Gifted Education Fund: Coding, Cryptography and FinTech (CCF) Skills Education for Gifted Students
Introduction
This programme aims to equip the gifted students with essential knowledge and skills related to cryptography and FinTech. Major topics such as blockchain, smart contracts, and digital assets will be covered. Relevant foundation mathematics will be introduced and coding tasks are offered wherever appropriate. Students are required to complete an individual mentorship research project by the end of the programme. The programme will also develop positive values and attitudes essential for future growth and development of the students.
Programme Objectives
- To increase the awareness of gifted students on the importance and diverse applications of cryptography in the contemporary world;
- To provide gifted students with the foundation of the mathematical concepts used in cryptography, financial technology (FinTech) and security programming, and for development of relevant applications;
- To equip students with engineering skills and experiences through practicals and projects of blockchain systems development. Students will acquire the knowledge of blockchain platforms and smart contract development and deployment;
- To develop the coding abilities of students in solving authentic problems related to FinTech and other blockchain related fields;
- To provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate their creativity and talents by presenting their designs to representatives of technology companies and other participants in a large-scale event; and
- To nurture positive values and attitudes among the students such as perseverance to overcome problems, the ethics of deploying and using FinTech, the socio-economic implication of innovation and technology, etc.
Timeline
| Date and Time | Contents | ||
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Phase 1: Foundational Guest Lectures |
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1 |
19 May 2023 (Fri) |
Foundational Guest Lecture on Cryptography, Blockchain and FinTech |
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2 |
2 Jun 2023 (Fri) |
Foundational Guest Lecture on Cryptography, Blockchain and FinTech |
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3 |
9 Jun 2023 (Fri) |
Foundational Guest Lecture on Cryptography, Blockchain and FinTech |
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4 |
16 Jun 2023 (Fri) |
Foundational Guest Lecture on Cryptography, Blockchain and FinTech |
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5 |
23 Jun 2023 (Fri) |
Foundational Guest Lecture on Cryptography, Blockchain and FinTech |
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6 |
30 Jun 2023 (Fri) |
Foundational Guest Lecture on Cryptography, Blockchain and FinTech |
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Phase 2: Progressive Study of Cryptography and Learning Basic Sage Programming |
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7 |
7 Jul 2023 (Fri) |
Getting Familiar with the Coding Environment, GitHub and StackOverflow |
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8 |
14 Jul 2023 (Fri) |
Security Fundamentals |
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9 |
21 Jul 2023 (Fri) |
Classical Cryptography |
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10 |
28 Jul 2023 (Fri) |
Secret-key (Symmetric Key) Cryptography |
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11 |
4 Aug 2023 (Fri) |
Secret-key (Symmetric Key) Cryptography |
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12 |
11 Aug 2023 (Fri) |
Number Theory |
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13 |
18 Aug 2023 (Fri) |
Public-key (Asymmetric Key) Cryptography |
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14 |
25 Aug 2023 (Fri) |
Public-key(Asymmetric Key) Cryptography |
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15 |
1 Sep 2023 (Fri) |
Hashing Algorithm, Digital Signature |
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16 |
8 Sep 2023 (Fri) |
Hashing Algorithm, Digital Signature (Cont’d) |
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Phase 3: Basic Theory of Blockchain: Consensus Mechanism, Data Structure and Digital Signature |
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17 |
15 Sep 2023 (Fri) |
Background of Blockchain |
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18 |
22 Sep 2023 (Fri) |
Consensus in Blockchain Technology – PoW, PoS Raft and PBFT |
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19 |
6 Oct 2023 (Fri) |
Consensus in Blockchain Technology – PoW, PoS Raft, and PBFT (Cont’d) |
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20 |
13 Oct 2023 (Fri) |
Data Structure – Merkle Root, Merkle Tree and Merkle Patricia Trie |
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21 |
20 Oct 2023 (Fri) |
Bitcoin as a Use Case – Installations, Transactions, Node Types, Use of Blockchain Explorer, Querying Blockchain Data |
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22 |
27 Oct 2023 (Fri) |
Cryptography in Blockchain - Transaction Signing and Creation, Address and Wallet Creation, Privacy, ECDSA, ECC, SHA-256 |
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Phase 4: Applications of Blockchain: Cryptocurrency, Private Blockchain, Smart Contract and NFT; Hands-on Smart Contract Programming |
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23 |
3 Nov 2023 (Fri) |
Blockchain Applications and Use Cases: Cryptocurrencies, Healthcare, Insurance |
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24 |
10 Nov 2023 (Fri) |
Stablecoins |
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25 |
17 Nov 2023 (Fri) |
Private Blockchain and Platforms |
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26 |
24 Nov 2023 (Fri) |
Ethereum Blockchain, Smart Contracts and Smart Contract Standards |
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27 |
1 Dec 2023 (Fri) |
Smart Contract Programming using Solidity, OpenZepplin and Remix |
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28 |
8 Dec 2023 (Fri) |
Distributed File System - InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) |
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Phase 5: FinTech Project under Mentorship and Support; Project Exhibition and Competition |
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- |
Dec 2023 – |
Mentorship Meetings, Student Project Exhibition and Competition |
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Medium of Instruction
Course Material: English
Class Teaching / Discussion: English supplemented with Cantonese
Application
Eligibility: Secondary 3-5 students in the 2022/23 school year who meet the following requirements:
- Applicants should demonstrate great interest and outstanding performance in mathematics, and should be experienced in at least one text-based computer programming language such as Python, C/C++, Swift, Java and JavaScript.
- They should also show eagerness to learn FinTech, cryptography and blockchain, etc.
Programme Fee: Free of charge
Application Procedure: Please complete the application form (Chinese/ English) and send the scanned copy by email to eegefp@cityu.edu.hk, AND then the original copy by post on or before 21 April 2023 (Fri) to the following address: Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong (Attn: Prof. Ray CHEUNG)
Application Deadline: 21 Apr 2023 (Fri)
Result Announcement Date : By early May 2022 (tentative)
More information HERE.
Contact Information
Prof. Ray Cheung
Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering
City University of Hong Kong
Tel: 3442 9849
Email: eegefp@cityu.edu.hk