Jiahua Xu and Jordan Cates Join XRPL Grants Judging Committee
Tags: xrplgrants, xrpl, web3, webdev
Published: 2023-05-25 16:35:45

XRPL Grants are committed to continuing to grow our judging committee to reflect the breadth and diversity of the community and are pleased to welcome two new judges to the committee beginning in Wave 5: **Jiahua Xu** and **Jordan Cates**. 

Returning judges in Wave 5 are experts in their field spanning web3 and other key industries, like sustainability and social justice, as well as academia (including [UBRI - University Blockchain Research Initiative](https://ripple.com/impact/ubri/)). The 18 returning judges are: **Dr. Sanjay Bapna**, Morgan State University; **Sean Bennett**, Stronghold, **Klitos Christodoulou, PhD**, University of Nicosia; **Kenneth Chung**, University of Pennsylvania; **Brian Dawson**, Web3 Advisor; **Yebo Feng**, University of Oregon; **Chris Jimison**, Forte; **Lukasz Kowalski**, UC Berkeley; **Elliot Lee**, RippleX; **Dr. Kerby Lynch**, Ceres Policy Research; **Aanchal Malhotra, PhD**, RippleX; **Andrew Mangle**, Bowie State University; **Marco Neri**, RippleX; **Peter Rosberg**, RippleX: **Apoorva Sahay**, RMI; **Mayukha Vadari**, RippleX; **Bo Yang**, Bowie State University; and **Jan Zibelnik**, BlockWallet. View the full committee at: [xrplgrants.org/judges](https://xrplgrants.org/judges).

[XRPL Grants Wave 5 applications](https://dev.to/ripplexdev/application-open-for-xrpl-grants-wave-5-36f8) are still in review and awardees will be announced in June 2023! 

## Meet the New Judges

**Jiahua Xu, Ph.D.**
Dr. Jiahua Xu is a Lecturer in Financial Computing at University College London (UCL), where she teaches Blockchain Technologies and Machine Learning in Finance. She is an award-winning researcher at the [UCL's Centre for Blockchain Technologies](http://blockchain.cs.ucl.ac.uk/), and serves as the Programme Director of the MSc Emerging Digital Technologies under the Computer Science Department. Dr. Xu teaches FinTech courses at various institutions, including EPFL, London Business School, EDHEC Business School, and Center for Latin American Monetary Studies. She visited and has ongoing research collaboration with Harvard Business School, Imperial College London, and Vienna University of Economics and Business. Her research interests lie primarily in blockchain economics, behavioral finance, and risk management. She has published academic papers in top tier conferences in computer science as well as renowned journals in economics and finance. 

**Jordan Cates**
Jordan is a developer advocate for [AnChain.Ai](https://www.anchain.ai/) based in Miami, Florida. AnChain.ai has received XRPL Grants funding for two projects [BEI API](https://xrplgrants.org/grantees?query=BEI%20API) - a free version of its AI/ML risk engine via API and [CISO™ (Compliance Investigation Security Operation) integration for the XRPL](https://xrplgrants.org/grantees?query=CISO).  Previously, Jordan spent time as a software developer in San Francisco, and has a background in cybersecurity education. Jordan is a member of the Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) and a recipient of the WiCyS Student Scholarship.

## Wave 6 Application is Open! 

Interested developers and teams are welcome to apply for Wave 6 - with a focus on Web3 and Finance. [Learn more about the Wave 6 application and theme](https://dev.to/ripplexdev/open-call-for-web3-financial-projects-built-on-the-xrpl-hjd). Applications close on June 18th, 2023 at 11:59pm PT. Apply at [xrplgrants.org](https://xrplgrants.org/).