Gengmo Qi

Gengmo Qi

Phd Student in Computer Science at Cornell Univerity

Gengmo Qi

Phd Student in Computer Science, Cornell University

Bio

I’m currently a Computer Science PhD student at Cornell University. My research interests broadly include security and privacy, distributed systems, and cryptoeconomics.

Teaching

  • Teaching Assistant:
    • CS 5112: Algorithms and Data Structures (Graduate level. 19 Fall, 20 Fall)
    • CS 5433: Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and Smart Contracts (Graduate level. 20 Spring)

Professional Experience

  • August 2019 - Present:
  • August 2018 - August 2019:
    • Researcher, ThunderCore
    • Consensus algorithms research. Advised by Prof. Elaine Shi
    • I co-authored Consensus Protocols 101, our attempt at an informal treatment of consensus protocols for developers, written in collaboration with Peter Lu. This document collates (back then) what we believed were the most important facts to understanding blockchain consensus in an accessible way.
      • Want a formal and rigorous treatment of consensus algorithms? I highly recommend Foundations of Distributed Consensus and Blockchains by Prof. Elaine Shi.
      • For those unfamiliar with the term consensus, think of it as the problem of getting a bunch of servers to agree on some messages. You may think “Well that doesn’t sound too difficult”. However, like many other deeply fascinating problems in Computer Science, consensus is one of those easy-to-explain-but-hard-to-solve type of problems and have bugged multiple generations of Computer Scientists.
  • June 2017 - August 2017:
    • Summer Analyst, Credit Suisse
    • Structured Funds, Equity Derivatives

Talks and Presentations

Miscellanea

What I do in my free time:

  • Mid & long distance running. Personal best: Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2017 - 10K: 46’48”