Funding for blockchain courses addresses student interest in cryptocurrency – Annenberg Media

February 3, 2022 Editor Blockchain 0

A $5 million gift is quite the way to start the month. Yesterday, February 1st, the Marshall School of Business announced the launch of the VanEck Digital Assets Initiative with the gift from VanEck Associates.

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USC Marshall school of business Dean Geoffrey Garrett is ready to be part of the blockchain technology future. Blockchain is a new online system of recording information and verifying it. He knows students want to learn more about this field from NFTs to cryptocurrency.

DEAN GARRETT: This gift offers us the opportunity to be a real world leader in the academic study.

But Marshall students aren’t the only ones interested. Across USC, students are looking to learn more. The few blockchain courses currently offered at USC are in high demand. Harrison Macdonald is a sophomore political science major and the president of Blockchain USC. He was able to take a class on blockchain and has seen how much interest there is in the field.

HARRISON MACDONALD: There were tons of students who enrolled in that class, and there are hundreds of members who are a part of blockchain at USC.

Macdonald would like to spread the message of blockchain.

MACDONALD: There should be more collaboration between others, and that’s something that I’m working.

Dean Garrett agrees with Macdonald, and he is especially interested in creating a relationship with the Viterbi School of Engineering.

DEAN GARRETT: The core technology is more in the domain of B2B and the business applications is more in the domain of the Marshall school.

But don’t worry Marshall students… your spots in classes are not being taken. Dean Garrett believes there is a natural way of collaboration.

DEAN GARRETT: To leverage technology, but we don’t in the business school, but we don’t want to try to replicate what happens in engineering.

Junior Computer Science and Business Administration major Madison Brading is already in both Marshall and Viterbi. She is especially excited for this new initiative

MADISON BRADING: I would definitely be interested. I feel like everyone wants to learn more. And a lot of people like, don’t even know what it is.

So while this might be groundbreaking, there’s still work to do on making it more understandable. As for Brading, she already learned about blockchain in a class on entrepreneurship. It was a huge learning experience for her and her interest in this new field.

BRADING: If I hadn’t taken that class, I would’ve been like “What the heck is it?”

You may still not know what an NFT is but there will soon be ways to learn more. Marshall students… both undergraduate and graduate… get ready, you will soon have unique ways to learn about blockchain through courses and research. We will have to see where the future takes blockchain, but at USC, it is looking bright.