25 Students Selected for the MIT Intro to Cryptocurrency Bootcamp for People of Color and Women

Today, the MIT Digital Currency Initiative is excited to announce the selection of 25 students to attend the first-ever Cryptocurrency Bootcamp at the MIT Media Lab. More than 300 students from 5 continents, 36 U.S. states and 150 universities applied for the opportunity to attend the bootcamp.

These students not only represent diversity in ethnicity, gender and geography, but also in their fields of study and interests. While 58% of the students are studying computer science or engineering, the other 42% are majoring in subjects like psychology, art and accounting.

Likewise, their interests range from co-founding an organization whose mission is to make communities safer through wearable tech and mobile apps to starting an internet of things (IOT) club on campus to give the university and classmates access to the latest IOT advances. As a result of their experiences building companies and starting organizations, they now want to leverage cryptocurrencies in developing economies to empower family members back home or figure out how IOT can be applied to the blockchain.

The students will learn about cryptography, elliptic curves and merkle trees, and participate in hands-on labs deconstructing transactions and building mining devices. At night, the students will attend personal development sessions, learning about leadership skills, tips for applying to graduate school and entrepreneurial life hacks.

Lastly, we’re excited to announce three new bootcamp sponsors: Tucows, Deloitte and 21. These companies and our previously announced donors, The Kapor Center for Social Impact and Xapo, have generously donated more than $100,000 in money and in-kind donations to organize and pay for the all-expense paid trip to this Cryptocurrency Bootcamp from August 21 to August 26, 2016.

Please join us in congratulating the 25 students below:

Eric Agredo (’17); University of Florida, Computer Science Engineering

Jordana Approvato (’18); Stevens Institute of Technology, Computer Science, @jordanadaire

Océane Boulais (’17); Florida Atlantic University, Electrical Engineering, @pacificallyoce

Justin Camarena (‘17); California State University, San Bernardino, Computer Science, @juscamarena

Alejandra Cervantes (’18); University of California, Los Angeles, Computer Science and Statistics, @alejcerv

Arturo Chavez-Gehrig (‘18); MIT, Computer Science and Economics

Alston Clark (‘18); Howard University, Computer Science, @alstonclark

Stephani Diep (‘17); University of Hawaii at Manoa, Computer Science and Accounting

Ashana Evans (‘17); North Carolina A&T State University, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, @ashana_e

Danielle Hill (‘19); Columbia University, Computer Science, @dlaurenhill

Caroline Liu (‘18); MIT, Mechanical Engineering

John Llamas (‘18); University of Southern California, Business Administration

Brandon Long (‘18); North Carolina A&T State University, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics

America Lopez (‘19); Los Angeles City College, Computer Science and Information Technology, @cybercodetwins

Amber Meighan (‘17); MIT, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Kemi Odusanya (‘18); Brown University, Computer Science

Tami Olafunmiloye (‘18); University of Maryland, Aerospace Engineering, @the_conTAMInatr

Priyadharshini Rajbabu (‘19); New Jersey Institute of Technology, Computer Science

Pedro Sandoval Segura (‘19); Harvey Mudd College, Computer Science and Mathematics

Julio Soldevilla (‘17); University of California, Berkeley, Mathematics and Economics

James Spann (‘19); Rochester Institute of Technology, Computer Science, @thedeveloperj

Edwin Villafane Hernandez(‘18); Pomona College, Computer Science and Statistics, @techievillafane

Jarnickae Wilson (‘17); University of Chicago, Physics

Maxcell Wilson (‘17); University of Central Florida, Computer Science, @maxcell

Alice Wong (‘18); MIT, Computer Science

Gina Vargas is Senior Project Manager of the Digital Currency Initiative at MIT Media Lab

Brian Forde is cofounder of the Digital Currency Initiative at MIT Media Lab