KU Student Receives Leadership Award for Blockchain Research Initiative on International Stage
Each year, the University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) brings together partner universities, including the University of Kansas, to celebrate blockchain research and innovation. This year’s conference, UBRI Connect, was held in Zurich, Switzerland, and featured scholars, researchers, and thought leaders discussing blockchain initiatives, knowledge sharing, and inspiring future research. The event is supported and funded by Ripple, a company with a mission to increase access and equity through blockchain technology.
This year, Emma Nasseri, a senior majoring in computer science and visual arts, represented the KU Blockchain Institute (KUBI), alongside fellow student Micah Borghese, KUBI’s current president. At the conference, Nasseri was pleasantly surprised to learn that she had received the UBRI Impact Award for her leadership of the Kansas Blockchain Fellowship.
“I was so honored to receive Ripple’s UBRI Impact Award for the success of the Kansas Blockchain Fellowship. This achievement would not have been possible without our amazing community and leadership team: Micah Borghese, Jahvi Maddila, and Yash Prajapati,” Nasseri said. “I’m proud and grateful for our fellows, alumni mentors, support from KU Endowment and the Institute for Information Technology, and the support we’ve received from external partners like Pinata, Ripple, and a16z crypto.”
The Kansas Blockchain Fellowship (KBF), founded by KUBI students, is a seven-week scholarship program and talent incubator designed to prepare students in Kansas for careers in blockchain technology and “Web3” — the next iteration of the internet that uses decentralized technologies like blockchain to provide more control to users over their data and online experiences. The inaugural cohort of the KBF spent the summer on KU’s campus.
During the program, the 16 fellows took classes and were mentored by 12 KU alumni who are now working in the blockchain industry. Each student identified a concept or problem they were particularly passionate about, then developed a decentralized application (dApp) to address it. Some of the creative projects included a decentralized app for document verification, a carbon footprint tracker, and on-chain academic transcripts.
KUBI, a student-led technology initiative supported by KU Endowment and the university’s Institute for Information Technology (I2S), continues to support blockchain education and innovation at KU. “We are so grateful for Ripple’s support and the incredible success of our fellows this year,” Borghese said. “This recognition sets KU as an emerging leader in blockchain research and development.”
The work and accomplishments by KUBI are not lost on leadership at I2S, including Dr. Perry Alexander, the Institute’s Director and AT&T Foundation Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. “On behalf of all the faculty and staff at I2S, we are extremely proud of the work KUBI has done in association with UBRI,” says Alexander. “We congratulate Emma for this extraordinary and well-deserved Impact Award.”