# Week Zero Ethereum Protocol Fellowship Cohort Six

Hi folks, I'm Ellie. After studying computer science, I worked as a Java developer for almost a decade. My first encounter with crypto, like many others, was buying some cryptocurrency back in 2017. Later, I was introduced to the Web3 world through smart contracts. Of course, security and gas optimization was an eye-catching area to me, which led me to get deeply into knowing more about EVM, where transactions are going to be executed. The journey of becoming a security specialist in smart contract development led me to get curious about the underlying concepts that put together Ethereum as a whole. I started reading as much as I could from the [wiki](https://epf.wiki/) and presentations by experts in the Ethereum core devs space and researchers. Luckily I got selected as an EPF cohort six fellow. Below I will outline the project I would like to work on and my concerns.

Becoming the sixth cohort member of the EPF is an honor and a thrill. Prior to the cohort starting, I had been investigating the Besu base code (a Java-based EL client). In addition to running a private Besu network, I watched a couple of talks regarding the client and investigated the [ideas](https://github.com/eth-protocol-fellows/cohort-six/blob/master/projects/project-ideas.md) that mentors had suggested. The primary factors that I consider when selecting a project are, first and foremost, I would prefer it to be within my skill set because I have a background in Java and would love to work on something that I have years of expertise with; therefore, I would likely choose to work with clients that are Teku and Besu. Second, it should allow me to interact with Ethereum core concepts in a more practical manner. Third, optimization and scaling is my niche of interest in software development.

That said, my main interest is in [minimum validator participation](https://github.com/ethpandaops/tooling-wishlist/blob/master/open-ideas/minimum-validator-participation.md); however, I am also open to exploring other ideas [here](https://github.com/ethpandaops/tooling-wishlist/tree/master/open-ideas). In the meantime, I am reading the eth2 book until the project begins.

My initial perspective on [minimum validator participation](https://github.com/ethpandaops/tooling-wishlist/blob/master/open-ideas/minimum-validator-participation.md) is whether it should be handled externally (or perhaps by providing APIs that may be required specifically for it inside Teku) or whether it should be implemented as inline code into the Teku implementation. There are other thoughts that came to my mind, like the scale of the project and if it should have a UI for broader adoption and user convenience.