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blockchain group@ northwestern

About

What the group studies, and how it runs

Blockchains sit across cryptography, distributed systems, and market design, and the group exists to connect the three and give students a place to work through the material together

Scope

The underlying question is an engineering one. How do machines that do not trust each other agree on a shared ledger, and what does it cost to make that agreement faster, cheaper, or private?

The group runs a weekly seminar, build sessions, a research reading group, and a speaker series

Sessions assume no prior background, and no part of the programming requires owning cryptocurrency

At a glance

Institution
Northwestern University
Location
Evanston, Illinois
Open to
All undergraduates and graduate students, any major
Cost
None, with no dues and no application
Contact
blockchaingroup@u.northwestern.edu

How we operate

Four standing commitments

Technical claims only

We do not assert that something works unless we can explain the mechanism

No investment advice

We do not promote tokens, run a fund, or tell anyone what to buy

Open membership

No application, no dues, no prerequisite, and no engineering requirement

Anchored in the mechanism

Programming starts from how these systems actually work rather than from the market built on top of them

Team

Officers

  • Jonathan Lee, President

    Jonathan Lee

    President

    Class of 2027, Computer Science and Mathematics

    Sets the meeting curriculum, the speaker slate, and the research agenda, and is interested in post-quantum cryptography and ZK-SNARKs

  • Jayden Huang, VP of Technology

    Jayden Huang

    VP of Technology

    Class of 2028, Computer Science

    Works on the technical side of the group, and is interested in blockchain infrastructure, decentralized systems, and where technology meets finance

  • Isaiah Hashimoto, Treasurer & VP of Finance

    Isaiah Hashimoto

    Treasurer & VP of Finance

    Class of 2028, Computer Science

    Runs the group's finances and sponsorships, and is interested in fintech, market design, and where decentralized systems fit into the wider financial world

  • Charles Kozel, Research Chair

    Charles Kozel

    Research Chair

    Graduate advisor

    Graduate student

    Advises the reading group and the project teams, and is interested in decentralized communication and social media

Faculty advisor

Professor Dongning Guo

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and of Computer Science by courtesy

Not sure who to contact? blockchaingroup@u.northwestern.edu reaches all four of us

Get involved

Meetings are open to all students

No application, no dues, and no prior background, with announcements and weekly topics going out in the Discord

Join the DiscordHow to get involved

Questions, speaking, and sponsorship go to blockchaingroup@u.northwestern.edu