"Rensselaer To Advance Blockchain Tech"
The Algorand Foundation has awarded $363,343 to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Oshani Seneviratne, director of health data research at the Institute for Data Exploration and Applications (IDEA), and Lirong Xia, associate professor of computer science. The award is part of an $8 million grant to fund blockchain research through a project led by Purdue University's Vassilis Zikas, an associate professor of computer science and security researcher. The Multidisciplinary Educational Global Alliance for Algorand Center of Excellence (MEGA-ACE) project will advance blockchain technology and address theoretical and application challenges in economics, social choice, cryptography, and architecture. Algorand's blockchain distinguishes itself by solving the "blockchain trilemma," making its technology secure, scalable, and decentralized. The award will benefit students at Rensselaer through graduate and undergraduate research opportunities, special events such as hackathons hosted in collaboration with the student-led RPISEC computer security organization group, and on-campus guest presentations by Algorand experts on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies. Seneviratne says the research conducted through this grant will explore how blockchains can be used to improve secure computation toward what is commonly referred to as the new Web or Web3. The research will also delve into programming AI-based applications using smart contract execution frameworks in the Algorand virtual machine with improved semantics and verification. This article continues to discuss the support and goals behind the MEGA-ACE project.