Meet the Team
Victor B. Lawrence, PhD
Director, Co-Founder, and Member of the Board
A member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering since 2003, Dr. Lawrence, originally from Ghana, was trained as an electrical engineer at the University of London, where he received his Ph.D. in 1972.
After a 30+ year career at Bell Laboratories, where his last appointment was Vice President of Advanced Communications Technology, Dr. Lawrence joined the Stevens Institute of Technology in 2005, as Associate Dean and Charles Batchler Chair Professor of Engineering.
Dr. Lawrence’s work has contributed to improvements in the transmission, speed, and growth of the internet, and to advances in technologies that include silicon chip design, DSL, digital video, and speech and audio coding.
Dr. Lawrence, NAE Member
Florence Chaverneff, PhD
Co-Founder & Member of the Board
A neuroscientist and stem cell biologist by training, with research experience in the U.S. and Europe, Florence is devoted to leveraging international collaborations in science and technology to promote global development and foreign relations.
Follow Florence on ResearchGate
Ali Mostashari, PhD
Co-Founder & Advisor
Currently the CEO of a Health AI platform startup in New York, Ali is a former tenure-stream academic (2008-2014) and a former UN development professional providing oversight over $1.2 billion in development projects in 31 countries across sub-Saharan Africa (2004-2008). Ali is passionate about research capacity development in the African continent.
Follow Ali on Google Scholar
Muhammadou M.O. Kah, PhD
Advisor
Prof. Kah is Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary of The Gambia to Switzerland & Permanent Representative to UN Organisations at Geneva, WTO & Other International Organisations in Switzerland. Prof. Kah also acts as Board Member of the African University of Science & Technology in Abuja, Nigeria. Prior to his appointment at the UN in Geneva, Prof. Kah was Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost and Professor of Information Technology and Computing at The American University of Nigeria.
Previously, he was Rector of the University of The Gambia serving for six years, and the first Gambian to provide leadership for the University of The Gambia.
In 2016, the University of The Gambia awarded Prof. Kah a Doctor of Science degree (Honoris Causa). He is also the recipient of the 2014 President of The Republic of The Gambia National Leadership Award and National Merit Insignia award.
Prof. Kah completed his BSc, MSc, Advanced Diploma and Ph.D. at the Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ.
More on Prof. Kah
Edward A. Friedman, PhD
Member of the Board
Dr. Friedman is Professor Emeritus of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology, which he joined as a Professor of Physics in 1963, and where he was Dean of the College from 1973 to 1986. Dr. Friedman received a PhD in Physics from Columbia University. In 1970, he was co-recipient of the Stevens Research Award for the study of laser light scattering. Dr. Friedman played a key role in a U.S. government program to develop an indigenous college of engineering in Afghanistan, where he was director from 1970 to 1973.
Dr. Friedman, Emeritus Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology