KU Blockchain Institute students represent university at London Blockchain Week
Seven students from the University of Kansas recently represented the university at the London Blockchain Conference and Zebu Live, from Oct. 17-24. The conference and related sponsored events comprise the UK’s largest enterprise blockchain event, dubbed London Blockchain Week, that sets out to shape how blockchain, web3, and AI are used to resolve real-world problems and deliver results.
Jahnvi Maddila, Nischay Rawal, Caleb Hite, Alex Perez, Charlie Doherty, Emma Du, and Kyle Spragg represented KU as members of the KU Blockchain Institute (KUBI), a student-led technology initiative supported by KU’s Institute for Information Sciences (I2S). Beyond the main conference stages and presentations, the students made connections at side events hosted by CryptoMondays and Speedy Web Compiler (SWC), where they swapped ideas and shared projects. They also connected with various companies in the Web3 space such as Block, Bybit, Bitget, and VeChain, lining up future collaborations. Web3 is described as the next generation of the internet, which uses blockchain and decentralized technologies to give users more ownership and control of their data and online identities.
“These events were amazing experiences because they were more than just a peek at the future of web3, they were proof the space is maturing,” said Rawal, KUBI’s current vice president of engineering. “We learned about what’s working - and what isn’t - in the world of web3, sat in on thoughtful policy debates, and listened to panels by teams working on solving real world problems with blockchain technology.”
Beyond the London trip, KUBI’s semester-long cohort is coming to a wrap for the fall. Their 20 engineering and finance students are split into five teams that are now working to apply their semester of learning on blockchain topics through capstone projects, which will be presented at a final cohort ceremony on Nov. 24.
After the final capstone presentations, KUBI will switch back to conference mode with 16 students travelling to the University Blockchain Conference at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Dec. 5-6. There, they hope to expend their network and gain experience competing in the conference research competition and hackathon.
KUBI strives to make Lawrence the technology hub of the Midwest through interdisciplinary research, education, and development of distributed ledger technologies at KU. The mission of I2S is to sustain and grow national leadership in the creation, dissemination, and commercialization of new technologies in computer systems, communication systems, and radar systems.