Join
How to join
Getting started
Three steps
- Required
Join the Discord
Announcements, weekly topics, and resources
- Drop in
Come to a meeting
Meetings are open, with no application and no dues
- Optional
Pick a track
A workshop track, a research project, or helping run the group
What to expect
What a meeting looks like
- One person presents a topic for roughly half an hour, then it opens into discussion
- Questions at any level are expected, and the meeting assumes no prior background
- You will not be asked to introduce yourself to the room, invest in anything, or commit to a project
- Bring a laptop to build sessions, and nothing at all to anything else
Where and when
- Day
- Mondays
- Time
- 6 PM
- Location
- Annenberg Hall, Room G15
- Cadence
- Weekly during the quarter
Rooms and times change between quarters, and the Discord always has the current details
Open roles
Where help is useful
Workshop leads
Run a build session on a topic you already know
Research contributors
Join a project team or the reading group, with no prior experience required
Events and outreach
Booking speakers, running the calendar, and outreach, with no technical background needed
Where to find us
Four ways to reach the group
Discord
Start hereAnnouncements, weekly topics, and resources, checked most often
Join the serverEmail
Speaking, sponsorship, and anything that needs a paper trail
blockchaingroup@u.northwestern.eduLinkedIn
Alumni, recruiters, and the professional side of the network
Follow the pageInstagram
Event photos and informal announcements
@nublockchain
Questions
The ones we get asked
- Do I need a technical background?
- No, the weekly meeting assumes no cryptography and no programming, and about half of members are not in engineering
- Do I need to own crypto?
- No, and we will never ask you to, because we study the technology and the mechanisms rather than promoting tokens or giving investment advice
- Is there an application or a fee?
- Neither, so join the Discord and come to a meeting
- Can graduate students join?
- Yes, at every meeting, workshop, and reading group, and the only place the distinction shows up is that Northwestern reserves official officer positions for undergraduates
- What year should I join?
- Any year, since the workshop tracks restart each quarter and the speaker series and projects do not depend on year
- Can my company sponsor or speak?
- Email us, we host technical speakers and are interested in project mentorship and hackathon travel support
Something not covered? blockchaingroup@u.northwestern.edu