Lobos are invited to the next Lobo Living Room where UNM faculty and alumni will discuss cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and their economic and environmental impacts. The event will be held in person and via Zoom, Wednesday 17 August at 18.30
Featured panelists will include UNM Assistant Professor Benjamin Jones, UNM Associate Professor Reilly White and alum Kyle Guin. The group will discuss the basics of blockchain, the current state of crypto mite, NFTs and the future of decentralized finance. The UNM Alumni Association will also provide graphs and figures showing the distribution of energy use and pollution emissions from cryptomining.
About the speakers:
Benjamin A. Jones | Assistant professor in economics
Benjamin Jones is assistant professor of economics at UNM and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Environmental Economics & Management. Benjamin is also a UNM alum (Ph.D. in Economics, 2015).
His research is in environmental economics with a particular focus on human health and economic implications of pollution exposure. This includes work to estimate economic damages from air and water pollution from specific sources or after natural disasters, environmental shocks or other disruptions to ecosystem services. He has published more than 35 academic articles in leading environmental economics research journals.
Jones co-authored the 2020 paper: “Cryptodamages: Monetary Value Estimates of the Air Pollution and Human Health Impacts of Cryptocurrency Mining” published in the journal Energy research and social science. His work on the environmental impacts of cryptocurrency mining has appeared in The New York Times, Popular Science Magazine, The Guardian, CBS News MoneyWatch and on BBC World News.
Reilly White | Associate professor in finance
Reilly White is assistant dean for Teaching and Learning and tenured associate professor of finance at UNM. White also serves on the board of directors for the CFA Society of New Mexico, advises the student-run UNM regent’s $4.7 million portfolio and leads numerous community financial literacy projects.
Prior to his career in academia, White worked as an analyst for a major Boston-based bank, where he learned a great deal about corporate analysis, financing, and maintaining ethical corporate governance. He has consulted with investment managers and municipalities on maintaining optimal portfolio strategies, particularly in response to economic challenges.
In addition to his doctorate from the University of Connecticut, White received his B.A summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth with a degree in finance. White has published 19 articles in finance and financial technology in recent years, including articles in “Physica A, Journal of Corporate Finance”, “IEEE”, “Technological Forecasting and Social Change” and “Journal of Banking and Finance. ” Along with his students, he co-authored “Financial Literacy for Immigrants and Refugees,” a free handbook on financial literacy that has been translated into Spanish, Arabic, and Dari. Since 2020, White has been interviewed more than 150 times by local and national media about various economic and financial topics.
Kyle Guin | UNM Alum
Kyle Guin graduated from UNM in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Early Stage Business and Operations. At the graduation ceremony, Guin was one of the speakers and was honored as the outstanding senior.
As a bachelor, he participated in UNM’s innovation strategy where he learned entrepreneurial strategies and began to develop his own innovations. They included Pencil-In, a mobile calendar app, which resulted in Guin and his team being featured in a PBS NewsHour segment. Guin was also featured as the cover story in the Spring 2019 issue of the UNM Mirage.
Guin continues to work with other startups and considers herself a technical business development specialist located in Albuquerque. His scope of activities includes the use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the art world.
By participating, individuals understand and accept the risks associated with personal events during a pandemic. Masks are optional according to UNM’s policy. Capacity is limited to 80 people.
