Jovonni Pharr

Experience

1. Co-founder

   Georgia Cyber Warfare Range· Full-time

   Aug 2018 – Present· 8 yrs 3 mos· Atlanta, Georgia, United States

   Maintaining a publicly accessible data center to enable security professionals & students to build and destroy technology. We also build innovative technologies to solve complex problems in security, data science, blockchain, and infrastructure.

2. Co-founder / Chief Scientist

   NuraCode

   Aug 2011 – Present· 15 yrs 3 mos· Atlanta Metropolitan Area

   We have built technologies for AARP, Samsung, Veggie Tales, Caillou, and a long list of others. (Caillou Watch and Find on iOS, 2014 — 2M downloads.)

3. Co-founder / Chief Scientist

   Constructive· Full-time

   Dec 2024 – Jan 2026· 1 yr 2 mos

   Invented the Hyperweb Virtual Machine (HVM) using the Cosmos-SDK, and universal cross-chain interpreters to execute JavaScript in smart contracts running on heterogeneous blockchains using Solidity & Rust for Solana, EVM, and CosmWasm. Developed LLM-agnostic agentic infrastructure to generate production-ready applications from natural language using TypeScript. Developed the first end-to-end TypeScript security testing framework for Supabase (supabase-test). Built a reusable cloud-function framework using Kubernetes, Knative, and Postgres, and contributed to a Postgres schema introspection module for automated row-level security (RLS) policy generation.

4. Engineer, Developer Relations

   Agoric· Full-time

   Apr 2024 – Dec 2024· 9 mos

   Developed asynchronous cross-chain smart contracts using the orchestration framework, and traveled the world to teach developers & startups to build truly interoperable asynchronous blockchain applications. Also developed Cosmos-to-EVM orchestration infrastructure using Solidity, and a cross-chain, privacy-preserving DeFi smart contract infrastructure using orchestration & CosmWasm.

5. Director of Blockchain

   Coreum· Full-time

   Jun 2023 – Mar 2024· 10 mos· Remote

   Developed a CosmWasm smart contract playground, a decentralized Grant DAO, and reusable smart contracts for IBC; distributed over $750,000 in grants to developers; performed security & engineering audits of various protocols from grantees; maintained partnerships with core blockchain stakeholders (relayers, validators, developers); traveled the world teaching developers how to build smart contracts in Rust; and built partnerships with large & small organizations to grow the network by key metrics.

6. Blockchain Security Engineer

   CertiK· Full-time

   Jun 2022 – Dec 2022· 7 mos

   Building real-time MEV Sandwich Detection on Ethereum blockchains using Solidity & Python, Front Running-as-a-Service, Malicious Contract Detection using Deep Learning, real-time Threat Detection using on-chain data, reusable AWS data science model architecture, and helping audit smart contract protocols.

7. Blockchain Protocol Engineer

   3Box Labs· Full-time

   Jan 2022 – Jun 2022· 6 mos

   Building Ceramic DB, and v2 of the decentralized anchoring service to EVM using Solidity, TypeScript, and IPFS.

8. Senior Software Engineer

   Delta Air Lines· Full-time

   Jan 2021 – Jan 2022· 1 yr 1 mo

   Building ICH (Integrated Crew Hub) for Pilots & Flight Attendant scheduling & analysis in real-time to help solve the billion dollar scheduling problem.

9. Senior Data Scientist — Cyber Security Defense Center

   State Farm· Full-time

   Apr 2017 – Jan 2021· 3 yrs 10 mos· Atlanta Metropolitan Area

   Responsible for building out new security analytic and threat hunting capabilities by applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Big Data. Developed robust AI models for detecting malicious bank logins in real-time, detecting command and control attacks, detecting malicious network traffic using various modeling methods, and several custom models to enhance real-time threat hunting across the enterprise.

10. Research & Development Engineer

    State Farm· Full-time

    Sep 2015 – Apr 2017· 1 yr 8 mos· Greater Phoenix Area

    Conducted research & built new-technology prototypes for State Farm's future roadmap. Developed the first internal end-to-end blockchain system using Bitcoin & Ethereum to begin a dedicated blockchain effort for the organization. Developed an end-to-end IoT platform & analysis to monitor end-user wearable data in real-time to generate insurance policies using Artificial Intelligence — resulting in patent #US11869637B2. Developed a data transmission protocol using ultrasonic audio frequencies on consumer hardware. Also spoke at conferences & schools.

11. Graduate Research Assistant

    Georgia State University

    Jan 2019 – Jan 2020· 1 yr 1 mo

    Researching Distributed Privacy-Preserved Machine Learning at the Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS).

12. Volunteer Hardware Lab Advisor

    The Farm — Atlanta· Volunteer

    Jan 2018 – Jan 2020· 2 yrs 1 mo· Battery Park (New Braves Stadium)

    Responsible for assisting with laboratory projects, and maintaining hardware/lab equipment.

13. Engineer

    Sayroom, Inc

    Jun 2011 – Dec 2016· 5 yrs 7 mos· Greater Atlanta Area

    Funded by Flashpoint @ Georgia Tech, SayRoom captures the real voice of your customer... literally.

14. Co-instructor (Startup Exchange)

    Georgia State University· Part-time

    Aug 2014 – Aug 2016· 2 yrs 1 mo· Georgia State University LAUNCH Incubator

    Instructed students on startup engineering principles, product validation, and product deployment strategies.

15. Sprite P.O.U.R. Content Curator

    The Coca-Cola Company

    Sep 2013 – Dec 2013· 4 mos· Greater Atlanta Area

    Provided Sprite with content to use in their campaigns merging music & technology.

16. Resident Assistant

    Georgia State University

    Jan 2011 – Dec 2013· 3 yrs· Atlanta, GA

    Being an RA taught me how to become an efficient role model to my younger peers.

17. Engineer

    Clear I Media

    Apr 2008 – Jan 2013· 4 yrs 10 mos

    Built innovative, engaging platforms to solve business problems; focused on connecting digital software with the physical environment around us.

Education

• Georgia State University
  PhD, Theoretical Computer Science — privacy-preserving computations (TReNDS). 2019–present.
• Georgia State University
  B.S., Computer Information Systems.
• Gordon State College
  Finance.