What I did know at the age of 19 is that I had excelled in high school in math and science and at baseball outside of the classroom.

FORBES: America's Existential Peril: 29 Years Old, In Debt, and Disheartened

"That's when I realized how rigorous our math training at IIT had been, " he says.

FORBES: Boot camp for engineers

When I profiled Joseph last September, he was a recovering math doctoral student who had hooked up with some floor traders to form a trading firm.

FORBES: How To Be a Black Box Pro