Proposal “Dash-and-ASU“ (Completed)Back

Title:Dash and ASU
Owner:boscovic
One-time payment: 793 DASH (30502 USD)
Completed payments: 1 totaling in 793 DASH (0 month remaining)
Payment start/end: 2017-11-18 / 2017-12-18 (added on 2017-11-20)
Final voting deadline: in passed
Votes: 0 Yes / 0 No / 0 Abstain

Proposal description

Introduction:
The Dash network is in a unique position to help radically change how the current university-level blockchain education system operates.  By strategically investing in the already established connection with ASU, the Dash network can build a strong pipeline of students and educational opportunities to advance the blockchain technology. Dash and Arizona State University have a great ongoing relationship connected through both the Dash sponsored Blockchain Research Lab (CASCADE) and Dash Core HQ location at ASU SkySong. Ranked as the most innovative university in the United States, by U.S. News and World Report, ASU consistently strives to push the boundaries of education and seeks to partner with organizations and industry partners who are doing the same. Together, Dash and ASU can accelerate and leverage their on-going partnership to launch a community for the blockchain innovators of tomorrow at ASU.

Proposal:
This proposal is for a charitable grant in student scholarships, research labs, open source research projects and a blockchain course creation totaling $350,000.

Dash Scholars: $100,000
Dash Scholars Program would provide scholarship funding of $10,000 for five (5) incoming freshmen, $5,000 for two (2) students of each of the other undergraduate academic level (sophomore, junior, senior) of study and $5,000 for four (4) graduate students, with the objective of building meaningful guidance and real-world exposure for students studying blockchain technology. The available funding puts more weight towards incoming freshmen enabling more impact with the outreach effort. ASU wants to push this scholarship through as many outlets as possible and allowing for more incoming freshmen, with a higher monetary value, will increase the pool of quality applicants. This also allows Dash to gain large national coverage targeting high school students while directing a pipeline of blockchain talent to the Dash network. The students from each level of study (freshman through graduate students) would be selected to build a community of scholars and mentors at ASU.  This group would also create a continuous flow of student talent exiting the University.  Scholarships would be selected through criteria jointly agreed upon by ASU and Dash and awarded through the ASU scholarship process for the academic year 2018-2019.  Scholarships would be renewable pending available additional funding from Dash.

Research Lab/Industry open source projects:    $150,000
Beyond scholarships, further investments in the Blockchain Research Lab ($100,000) and an additional investment in the Luminosity Lab ($50,000) would enable ASU research labs to hire top undergraduate and graduate students to further blockchain research and blockchain projects. Applied blockchain projects would be provided by industry partners, like Dash, through each lab and would build real-world experiences and direct applications of coursework for each of the students.  

Each lab that has agreed to be involved in the initiative offers a unique perspective of blockchain technology through the type of projects/work that they each specialize in. The Dash sponsored Blockchain Research Lab, directed by Dr. Dragan Boscovic, currently focuses on scaling the Dash network and the implications of certain changes to the network through simulated environments.

“Blockchain technology is revolutionizing digitalization prospects for many industries, asking for new skills to be developed across many professions and domains. Continuation of collaboration between Dash and ASU/CASCADE will help and encourage both students and educators to expand their learning resources to demystify blockchain technology to a larger population of undergraduate and graduate students.

Blockchain Research Lab welcomes this initiative and is ready to play its role in creating a potent blockchain innovation environment for young talents to develop practical blockchain applications.”
-        Dragan Boscovic

Moreover, the ASU Luminosity Lab, directed by Mark Naufel, utilizes strategic design, systems thinking, and rapid product realization to develop and deploy ideas, tools, and technologies that provide unconventional and effective solutions to complex challenges. The lab operates under the Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development and is frequently in communication, with regards to projects, with Michael Crow, President of Arizona State University, and Sethuraman Panchanathan, Executive Vice President and Chief Research and Innovation Officer of Knowledge Enterprise Development.

