Meet The Team

People

Research Faculty

Dahlia next to Dahlia-flowers

Dahlia Malkhi

Professor, head of Fftech Lab

dahliamalkhi@ucsb.edu

 

Dahlia Malkhi is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science of UCSB since 2024 and the Founding head of the fftech lab.

Malkhi serves as Distinguished Scientist of Chainlink Labs, advisor of Espresso Systems, advisor of nubit.org, advisor of SpaceCoin, former CTO at the Diem Association, and former Lead Researcher at Novi Financial. 

Her research over two decades spans broad aspects of reliability and security of distributed systems, recently with focus on blockchains and advances in financial technology. Her work resulted in over 200 publications as well as a strong impact on computing technology. 

Postdoctoral Researcher

PhD Student

Photo of Kali Hale

Kali Hale

Phd student

kalihale@ucsb.edu

 

Kali Hale started her graduate studies in computer science at UCSB in fall of 2022 and was accepted to the PhD program in fall of 2024. She graduated from California Lutheran University with her BS in Computer Science in May 2022.

 

Headshot of Rithwik Kerur

Rithwik Kerur

Phd student

rkerur@ucsb.edu

 

Rithwik Kerur started his PhD studies in the Computer Science department of UCSB in the fall of 2024. He graduated from UC Irvine in 2024 with a bachelors in Computer Science, and is interested in distributed systems, financial markets, and data management.

 

MSc Student

Profile image of Tom Shangguan

Tom Shangguan

MS

 

Tom Shangguan is a master's student in the Computer Science department at UCSB. His interests include distributed systems, databases, and memory management. He is working on optimizing authenticated data structures—data structures that enable users to verify integrity and authenticity via cryptographic proofs without full data access—to produce smaller proofs for frequently accessed contents.

Undergraduate

Profile photo of Kevin Chang

Kevin Chang

Undergraduate

 

Kevin is an undergraduate student in UCSB. He received his bachelor's degree in UCSB's Department of Applied Mathematics. His interests include distributed systems, AI, and finance.

Image of Ruslan Akhtariev

Ruslan Akhtariev

Undergraduate

akhtariev@umail.ucsb.edu

 

Ruslan Akhtariev is an undergraduate student in UCSB and a Web3 developer in Cosmos and Ethereum ecosystems. Ruslan is the Vice President at the Blockchain@UCSB club. His interests include distributed systems, cryptography and finance.

Alumni

Photo of Ysabel Chen

Ysabel Chen

Alumna

ysabelchen@ucsb.edu

 

Ysabel Chen received her bachelor's degree in UCSB's Department of Computer Science. She was the President at Blockchain@UCSB club and has authored a paper debating blockchain regulation. Her interests include distributed systems, finance, and aerospace.

Nir Chemaya

Nir Chemaya

Alumnus

nir@ucsb.edu

 

Nir Chemaya recieved his PhD in Economics in 2025.

Chemaya focuses on innovations in the Fintech markets, such as blockchain and Decentralized Finance (DeFi), and agents' interactions with those technologies. He has authored several papers on Decentralized Exchanges and possesses extensive knowledge of blockchain technologies and payment systems. Chemaya was also one of the leaders of the UCSB-ECON DeFi Seminar, a graduate-student-led seminar series sponsored by Uniswap.