A trustee at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has provided the school’s first cryptocurrency gift.
Koushik Subramanian’s $50,000 crypto gift will be used to establish the Subramanian Fund for Advancing Technologies in Digital Assets for the Institute.
Subramanian has spent much of his professional career working in the digital finance space, particularly focused on cybersecurity and more recently in digital assets and blockchain technologies like cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and smart contract, according to the institute.
“I’m super passionate about this,” said Subramanian, who in 2022 founded drophouse.art to combine his interests in art, fashion and crypto.
Two years earlier, he founded Kopper Labs to deploy capital to accelerate the adoption of automation, blockchain and cybersecurity technology. He has worked as Director of Information Security for Kraken since 2018, overseeing cybersecurity and digital assets on a global scale.
“I’ve been fortunate in my career because of my education at Rose to be a thought leader in cybersecurity and digital assets. Knowing what I know now through my career, I have a high degree of confidence that this field is here to stay.”
The form of the gift is the latest example of how Rose-Hulman alumni are finding creative and innovative ways to give back to the top-ranked science, technology, engineering and mathematics-focused institution.
“I truly am looking forward to seeing the impact of Koushik’s gift, both in how it benefits our students and Rose-Hulman long term, but also in how it may help pave the way forward into a world where the possibilities are seemingly endless,” said Rose-Hulman President Robert A. Coons.
Rose-Hulman has established a webpage specifically for gifts of digital assets, available at www.rose-hulman.edu/about-us/community-and-public-services/institutional-advancement/crypto.html
Subramanian has a goal to educate others about the possibilities related to blockchain technologies, and also some of the misnomers.
“I think this is an opportunity to elevate Rose-Hulman into this space ahead of its peers and help Rose become a leader in digital assets,” he added. “It allows us to bring more STEM talent to the Midwest and allows Rose to build out more programing. Plus it allows me to work with students who are engaged in the subject matter.”
— Information for this item was provided to the Tribune-Star by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.