Blockchain Course Creation:      $100,000
To continue building the community of master learners around blockchain we would be honored to partner with Dash to build an online course.  This course would complete an online master’s degree offering in computer science.  Taken individually to expand a student’s knowledge about blockchain, or taken as a part of a master’s degree program, students will exit the course with a deep understanding of blockchain and its application.

Needless of an introduction, the CEO of Dash Core Group, Ryan Taylor, supports the proposed Dash ASU Program and will help facilitate, along with the rest of the Dash Core Group Team, the applied project on behalf of the Dash network.

“Developing and attracting talent to meet the needs of the blockchain space is critical for the success of projects like Dash. The growth in the talent base is simply not keeping pace with rapidly increasing demand. The Dash Scholar Program could help draw attention to blockchain education and allow bright students to make meaningful contributions to research while gaining experience with a real project. The Dash Network itself recognizes the idea that there are more aspects in making digital currency a reality than just the underpinnings of the blockchain technology supporting it. This is reflected in the types of proposals and initiatives that the network supports. With coordination happening across the university to formulate a holistic program for students centered around Dash aligns with our goals and complements our existing partnership with ASU’s Blockchain Laboratory to extend our partnership into new areas of the university.”
-        Ryan Taylor

Looking forward:
The future of blockchain technology is advancing quickly.  Together, the DASH Network and ASU can accelerate the technology around blockchain like no other partnership. Harnessing the combined power of ASU, the largest university in the country, and our cross-disciplinary work, partnerships could include research across law, social sciences, economics, business and coding expertise.  Concepts could include a one of a kind named center, additional research connections, and faculty and student support.  Together our potential is limitless.

Treasury Funding Disbursement:
This proposal uses Dash Core Group’s business development address as the payout address. Dash Core Group will convert $350,000 worth of the funds into USD and then give those funds to the ASU Foundation under the Blockchain Research Lab. From there, the Blockchain Research Lab will store/disburse the funds. Dash Core Group will also return the proposal fee (5 Dash) to the proposer’s address.

Conclusion:
We look forward to growing the partnership between Dash and ASU.  By supporting students, lab research and the creation of an online course, the Dash Network has the potential to radically shift how university-level blockchain education is structured. Dash is the only digital currency network with the funding capability and proper partnerships to truly make an impact in blockchain education. We believe proper education is the defining factor that stands between mass understanding/adoption of blockchain technology and digital currencies. By engaging in such an initiative, the Dash network will be enabling the future leaders in blockchain technology, as well as showing the true potential of a decentralized autonomous organization.

Background/Proposers:
Jeremy Liu is an undergraduate studying Mathematics at Arizona State University. At ASU, Jeremy is an undergraduate researcher/collaborator in the Luminosity Lab, Actionable Analytics Lab, and Blockchain Research Lab. He also serves as the Co-Founder and Director of Research and Development for the Blockchain Innovation Society.

Marcus Jones is a senior studying Finance at Arizona State University. During his years at ASU, he became a member of the Investment Banking Industry Scholars (IBIS) program, is a member of the global Blockchain Education Network (BEN), leads the business development team in the Luminosity Lab and is the Co-Founder and Director of Finance for the Blockchain Innovation Society (BIS).

Budget: Dash Network       $350,000 + 5 Dash

Scholars      15      $100,000

Freshman      5 - $10,000   $50,000
Sophomore      2 - $5,000   $10,000
Junior         2 - $5,000   $10,000
Senior         2 - $5,000   $10,000
Graduate      4 - $5,000   $20,000

Lab Investments         $150,000  

Blockchain Lab         $100,000
Luminosity Lab         $50,000

Course Creation         $100,000
Graduate level course         $100,000

Dash Proposal Fee         5 Dash

Show full description ...

Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?

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1 point,6 years ago
We checked in core discussion, and this is passing.
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1 point,6 years ago
How does that work? It says here it needs 4 more votes.
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1 point,6 years ago
The calculation in dash central is incorrect afaik, once the proposal passes.
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0 points,6 years ago
Seems like this proposal has lost the confidence of the community. However that happened a day after the deadline.

