People

Director's Statement

Director

— Director

amm16@uoregon.edu

Alex Murray

Associate Professor of Management

Lundquist College of Business

LinkedIn Scholar

His work focuses on decentralized governance, algorithmic organizing, digital assets, and the evolving relationship between humans and intelligent systems. He develops theoretical frameworks to advance our understanding of technological shifts and to guide the responsible implementation of emerging technologies in organizations and society. Drawing on inductive field studies, experiments, and statistical analyses, he generates insights on how technologies like AI and blockchain are reshaping decision-making, collaboration, and organizational design. Beyond research, he advises both the Artificial Intelligence Student Association and the Oregon Blockchain Group. He serves as Senior Editor at Organization Science, Associate Editor at Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Guest Editor for the Special Topic Forum on "AI in Management" at Academy of Management Review. His work is published in leading academic journals including Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Management Studies, and Research Policy.

Lab Manager

Lab Manager —

Arya Krishnagiri

Lab Manager

Lundquist College of Business

LinkedIn Medium

Arya works at the intersection of emerging technologies, financial markets, and organizational strategy. With a background in economics and computer science, he brings expertise in digital asset markets, venture investing, and blockchain infrastructure to support lab projects and partnerships. Arya served as President of the Oregon Blockchain Group, where he managed its research, consulting, and venture capital divisions. He currently works as an Associate Analyst at Hutt Capital, a blockchain venture capital fund of funds platform, and serves on the board of the Blockchain Acceleration Foundation. His research focuses on decentralized crowdfunding, and he specializes in digital asset markets, VC investing, and blockchain media. At IF Lab, Arya leads initiatives at the intersection of decentralized finance and institutional research, helping bridge academic inquiry with real-world technology adoption. Contact Arya for all IF Lab inquiries.

aryak@uoregon.edu

Evan Thompson at the Midwest Blockchain Conference, 2025.

Alex Murray at the Senior Editors Panel, Hong Kong, 2025 — Alex Murray, Hong Kong, 2025.

— Lab Affiliates

Lab Affiliates

Adam Wolfe

Adam helps connect student talent with real-world projects and external partners, bringing a founder's mindset rooted in entrepreneurship, AI, and product development. At the University of Oregon, he served as President of the Artificial Intelligence Student Association and Venture Success Coordinator for the Oregon Entrepreneurship Group. He led product and growth efforts at startups, built digital tools, and helped create communities connecting students, founders, and technologists. He currently works as an AI Product Manager at Modern Amenities. At IF Lab, Adam focuses on applied AI for business, operational strategy, and turning ideas into impact.

Cameron Coleman

LinkedIn Medium

Cameron focuses on applied blockchain research, on-chain data analysis, and growth strategy, translating decentralized systems into real-world products and organizational impact. Previous stops include Polymarket and Hype, where he worked on user acquisition, quant analysis, and product development. As former President of the Oregon Blockchain Group, he led industry partnerships, expanded career pipelines, and positioned the organization as a national leader in university blockchain education. He was recently featured in a Bloomberg article on digital assets in collegiate education.

Dhru Patel

LinkedIn Medium

Dhru started his interest in technology in the Oregon Blockchain Group, where he served as Director of Education, Director of Technology, and Director of Research. He acquired his Master of Science in Accounting in June 2024 and co-authored a publication on AI and blockchain published in Business Horizons in February 2024. He founded Matzu Research, a research group that draws on natural systems — how bees find their hive, how plants decide where to grow, how whales navigate migration — to build technology that optimizes coordination and automation. His work takes a decelerated approach (d/cc approach), favoring objective-based agentic frameworks over AGI, and looking to the natural world rather than human coordination alone.

Evan Thompson

LinkedIn Medium

Evan currently studies Finance, Psychology, and Mandarin Chinese at the University of Oregon. As President of the Oregon Blockchain Group and an active member of the Oregon Consulting Group, he is constantly exploring emerging technologies and market strategies. He interned at Deloitte in the Government and Public Services practice. Evan's curiosity revolves around the implications of Web3 and decentralized systems on the environment and global markets. He is passionate about translating complex blockchain concepts into simple terms that help expand understanding for people new to the space. As a former Senior Analyst in the Oregon Blockchain Group, he led investment pitches and conducted extensive research on cryptocurrency protocols from a venture capital perspective, largely focusing on how asset ecosystems play into economic forces and traditional/DeFi financial systems.

