Duke Blockchain Lab

Joey is a junior majoring in Computer Science at Duke. He got involved in the lab by taking "Blockchain and Innovation," a half-credit house course taught by Dhruv, David, and Jacob. He was inspired by the potential for blockchain and cryptocurrencies as a natural progression to the internet by including trustless systems for transacting value. He has spent the summer of 2018 taking the ConsenSys Academy Developer program for certification in dApp development.

Chris is a junior at Duke studying Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering. After learning about bitcoin and other early cryptocurrencies in 2015, his interest has traversed a wide range between the potential anonymity with certain coins and the power to disrupt massive financial institutions with decentralized applications. Recently, he has been most excited about blockchain applications outside of the financial realm, such as identity verification and systems of online trust. His past summers have been spent working at Lightstep (2017), a distributed tracing startup, and Auris Surgical Robotics (2015).

Abhishek is a grad student in the Duke MEM program and a former Marketing Strategy Consultant who has worked with several startups across APAC and MENA. He got his introduction to blockchain by working with Chainalysis on a valuation method for different digital assets and spent the past summer as a PMM intern at Ripple. Abhishek leads the PR and Marketing efforts for Duke Blockchain Lab.

Carlos is a 3rd year law student at Duke University School of Law. He became interested in blockchain technology in 2017 after writing and publishing a journal article on state regulation of cryptocurrencies and understanding blockchain’s ability to disrupt industries globally. Carlos is especially interested in issues regarding conflicts between blockchain technology and law and in the potential for smart contracts to revolutionize business transactions and the legal industry in general. Upon graduation, Carlos will be working at the law firm Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Justin is a senior studying Economics and Computer Science. He spent his summer with the securities division at Goldman Sachs where he worked with the strategic investments group to help find fast growing technology companies positioned to benefit the financial services industry. In researching companies, he became fascinated with blockchain applications, specifically its potential to transform financial transactions. He now hopes to learn about other industries with potential for blockchain integration. He also hopes to spread this knowledge across Duke to facilitate more thought and innovation around blockchain on campus.

Pratik is currently a sophomore studying Computer Science. He spent his summer developing an analytics application for sales, marketing, and management teams at Verana Health, a Google Ventures funded healthcare analytics startup. Pratik got interested in blockchain as a technology after watching Vitalik’s talk at TechCrunch disrupt. Pratik is most fascinated in blockchain as a system of trust and its potential applications in healthcare as well as financial transactions.

Collin is currently a Sophomore studying Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer science. His older Brother turned his desktop into a Dogecoin rig and ever since then Collin has been a Blockchain fanatic. When not in classes, Collin is on the Club Sailing and Rugby teams at Duke.

Brent Xu has an extensive background in entrepreneurship, capital markets, real estate, biomedical research, and insurance. Brent discovered Ethereum and ConsenSys while attending a class taught by Professor Campbell Harvey on Innovations and Cryptoventures. Brent’s current role at ConsenSys involves enterprise business development along with China expansion. As Head of Structured Finance, he leads a team tasked with utilizing blockchain technology to research and facilitate the creation of multiple debt products through blockchain based securitization. Brent received his Bachelor of Science in Biology, with minors in Chemistry and Philosophy from Duke University. He also received his Master’s in Management Science from the Duke Fuqua School of Business. He is currently very supportive of the Duke Blockchain lab and finding the best ways to allocate Ethereum to the lab in various capacities.

Melissa (Trinity '17) is a recent graduate working as a software engineer at Coinbase in San Francisco. At Duke, she studied computer science and economics. She first became interested in blockchain technology after taking Cam Harvey's course, Innovation and Cryptoventures, in the spring of 2015. She was fascinated by the potential for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to help the unbanked in developing countries. She started the Blockchain Lab to give other students the resources to have an impact on their respective industries and eventually start their own ventures built on this powerful technology.

Dhruv Luthra is a recent graduate who studied Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science. His interest in technology led him to learn about blockchain and its revolutionary applications in finance and beyond. He hopes that the Duke Blockchain Lab will serve as springboard for innovative applications of blockchain by students. This past summer, Dhruv worked as a software engineering intern at Slack.

David is a recent graduate from Duke who studied Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Economics. After beginning following Bitcoin in 2013, he has since become interested in cryptocurrency's potential to revolutionize and disrupt financial systems and outdated transaction channels. David has spent the past two summers working in product development roles for W.L. Gore & Associates and GelTech Solutions.

Jacob is a Duke University senior completing a major in Computer Science and Economics along with a certificate in Decision Sciences. Jacob first learned about blockchain technology after listening to a lecture given by Cam Harvey in early 2017. After only some time, Jacob’s true interest developed when he realized the potential for the technology to revolutionize every existing industry within the next few years, just like the internet did back in the 1990s. Because the technology is so new, very few people truly understand it, and for that reason Jacob believes that through just providing an opportunity to learn, this lab has the opportunity to spawn some of world’s next leaders in business and technology.