Most did not have the full facts before then and voted without understanding how the money is being used. Many voted before reading this or seeing the mason brothers interview..

Request escrow to not hand out any funds before there has been a thorough discussion on Forum and this proposal is modified. Almost $600000 of money, not small.

The escrow can also decide to put this to voting again..
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0 points,6 years ago
It's not the escrow's role to choose for the masternode network. However... I'm not sure this passed or not. Looks to me like it will not, unless a few masternodes go offline in the next 2 days. Here's my calculation : 4536/10 - (716-269) = -6.6

So to me this currently is not passing by 6.6 votes.
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0 points,6 years ago
At the time of the deadline this was passing but has now gone under. Seems you can vote between the window of "voting deadline" and payment.
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0 points,6 years ago
I don't think you can vote, but I think the other parameter of masternodes online is important.
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5 points,6 years ago
Hello MNOs,

We have been getting a lot of questions about where the excess Dash will go, as we only originally asked for $350,000 at the time of submission. The payout address is Dash Core Group’s Business Development address and Dash Core Group will be giving $350,000 to ASU. The leftover funds, due to Dash’s price appreciation, will belong to Dash Core Group.

Thank you for your support!
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-1 point,6 years ago
Irresponsible waste of precious resources.. Should have been discussed in pre-proposal.
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-1 point,6 years ago
This proposal is proof of the lack of critical questioning like has spread like a Virus.

Even without understanding basic details like what costs how much, mns are supporting giving away 793 dash. FOR no return to Dash, except make believe words.

Please see the Mason Brothers analysis. They have given this proposal a Clear No analysis, and 2/5 however many MNs are too uninvolved to take these new facts into account.

Following are the inconsistencies

- $100,000 for making a course, which should be, by college standards, nothing more than volunteer work. If there was a desire for service and not profiteering this would have cost $5000.

Random links are being cited which have nothing to do with real costs. If you start paying top end prices for everything, this $4m is going to look like $40k.

-Charity without any return

-Giving all the money to one college.

-Lack of a serious preproposal discussion.

Please consider voting NO till this proposal is in a better form. Saying Yes to proposal without scrutiny will put in the worst possible situation to negotiate with contractors.

Wixam
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1 point,6 years ago
Because Dash core has a presence at ASU and will continue that for the foreseeable future i see no issues. I doubt another university can jump in and expect the MNO's to fund them in the same way. And you yet again willfully ignore the detail that the leftover dash(half~) out of the 793 is going to core. These proposals act as resume padding so to speak to the dash community. Hopefully we can get some mileage out of this PR wise.
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0 points,6 years ago
Thank you for the support! We will not disappoint!
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0 points,6 years ago
$100,000 for making a course?

NO from me..
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0 points,6 years ago
Hi Marcus21,

It was not very clear from our original proposal nor from the subsequent answers that this is intended to be a MOOC (massive open online course) delivered on the Coursera platform. There is publicly available information that production of a such course (depending on the topic complexity) can cost anywhere between $35k-$300k. Udacity, which is very similar to Coursera, says their courses cost over $200,000 to produce. $50,000 to run subsequently. Dash sponsorship will account roughly for 50% of the projected course development cost and will help us develop Dash centric course examples and student assignments. Bearing in mind the global reach of these courses and popularity of blockchain technology, it will be great PR material for the Dash network.

Respect your position and I am not asking you to reconsider, but want to inform all the MNOs who haven’t cast their vote(s) yet.
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0 points,6 years ago
To make a course on Coursera, it doesnt cost $100,000. If that were the case, udacity would have 5 videos. Could specifically breakdown these costs for us?

This seems like a serious profit making venture under the disguise of education..
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1 point,6 years ago
Hello,

Please cite your sources of the cost of a MOOC course/specialization professionally created by a university costing much less. Based on the costs of our previous Big Data courses, and sources like the many cited below, the costs of creating a professional MOOC course is much higher than you’re projecting.

