Cumberlands students receive research fellowship to study emerging blockchain technologies

Two students in University of the Cumberlands’ Master of Science in Global Business with Blockchain Technology have received a research fellowship to study emerging blockchain technologies.

Greg Solt and Arunkumar “Arun” Azhagudurai have received a $6,000 research fellowship from Phemex, a crypto exchange located in Singapore, to study innovative topics related to blockchain.

For two months, Greg and Arun will participate in a personalized blockchain research module and work one-on-one with Phemex staff exploring topics related to smart contracts, blockchain applications, and their integrative potential in other industries such as supply chain and IoT (Internet of Things).

Greg Solt, from Columbus, Ohio, is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Global Business with Blockchain Technology program at Cumberlands. For his case study project, Greg will be researching the process of supply chain tracking for rare and expensive bottles of wine and bourbon. Greg will be documenting this process utilizing blockchain technology with the objective of implementing a system that can automatically track the entire production process and global supply chain with blockchain and smart contracts, thus increasing the overall efficiency, accuracy, and control throughout the supply chain.

As there are documented problems in the industry such as counterfeiting, and as verification and proving authenticity becomes more difficult, using emerging tech such as smart contracts and blockchain may be a potential solution worth exploring.

On a personal level, Greg is interested in learning more about layer 1 and layer 2 blockchain technologies and analyzing how they can play a role in supply chain applications.

Arunkumar “Arun” Azhagudurai, who resides in Chicago, Illinois, is also enrolled in the global business with blockchain technology program at Cumberlands. In his research with Phemex, Arun will be exploring the ways in which blockchain can benefit the IoT and AI (artificial intelligence) industries and evaluating the technology’s use in sectors such as supply chain and healthcare. Arun will also contribute short analytical pieces on his thoughts regarding venture capital’s involvement in Web3, DeFi (decentralized finance), and NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

Arun’s interests are in futuristic technologies that have the potential to disrupt data-intensive industries such as blockchain, AI, machine learning, and Web3.

For those interested in exploring Greg and Arun’s profiles and reading their research, they can be found on the Phemex Student Foundation website in August 2022.

To learn more about Cumberlands’ Master of Science in Global Business with Blockchain Technology, visit www.ucumberlands.edu/academics.