On Campus is a new Ripple Insights series that highlights the institutions, people and research that make up Ripple’s University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI), launched earlier this year to promote greater understanding of blockchain, crypto and digital payments through deeper engagement with academia.
Institutions like McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin with its campus-based Blockchain Initiative and annual blockchain conference are at the heart of this UBRI effort. We sat down with Professor Cesare Fracassi, the director of this initiative at the University’s new Center for Analytics and Transformational Technologies, to learn more about the work underway at UT Austin and the impact of UBRI on the program.
Professor Fracassi’s ultimate goal is to leverage UBRI to accelerate what he sees as lagging understanding of blockchain in academia. By expanding its presence on the UT Austin campus and building an interdisciplinary approach to its study, he believes students will be best set up to advance blockchain innovation after graduation.