Arizona State University is both the largest public university and a nonprofit institution. We can ensure you this proposal is not a “profit making venture.” ASU wants to partner with Dash to create the online course and use Dash specific material for assignments and lessons.

MOOC Costs:
https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/tag/costs-of-developing-a-mooc/
http://www.mindingthecampus.org/2013/09/what_do_moocs_cost/
https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-it-cost-to-create-a-MOOC-on-Coursera-Udacity-or-Edx
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0 points,6 years ago
This proposal is such a drag , why should dash get into charitable causes right now , dont we have better things to do , dont we want to be $100 billion coin like bitcoin , come on guys dont waste your precious dash on charities for now
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-1 point,6 years ago
Well said.
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0 points,6 years ago
Hello MNOs,

We thank you for your support and look forward to executing on the initiative. We are excited to be building an ecosystem and pipeline to the Dash Network! ASU’s Fulton School of Engineering is focussed on “building problem solvers and entrepreneurs”; it offers 24 undergraduate programs and 39 graduate programs on two campuses and online. Our 20,000 engineering students come from 120+ countries to learn by being engaged in practical research projects ( $100M in R&D expenditure ) and will be primary beneficiaries of first hand exposure to Dash tangible and intangible resources to be provided by this collaboration.

BR
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-1 point,6 years ago
VOTING NO.

This budget is meant exclusively for the Development and Promotion of Dash. Let us not starting giving it out for charitable grants and become soft targets with all sorts of demands for Zero ROI investments full of buzzwords and noble intentions.

If we have to give it for charity or education then we should give it equally across regions. It looks bad that we are sinking half a mil into this with nothing for ANY OTHER UNIVERSITY.

There is another serious issue.

$100,000 for creating a course is a total rip-off. Creating a course costs $10k at best. In a college, where a little money goes a long way, this can be done for 5k, if not 3. 100k is a rip off.

Seems like word is getting around that we have huge dollops of cash to hand out for just about anything..

According to boscovic, "slides, video and overall stylization of the course delivery" costs $35000. This should $1000 not $35000. This is my problem with this plan; Goldplating. And no ROI.

Cant vote for this.
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0 points,6 years ago
Voting 'no' not because I don't like the idea -- I do -- but I'd rather fund scholarships to a DASH-specific training program.

We could get people trained in 2 years or less, as compared to the wasteful 4+ years of a basic university degree in which 2 of those years are spent languishing in "general education" classes that have nothing to do with the degree.
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1 point,6 years ago
Looks very exciting! Sorry for the dumb question: if I'm understanding this correctly, is the value proposition to Dash that the course will introduce students to blockchain in a way that puts Dash "at the head of the table"?
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1 point,6 years ago
Short answer is: “Yes”.
The course will be developed in collaboration with Dash. Our plan is to have syllabus designed in a such way to enable particular learning units to be delivered by Dash experts (assigned to the the project by Core Team). Furthermore, a number of students assignments will be Dash specific.
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4 points,6 years ago
That answers my question, thanks. Looks great!
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-1 point,6 years ago
A cursory glance shows me that this university is ranked beyond the top 100 . Is there any reason why this particular university is being supported and not others in China or Latin America or other areas.

Many universities in Ukraine are doing phenomenal work in this area. This choice of this particular university seems very strange. If we are giving grants, it should be divided across regions and not just parceled to one local initiative.

Ideally we should just use the money for better developers and spreading awareness for now and leave the charity for later.

Opening up this budget for charitable grants opens up a whole pandora's box of asks and demands like ALS, , Free Slaves, Aids research etc.

They are all worthy causes, doesnt mean it should come out of the Treasury Budget.
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3 points,6 years ago
I like this proposal, however I'm wondering some things on 2 sections that weren't quite clear to me.

This might come out as not too diplomatic, but why does it cost 100K to make a course? How much effort is required here? How many people will be involved? Right now, all that's really needed is to take https://dash-docs.github.io/en/developer-guide (Still under development) and make videos, animations and slides. While I could see that costing a fair bit of money I wonder where the 100K price point comes from. Could you deconstruct that price for me/us?

