Stanford University Establishes a Center for Blockchain Research
Stanford University’s computer science department has established a center to promote the study of and develop best practices for this emergent technological field. The Center for Blockchain Research is a five-year research program that has been underwritten by a variety of cryptocurrency organizations, including the Ethereum Foundation, Protocol Labs, the Interchain Foundation, OmiseGO, DFINITY Stiftung, and PolyChain Capital. The new center will address blockchain’s practical, legal and societal challenges, and develop a curriculum to facilitate its use across a variety of fields and applications.
The center brings together faculty and students from engineering, law and economics to perform technical research supporting the “thriving” ecosystem of blockchain. In addition to research, they will be creating courses to help future students and working professionals use blockchain to develop financial instruments, protect intellectual property, and manage vital records, and more.
“Blockchains will become increasingly critical to doing business globally,” said Dan Boneh, the Rajeev Motwani Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford, and an expert on cryptography and computer security. “Stanford should be at the forefront of efforts to improve, apply and understand the many ripple effects of this technology.”
In addition to the Center for Blockchain Research, Stanford will hold its third Blockchain Conference January 30th – February 1st, 2019. This conference brings together researchers and practitioners working on cryptographic consensus systems such as blockchains. They are currently calling for papers with a submission close date of October 16th, 2018.
Stanford University is not the only university diving into the world of blockchain. San Francisco-based cryptocurrency startup Ripple has committed to donating $50 million to support blockchain and crypto education at 17 universities. Ripple will also contribute technical resources and expertise as part of the initiative, allowing universities to collaborate with Ripple on blockchain research and blockchain and crypto-based curriculum formation.
And last month, EOS creator Block.one donated $3 million to Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering to promote blockchain research. Block.one’s CEO Dan Larimer will act as an advisor to the university, lending his expertise to develop the curriculum and participate in seminars as a guest lecturer.
For those interested in learning more about blockchain and crypto, there are many opportunities and expect more in the future. The collaboration of universities and industry leaders is a win-win for all.
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