Board Members
Victor B. Lawrence, Ph.D.
Dr. Lawrence is Associate Dean, Batchelor Chair Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of the Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. School of Engineering and Science, and the founding director of the Center for Intelligent Networked Systems at Stevens Institute of Technology.
In 2012, he was named a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, an honor given to “academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.” Dr. Lawrence is also a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Dr. Lawrence’s global telecommunications work has permitted advances in broadband, DSL, and wireless data transfer, among other technologies, and contributed to the global growth of the Internet.
Before joining Stevens in 2005, Dr. Lawrence had a decades-long career at Bell Laboratories, where his last appointment was Vice President of Advanced Communications Technology. There, his work played a key role in advancing signal processing, communications, and V-series modern technology, thus facilitating the worldwide interoperability of computer networks.
Dr. Lawrence has spearheaded efforts to bring fiber optic connectivity to the African continent. He acted as an advisor to the President of South Africa for the development of a broadband network in the country, and was on the board of directors of Telkom, the largest integrated communications company on the African continent. With the founding of Baharicom Development Corporation, Dr. Lawrence seeks to build along the west coast of Africa, a high-capacity, broadband cable.
Originally from Ghana, Dr. Lawrence holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Imperial College of Science and Technology at the University of London, which he received in 1972. He has co-authored five books, and is widely published and holds over 25 patents in the field of telecommunications.
Edward A. Friedman, Ph.D.
Edward A. Friedman is Professor Emeritus of Technology Management at Stevens Institute of Technology. His undergraduate and doctorate degrees in Physics are from MIT (1957) and Columbia University (1963), respectively. He joined the Stevens faculty as a Professor of Physics in 1963.
In 1970, he was co-recipient, with Professor Rodney Andrews, of the Stevens Research Award for their study of laser light scattering which proved that the glass transition in amorphous materials was of the second order.
During the past several years, he has revived a long-time interest in nuclear technology issues to develop new courses that deal with nuclear weapons in international affairs, the threat of nuclear terrorism, and nuclear energy. In April 2016, he was a key speaker at a forum held by the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC, to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster.
His career has included the development of a computer-intensive educational environment at Stevens, which in 1982 became the first college in the United States to require all students to own a computer.
He 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.
At Stevens, he held the position of Dean of the College from 1973 to 1986, and was the founding director of the Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) from 1988 to 2004. CIESE pioneered the use of Internet resources in teaching/learning mathematics and science in primary and secondary schools.
In 1992, Dr. Friedman shared his experience in computer-enhanced mathematics and science education with members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences through a Fulbright Fellowship. His collaboration with Bulgarian academics continues to the present time.
From 2004 to 2008, he collaborated with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on the use of expert systems to facilitate the treatment of patients at rural clinics in Sub-Saharan Africa.
He is a Board Member of the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning where he remains active in promoting innovative approaches to K-12 science and mathematics education. Dr. Friedman received the national education medal from King Zaher Shah of Afghanistan in 1973 and an Honorary Doctorate of Mathematics from Sofia University in Bulgaria in 2000. He was also awarded the New Jersey State Albert Einstein Medal for educational leadership in 1993. In 2015, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences published a special issue of their Journal of Computing – Serdica, in honor of his eightieth birthday. In October, 2017, Dr. Friedman was elected to the Board of Trustees of the American University of Bulgaria, where he serves as Chair of the Educational Policy Committee.