For the Lab Investments what percentage of the money will go to undergraduate and graduate students would you guess? It's not quite clear with what you said. Will this percentage be audit-able?

Thanks in advance for answering.
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2 points,6 years ago
Sure thing, these are all valid questions and here are my answers:

course development costs: Beside the course’s syllabus design, content development and video production there is significant effort/investment needed into devising, developing and testing course assignments and automated assessments/tests. The estimate of $100k for the Blockchain course is based on a very recent development of three online courses on Big Data with which I was very closely involved. Based on that experience, roughly 35% goes to the syllabus and content (slides, video and overall stylization of the course delivery) while 65% goes to developing project assignments and automated assessments.
Thank you for pointing me to https://dash-docs.github.io/en/developer-guide, this is definitely a great source of information, especially bearing in mind that the course objective is to be very applied and centered on Dash network design. To that end the course assignments will be solving practical problems and using Dash testnet resources.
Needles to say, if the course allocated funding is not entirely spent than the remaining funds will transferred to the research budget.

Lab/research distribution of available funds: This will be determined by perceived impact of the proposed projects. This process will naturally favor graduate students and final year undergraduate students with longer practical experiences with technology and techniques related to blockchain. Nevertheless, an effort will be made to ensure that younger students with relevant skills are assigned to the project teams to ensure both on project learning and topic continuity.

Thank you for your support.
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2 points,6 years ago
The only last question I have is about transparency. One of the benefits of the DASH blockchain is that it's transparent when you want it to be. If people wanted they could trace Dash Core payments to each developer. You see money going out to people, and this shows that Dash Core leadership is very honest with their funds. Will you either release, make auditable to a 3rd party, or allow the dash core team to have visibility on they way you distribute your funds?

I don't mean to be rude, but we have had almost 50% of all proposals promise a lot, deliver less, with quite a lot blatantly steal funds, even projects with core backing (As core can't see the future). I'll be blunt, how do we know you won't take 90k$ for yourself/administrators for the course, at 10kUSD/day and get interns/graduates to do all the work at a very reduced cost? These costs seem incredibly high to me. For example all dash docs, that dash developers use everyday cost the network less than 20K USD so far (I hired someone to make them with left over proposal money).

Also how will giving money to ASU Luminosity Lab benefit the DASH network? It feels like it's grouped together there to get money from people seeing it as a small expense compared to the others however I don't see how it benefits DASH.

Thanks for your time in answering my doubts.
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2 points,6 years ago
Hi again,
I recognize your concerns which in my mind translate to accountability, both in terms of project execution and funds management. See my answers below and hopefully it puts all your concerns to rest.

Project execution accountability: This particular initiative will be legally framed by an Agreement between ASU and Dash Team with clearly defined SoW outlining scope of deliverables and related milestones. It will provide platform for biweekly progress meetings between Blockchain Lab (which will be a single point of interface for all three initiatives on ASU side) and Dash appointed project manager(s). This particular setup has been already tested and shown to be effective on two other Dash research and engineering projects in which I am involved.

Funds management accountability: Each of the tree initiative will have its own account within ASU accounting system and will be subject to standard ASU audit procedures. As such, It will enable Blockchain Lab and Dash Team to discuss funds management and related expenditures at the same level of granularity used for financial audits at ASU.

With your reference to Luminosity Lab involvement, their scope of involvement is related to providing an environment for rapid development and testing of blockchain related application. As such its projects would complement and be an extension to the research project initiated and funded within Blockchan Lab.

Thank you for your thorough analysis and continued interest and support for the proposal.
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2 points,6 years ago
I spoke to Darren and he is behind this project, that's 10x more than is needed to qualm my concerns :) You have my full support.
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1 point,6 years ago
we need a pipeline for quality college grads. voting yes.
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0 points,6 years ago
Will the Blockchain Research Lab be involved in shaping scholarship areas/projects/research? Seems that could be a good idea. I couldn't tell how much collaboration you had in mind with them.
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2 points,6 years ago
YES, the Blockchain Lab will remain central to scholarship areas/candidates selection process and will be setting priorities for research topics/projects.

