Biography  

Melanie Swan is a Research Associate at the Centre for Blockchain Technologies at University College London. She is the founder of several startups including DIYgenomics, GroupPurchase, the MS Futures Group, and the Institute for Blockchain Studies. Ms. Swan has a PhD from Purdue University, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA from Georgetown University. Previous academic affiliations include the New School for Social Research in New York NY, Kingston University London and Université Paris 8. She is a faculty member at Singularity University and the University of the Commons, an Affiliate Scholar at the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and a participant in FQXi's foundational physics Essay Contest.

Ms. Swan's career has focused on academic research, finance, and entrepreneurship. In industry, she was Research Director of the Telecom Economics Program at optical networking boutique Ovum-RHK, and previously held management and finance positions at iPass in Silicon Valley, J.P. Morgan in New York, Fidelity in Boston, and Arthur Andersen in Los Angeles.

Ms. Swan serves as an advisor in academic, government, corporate, and startup settings, and is active in the community promoting science and technology. She is a hackathon participant and designs collaboration simulations including "Discontinuity Futures," "Being an Entrepreneur" and "The Trader's Pit." Ms. Swan is an Advisory Board member of the Lifeboat Foundation and the Accelerating Studies Foundation, the former Treasurer of San Francisco-based non-profit Equal Rights Advocates, and a workshop presenter at the Expanding Your Horizons math and science conference. Ms. Swan speaks French, Spanish, and Portuguese, and enjoys reading, international travel, running, and meditation.