Blockchain’s influence over the world continues to grow. It is undeniable that it will play a part in our world’s future. Top schools such as Stanford and MIT have led the way in adapting education to accommodate blockchain technology by establishing blockchain curricula and research centers to support both beginner and expert blockchain students. While Yale was not one of these early adopters, there is a current shift within the school from both the administration and students that makes Yale’s blockchain future bright.
The first and most noticeable change Yale made to accommodate blockchain education is new faculty. Specifically, Ben Fisch, a current Ph.D. candidate at Stanford working with both the applied cryptography research group and Center for Blockchain Research, is joining Yale next year as an assistant professor of computer science. I had the opportunity to attend Professor Fisch’s guest lecture earlier this month when he was invited to talk at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. His lecture, which focused on introducing people to blockchain technology, was also accompanied by a moderated discussion between him and Yale Professor Joan Feigenbaum during which the audience could ask questions. The event looked into how classes on blockchain technology at Yale could be taught in the future as well as Professor Fisch’s areas of expertise and research. Titled “Cybersecurity, Blockchain, and the Rise of Cryptocurrency” the lecture gave an introduction to the history, theory, and technicals behind blockchain technology while also addressing the highly touted security and privacy blockchain technology claims to offer. This made the lecture digestible for the entire audience and applicable to many different areas of study including economics, political science, and history. Near the latter half of his lecture, Professor Fisch began discussing the more technical side of blockchains, leaning on his expertise in computer science and offering possible avenues of future computer science research such as his focus on proof-of-space which has included work on influential projects such as Filecoin.
Professor Fisch’s balanced lecture hopefully gives a view into how future blockchain courses at Yale can support students from a range of majors. Complex theory and political background of blockchain for non-CS majors and technical classes on blockchain development for CS majors hoping to pursue research in the blockchain space. I believe this balance will help build a thriving blockchain community on campus and facilitate learning in several ways that other institutions have yet to tackle. Yale has the unique opportunity to lean on the large presence of political science, economics, and global affairs majors who are interested in the regulation, history, and theory of blockchains, while also working with STEM majors that want to learn and research the complex technical side of blockchains. Professor Fisch’s plan to teach an introduction to blockchain course in Spring 2023 will be sure to pave a new path at Yale for blockchain education and meet the growing demand from students to offer education on what seems like the hottest topic in technology right now.
The emergence of new student organizations on campus most clearly demonstrates the growing student demand for this education and for a space at Yale where blockchain can be truly studied. Three new clubs have been created in just the past semester—Yale Blockchain Club, Yale Blockchain Investment Trust, and Wintergreen Capital—each with many first-year and sophomore members who will continue to grow the organizations for years to come. If the Yale administration continues to meet student demand with resources such as new faculty, there is no limit to Yale’s future engagement with blockchain. Although blockchain at Yale is currently in its infancy, the future is most definitely bright.