@teddy bear, director of the Blockchain Lab, will work closely with the Core Team to ensure a common agenda in respect of of the three development trucks outlined in this proposal.
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1 point,6 years ago
What a great idea. Yes from me.
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5 points,6 years ago
Crossposted from the forum, since nobody seems to be posting there:

The scope of this is really wide... Does offering this scholarship really qualify as "large national coverage"? Is it really realistic to use this as a talent pipeline for the Dash network? How many of these students who go through this program are actually going to end up working for Dash? Instead of spending $350,000 (plus potentially indefinitely renewing funds going forward) for a program where some of the students might end up working for Dash after a few years, why not just hire some top developers who already have blockchain experience, right now? I'm all for blockchain education but I'm not sure if this is an efficient use of Dash resources.

This might benefit the blockchain industry much more than it does Dash. We can already afford competitive rates for our own developers, I'd rather just pay the premium (which will go down over time as more people get involved in blockchain) than invest in a program where most students are going to end up working on other projects or having careers that are not with Dash.

In my own college experience most undergrads with scholarships (including myself) didn't think too much about wherever the scholarship came from. You're in high school or college, you search for scholarships and you apply for a ton of them. A blockchain scholarship would probably be highly sought after because of the great career opportunities down the line, but there's nothing that really ties it back to Dash. If we're going to do scholarships at all, I would rather that most or all of the amount be devoted to graduate level programs, or doctorate-level research grants -- ones that have a more clearly defined, direct connection to Dash-related projects.
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2 points,6 years ago
Hello,

While the scholarship itself will get Dash in front of the high school/college student populations, it will be the Dash and ASU team that will allow for a wider coverage range. We have already assembled the sites and channels we want to contact if the proposal gets passed and have much support from ASU (including students, faculty, and administration) to make an impact.

This proposal is for Dash to partner with ASU towards creating an ecosystem of well-educated students in blockchain technology. With this partnership, the Dash network can bring students directly to Dash related projects through the research labs at ASU as well as stay in close proximity to Dash Core HQ.

We completely agree that hiring quality development talent and building out internally is important, however, we do not see that and building an ecosystem being exclusive. In fact, we see the outward facing initiatives going hand-in-hand with the internal-facing initiatives. We feel the individuals of the Dash community should contribute where they can provide the most value. ASU’s value comes from our ability to educate large amounts of people, conduct impactful research, and create pipelines for businesses to hire our graduates. With this, we created this proposal to better all parties involved by contributing to the network where we can provide the most value. Fortunately this month, the treasury funds are not put in a position where the network must decide between a proposal for hiring internally and a proposal building out the external ecosystem (with one being forced out). We would never want to put the network in such a scenario.

To touch on the scholarships, we understand that many students apply for many “general” scholarships and may not pay too much attention to any specific one. Many scholarships of this sort are associated with the name of a person and ask general questions. However, the Dash scholarship’s application process will not be “general,” but blockchain focused. This will differentiate the scholarship and create a high probability that the students applying for the scholarship will know what Dash is (either from previous knowledge or researching the night they apply). We agree with your point about graduate-level funding being important. On top of the 4 - $5,000 scholarships that will be distributed, the graduate students can get funding from working in the research labs, compensating them for working on Dash related projects.

We hope this helps! Cheers!
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0 points,6 years ago
couldnt agree more , voting no !
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3 points,6 years ago
I have some questions:
The Scholarships, courses etc. Will you be able to be choose students from outside the University of Arizona? Studying on-line.

Will they be accessible by foreign students? example of Europe.
Do you have plans for collaboration in the blockchain field with others universities from the USA and Europe?

