After two years of preparation, the Class of 2026 cohort of the Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity began developing their capstone projects this semester.
The Milstein Program takes a select number of exceptional students from each class every year to focus on the intersection between technology and humanity. Students participate in interdisciplinary workshops, discover internship opportunities and develop projects to interact with the larger community.
As juniors, students take on a self-selected year-long project that is completed individually or with a team of their choosing.
Some students, including Emilia Gurrola ’26, already have a clear vision for their projects. Gurrola is working on a comparative analysis of virtual asset regulation across different economies. Virtual assets are digital representations of value, such as cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs.
Despite the intangibility of VAs, they have become a mainstream currency with a strong presence in the economy. For example, all of the Bitcoins in circulation are valued at over 1.5 trillion USD. Therefore, many governments are hesitant to put regulations on VA transactions and trading, in fear of stifling the economy.
However, anonymous VA platforms can streamline money laundering for individuals who have obtained their money illegally. The ability of VA platforms to “clean” cash so easily complicates matters. The ethical and economic concerns involved in regulating VAs are what makes them so difficult to regulate, according to Gurrola.
Other students have established their general direction while finalizing the details of their projects. Arshia Agrawal ’26 looks to focus on either artificial intelligence in robotics or sustainable AI practices.
With AI set to innovate in many fields in the near future, Agrawal may focus her project on integrating AI into medicine via robotics or creating a sustainable AI software.
The massive computing energy and hardware resources required to power high-tech companies and their extensive algorithms have deleterious effects on the planet, according to Argawal. Therefore, she believes that a project focusing on developing a more sustainable AI requiring less computational power would be a valuable pursuit.
Ultimately, both Gurrola and Agrawal hope to complete meaningful work at the intersection of technology and humanity.
“The best part of the Milstein Program is that you can positively interact with your community beyond Cornell,” Agrawal said.
Kyle Chun can be reached at [email protected].