Jennifer Barnett

LinkedIn Medium

Jennifer is completing her B.S. in Business (Entrepreneurship, Finance, and Operational Analytics) and Economics at the University of Oregon, graduating June 2026. Currently a Digital Marketing Consultant at DASMAC, she supports branding, investor materials, and fundraising initiatives. Her prior experience includes investment research, business development, and analytics roles with Pacific Acquisitions and Stena Circular Consulting, contributing to Fortune 500 and national brand projects. Jennifer has advanced skills in financial modeling, data analytics, venture analysis, and strategic operations. As a leader in the Oregon Blockchain Group, she has directed venture capital initiatives, sourced digital asset investments, and authored technical research in Web3.

Jordan Brewer

LinkedIn Medium

Jordan joined the Oregon Blockchain Group in early 2022 while studying business, accounting, and finance at the University of Oregon, earning his Master of Science in Accounting in June 2024. He currently works at Runa Digital Assets, an investment firm focused on crypto and blockchain assets. Previous companies include Deloitte, Artemis, and Bloccelerate VC. His research spans modular blockchain architecture, MEV, hyper-structures, restaking, ZK, and AI. As Director of Education at OBG, he restructured a 5-week education program, then as Director of Venture Capital created a portfolio achieving 186% annualized return, +102% against benchmark. During that time, he co-authored a publication on AI and blockchain published in Business Horizons in February 2024.

Maggie Byrne

Maggie is President of the Artificial Intelligence Student Association at the University of Oregon, studying Philosophy and Business. She focuses on connecting ambitious students across disciplines to create transformative innovations and supporting student-led projects. Maggie has extensive experience at venture firms and venture-backed startups, has founded and sold her own startup, and serves on multiple boards focused on AI and the future of education. She has also worked for OpenAI in the ChatGPT Lab.

Director's Statement

Shaping Tomorrow: Introducing the University of Oregon’s IF Lab

by Alex Murray · Associate Professor of Management

As a kid, I started countless sentences with the following two words: what if.

What if we could talk to animals?

What if we could breathe underwater?

What if we could fly?

What if we lived in a world with no rules?

Fast forward a few decades. The what ifs have largely subsided. In their place: structure, routines, to-do lists, and tasks. Even as a researcher, privileged to ask questions for a living, the beauty of pondering what if often gets relegated to a faraway back burner.

Yet what if it wasn’t this way? What if we created a space where curiosity — as a lifelong process — is an active pursuit? What if we took the time — intentionally, thoughtfully, inquisitively — to again ask what if?

he University of Oregon’s IF Lab is a dedicated space for researchers, students, and community partners to come together to explore novel technologies, innovate responsibly, and guide technological adoption in ways that benefit humanity. At the IF Lab, we are committed to critically examining emerging technologies not in isolation, but within their social, ethical, and cultural contexts. The IF Lab provides a place to invent, imagine, and innovate a more intelligent future.

The IF Lab’s mission centers on three interconnected pillars. First, we advance research on emerging technologies such as AI and blockchain. Our work explores not only the capabilities of these technologies, but how they can be developed to address pressing societal challenges. Second, we foster interdisciplinary collaboration. The complexity of emerging technologies demands diverse perspectives — from computer scientists and engineers to ethicists, sociologists, legal scholars, and others. By bringing diverse voices together, we seek to generate more nuanced understandings and more robust solutions. Third, we promote ethical, responsible, and inclusive innovation. At the IF Lab, we believe technology does not inherently reinforce existing inequalities or create new vulnerabilities. We instead seek to understand how technology can expand human potential and be accessible to all.

Emerging technologies like AI and blockchain offer both transformative opportunities and serious risks from economic growth and societal innovation to job loss, surveillance, and inequality. Understanding this dual impact is a societal necessity, not just an academic one.

The IF Lab invites students, faculty, and community members to explore and shape this evolving landscape. Whether through research, policy, entrepreneurship, or public dialogue, we can help ensure that technology serves the public good and drives meaningful change at the University of Oregon and beyond.

As technology continues to advance at a breakneck pace, our work is driven by a clear mission: to advance knowledge, foster integrity, and empower responsible innovation. Our vision is ambitious: a future where emerging technologies are developed and deployed ethically, inclusively, and for the benefit of all. By studying technology’s impact on organizations and society, we do more than anticipate challenges — we help create solutions that will define our collective future. We look forward to working with you to build a more just, equitable, and intelligent tomorrow.

Inquisitively,

Alex Murray

Director, IF Lab

Read on Medium