I am European, and I would like that the University of Arizona as a R & D center in blockchain, provide the possibility of accessing all areas subsidized by the Dash network, to talent from other geographical areas, Europeans, Asians, etc.
I wish that the best global talent if Dash seduces them, have the same opportunities, as the local Arizona talent.

What can they answer?
Thank you.
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2 points,6 years ago
Hello,

Both the scholarship and online course will have no location restrictions.

For the scholarship, all regular requirements for international students applying for admission to Arizona State University still hold (note, this is not University of Arizona).

For the course, it is online, therefore public to all. Thanks!
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4 points,6 years ago
This proposal looks good...just some follow up questions on the process:

1. Who will decide which students will get the distribution of scholarship money? Is it done through a committee or an individual will make that decision.
2. How will the decision be made as to which students get the scholarship money?
3. What are the steps to notify Dash (or Dash Masternodes) as to when the money has been distributed to the places you mention in the proposal and which students received the scholarship money?

A concern I have is: you guys are still at ASU and want to make sure its not just your friends/family getting the distribution of funds.
Thanks.
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2 points,6 years ago
Hello,

Thank you for your feedback. This is Jeremy speaking.

1. The decision will be jointly agreed upon by Dash Core and ASU officials (not students).
2. The decision will be made by a certain criteria/application process jointly agreed upon by Dash Core and ASU officials (not students).
3. The application process and timeline will be made public since the scholarship will be public for all to see. In addition, we will give an update on the disbursement of funds.

The students involved with this proposal, both Marcus and I, will aid in the groundwork with respect to contacting the scholarship sites, news sites, etc. We will not be making the executive decisions moving forward. Thanks!
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1 point,6 years ago
Sounds good. You got my votes.
Good Luck with the project!
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2 points,6 years ago
Not much more to add, except: Education is always the best investment.

Good luck Jeremy and Marcus! Teach them!
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1 point,6 years ago
sounds like laying the groundwork for future success of Dash. Voting yes.
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7 points,6 years ago
Perhaps, if we do this again in the future, let's tack on an extra 10% Dash, to be held as an ongoing endowment for the program. That would just be the icing on the cake for a University blockchain program to eventually become self funding because of the Dash blockchain endowment.
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3 points,6 years ago
That's a genius idea IMO!
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4 points,6 years ago
This proposal is a rare opportunity for dash. It reminds us that we can be a tool for the elevation of Mankind and help shape the future for the next generation.
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3 points,6 years ago
Agree with everything. You have my votes!
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4 points,6 years ago
I am happy to vote yes, for three reasons:

1. The talent shortage in the blockchain ecosystem is already a serious consideration. And the numbers suggest the shortage will get much worse and very fast. So hey, let's train more people in blockchain tech, and let's predispose them to Dash so we get the best of the best new talent.

2. In addition to being a practical and useful program (see above) this will also make for fantastic marketing.

3. The Dash community in general, and Ryan Taylor in particular already have a great working relationship with Arizona State University. There is essentially zero doubt about accomplishing the stated objectives.

Carry on, have fun, change the world.

Solarguy
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1 point,6 years ago
I’m interested in the online courses that you plan to produce. these courses will free to the public I hope?
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4 points,6 years ago
Hello,

The online course will have three modalities of delivery:
1) Free content/videos with optional assignments
2) Paid specialization that includes content/videos with compulsory assignments and an assessment
3) Paid online masters degree, which is the same as the specialization above, however, also includes credits towards a degree

We have structured it this way to benefit all who are interested in learning about blockchain technology irrespective of their financial situation and end goal.
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1 point,6 years ago
Will the online course be available to people worldwide?
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1 point,6 years ago
Hello,

