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Newark, NJ, July 1, 2021 – Edge, the region’s nonprofit research and education network and technology partner, has announced that two members of the organization’s leadership team have been elected to key volunteer roles on the New Jersey Big Data Alliance’s Executive Committee. Dr. Forough Ghahramani and Adam Scarzafava have been elected as Vice President, Research Collaborations Committee, and Vice President, Academic Members Committee, respectively.

The New Jersey Big Data Alliance (NJBDA) is a consortium of 18 higher education institutions and Edge, as well as industry and government members, that builds and leverages collaborations to increase competitiveness, generate a highly skilled workforce, drive innovation, and catalyze data-driven economic growth for New Jersey.

Dr. Forough Ghahramani is Edge’s Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Sponsored Programs. As VP, Research Collaborations Committee for the NJBDA, Dr. Ghahramani will be responsible for creating opportunities for advancing the research mission of the NJBDA by engaging the research community, identifying collaborative research opportunities, as well as expanding the reach for the Journal of Big Data Theory and Practice (JBDTP).  “I’m excited to have been elected by my peers in the NJBDA to serve as the VP, Research Collaborations Committee,” said Dr. Ghahramani. “The opportunity to lead NJBDA’s collaborative research efforts and work with researchers from such a diverse group of institutions to drive research and discovery and economic development in New Jersey is inspiring. I look forward to engaging the research community through focused events and activities to increase research collaboration opportunities and highlight New Jersey’s big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence research, and to promote NJBDA’s Journal of Big Data Theory and Practice as a premier open access peer-reviewed publication, through publication of high quality papers.“

Adam Scarzafava is Edge’s Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications. Now in his second term as VP, Academic Members Committee for the NJBDA, he’ll engage with new prospective members to outline the benefits of participation in the organization, and use feedback from current academic members to continue to improve the benefits and services available to them through the group.

“I appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve the NJBDA in a second term as VP, Academic Members Committee. In the last several years, we’ve added new members and voices to the NJBDA committee. I look forward to the opportunity to further build the organization’s member base, and advocate for the needs of those members as they pursue collaboration and innovation in research and big data fields,” Scarzafava said.


About Edge:
Founded in 2000, Edge, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, serves as a purpose-built research and education wide area network and technology solutions partner. Edge connects members with affordable, easy access to high-performance optical networking, commodity Internet and Internet2 services, and a variety of technology-powered products, solutions, and services. The Edge member consortium consists of colleges and universities, K-12 schools and districts, government entities, healthcare networks, and businesses spread throughout the continental US. The group is governed by the New Jersey Presidents’ Council with offices in Newark, Princeton, and Wall Township, NJ. For more information, please visit: www.njedge.net.

Media Contact:
Adam Scarzafava
AVP for Marketing and Communications, Edge
855-832-3343
adam.scarzafava@njedge.net