RESEARCH PROJECT

Blockchain technology and how it will influence institutions of higher education

While interning in D.C., I accumulated a lot of knowledge on the potential of blockchain technology to greatly impact the world, as well as it's many limitations in large-scale adoption. Halfway into my internship I decided that I should begin a research project of my own as I began to increasingly see a lack of knowledge surrounding blockchain technology from my peers and a general confusion as to its purported impact if it were to ever be implemented widescale. I also noticed that if blockchain or a digital ledger technology anywhere similar to it were to ever be implemented, many job markets would end up being dissolved, completely changing the way people would go about beginning their careers. It would also drastically change the way they would educate themselves before jumping into any of the affected job markets.

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I had a realization while at my internship. I had now been exposed to the reality that, despite my previous thoughts, emerging technologies will influence all areas of work despite them not being within the field of STEM. The fact that these technologies could theoretically replace workers or those new to the workforce from their previous entry level or basic computing jobs, do them more efficiently than any human ever could, and at a much lower cost would be a dangerous thing to ignore.

A response to a technology heavy future would be to keep institutions of higher education thoroughly briefed on these emerging technologies and how to best educate their students about them. A univeristy's decision to give more opportunities for their student body to educate themselves on subjects such as this could prove be crucial for people my age and those in school as well to be better prepared for the job market once graduated.

Exposing students to the reality of a technology heavy future in any career one wishes to pursue is a reality universities need to accept. Integrating technology competency classes in many majors would prove to better ensure students don't have immense difficulty getting hired after graduation. These technologies threaten to alter and deteriorate not only job markets dealing with STEM, but also those working as intermediary figures in sensitive transactions, those filling out spreadsheets, filing data, assisting online users, etc. 

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At a luncheon with the President of my University at FIU's DC office I shared with him the scope of my internship and was encouraged by him and the Jack D Gordon Institute for Public Policy’s director Brian Fonseca to continue my blockchain research and complete a research project. For the entirety of my senior year I was a Policy Intern with the Jack D. Gordon Institute researching Blockchain technology and how it could both positively and negatively affect private and public institutions.

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In January 2018 I was invited by the President of my University to give a briefing and presentation on all that I learned in my internship working for the Emerging Citizen Technology program as well as the direction of my research project for a meeting with the Board of Trustees of my University.

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