Yes. The online course will be openly available. Thanks!
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1 point,6 years ago
That is great, there’s such little content out to learn blockchain, I’m glad to you guys being one of the first movers. Good luck on the proposal! Hope to see some great things come out of this.
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0 points,6 years ago
Is the course payable in Dash?
Must-have IMO.
Would tie-in nicely with @bittobyte
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-1 point,6 years ago
this is an excellent proposal , however i feel we are not at a time in Dash's growth where we can support long term initiatives like , think of this logic , why do billionaires support universities once they get super rich and not while they are making their billions ? because they need that money to make billions

i suggest people to consider this seriously , i am perfectly ok with collaborating with ASU and working on a particular project with a particular outcome but not scholarship type initiatives, i know i sound very selfish , but we remember we need all the money we need to grow bigger than Bitcoin first , then we can throw money at anything we please
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2 points,6 years ago
Sounds like you would vote for it unless it would push something else out of the budget. And so far it looks like we will have some space in our budget. So hoping you will vote for this excellent proposal.
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1 point,6 years ago
But...developer shortage....

I risk the investment today. If we can get more and better developers/programmers, that will be a significant competitive advantage. I totally agree there is risk, particularly opportunity cost. solarguy
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-2 points,6 years ago
No charity with other people's money. Voting no.
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1 point,6 years ago
Investing in future Dash developers, cutting-edge research platforms, and academic technical leaders very clearly benefits the network (if you are not short-sighted, that is)
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3 points,6 years ago
How is a scholarship a charity? The money is going to someone that earned it and has shown exceptional aptitude and work ethic. I think we should want to pursue these people to strengthen the network. Or maybe we should just let others poach the good ones...
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0 points,6 years ago
well said
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0 points,6 years ago
Can anybody provide some links if the proposer is legit or on not ? Pre-proposal date is made 20-11-2017
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0 points,6 years ago
Hello,

We have reached out to the Core Team and they will verify our legitimacy soon. Thank you for your patience.
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0 points,6 years ago
Why did you do that first ? and start with a proposal ?
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0 points,6 years ago
Dash Core verified our legitimacy on the forum proposal thread. Please view here: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/proposal-dash-and-asu.18104/
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0 points,6 years ago
Thank you, that made me change my votes to yes (but barely). Please do pre-proposal stuff 2weeks or so ahead of time next time around.
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0 points,6 years ago
I want to vote for this, but can we get a comment from someone on the core team that this is not a scam?
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0 points,6 years ago
Dash Core verified our legitimacy on the forum proposal thread. Please view here: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/proposal-dash-and-asu.18104/
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0 points,6 years ago
Hello,

We have reached out to the Core Team and they will verify our legitimacy soon. Thank you for your patience.
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0 points,6 years ago
Can you add a link to the pre-propsal thread?

> $10,000 for five (5) incoming freshmen, $5,000 for two (2) students of each of the other undergraduate academic level (sophomore, junior, senior) of study and $5,000 for four (4) graduate students

This adds up to $80,000, not $100,000. What am I missing?
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0 points,6 years ago
Hello,

Here is the link to our proposal thread on the forums: https://www.dash.org/forum/threads/proposal-dash-and-asu.18104/#post-147757

Let us rephrase the scholarship distribution.
Five (5) incoming freshmen will receive $10,000 each, equaling $50,000.
Two (2) sophomores will receive $5,000 each, equaling $10,000.
Two (2) juniors will receive $5,000 each, equaling $10,000.
Two (2) seniors will receive $5,000 each, equaling $10,000.
Four (4) graduate students will receive $5,000 each, equaling $20,000.

So, in total, there will be $100,000 used for the scholarships.
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0 points,6 years ago
I see, I missed that there were 3 levels of undergraduates.
The pre-proposal thread looks new. Is there a reason why this wasn't put up as a pre-proposal first?
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1 point,6 years ago
Hello,

Yes, the proposal thread is new.

In the process of making this proposal, many parties had to get involved on both Dash Core and ASU’s side. There were many iterations of the proposal until all parties were satisfied with the return from the initiatives and funding disbursement amount. In this process, legal documentation had to be created for the grant to be given from Dash Core to ASU. To create and review these documents, both the legal team from Dash and ASU had to be a part of this process.

In the interest of time, and bearing in mind that scholarship applications are generally open by December for the fall of 2018, we decided to share the full proposal at this point in time.
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