Hans Kassier of BASILISK, an esports organization that uniquely combines science and gaming. They encourage self-improvement and inclusivity, creating a community of STEM enthusiasts and the STEM-curious. We chat about how they use data science and performance psychology to discover and train players and creators, and as always, we ask our guests for their advice for aspiring esports professionals and high school students.

Learn more about BASILISK: https://basilisk.gg/

Bios:

Prior to BASILISK, Chris had a career in international finance spanning four continents. Post-MBA, he invested across asset classes for the family office of renowned economist Dr. Henry Kaufman and served as their Entrepreneur in Residence, launching fintech ventures. Chris's love for gaming and tech started early, as he taught C++ and organized covert StarCraft LAN parties in high school. During his undergrad, he studied and worked in China while hustling BroodWar games at his local wangba.

Hans is a talented data scientist and developer. During his undergrad at Yale, he researched granular avalanching using high-performance computing (HPC) and swears it was ‘cooler than it sounds.’ In addition to working with Chris at Kaufman, Hans was a quant developer at Bloomberg, where he built data pipelines and advised some of the world's largest investment companies. To unwind, Hans enjoys reading broadly and watching Factorio and Cities: Skylines videos.