Interledger Foundation awards $150K to Bowie State for scholarship program

The Tampa, Florida-based Interledger Foundation (ILF) Thursday announced a $150,000 award to Bowie State University to create the Interledger Student Scholars Program.

The program represents an initiative designed to harness the potential of bright, motivated students in historically Black colleges and universities helping shape the future of financial technology and digital payment systems. All scholars are hands-on leaders offering technical support, community engagement and community-driven research to support open digital payments and protocols.

The 2024 Interledger Foundation Student Scholars are:

• Felicia Ilori – Research Scholar pursuing a master’s degree in management information systems.Her role will be to research and develop innovative strategies to enhance student participation and satisfaction in the program.
• Tomisin Laniyi – Community Engagement Scholar and business management major. Her work aims to bridge the Interledger community to Bowie State students and enhance understanding and implementation of crucial financial concepts, contributing to a well-informed and financially literate community.
• Jonathan Hairston – Technical Liaison for Students and pursuing a master’s degree in information systems. His role will be to support Interledger workshops by creating and supporting technical materials for students interested in delving into the technical side of open protocols and payments. This includes the development of tutorials, supporting code examples, and documentation designed to lower the barrier to entry for students eager to contribute.

The ILF, established in 2020 as a global nonprofit grantmaking foundation, has funded people and ideas using the Interledger protocol to contribute to an open payments network built on equitable access through the internet. The foundation has awarded more than $14 million to supporting projects and 188 grants in more than 40 countries.

Correction: This article has been updated to correct the city where the Interledger Foundation is based.