Dr. Edward Friedman

Edward A. Friedman, born in 1935 to parents who operated a candy store in Bayonne, New Jersey, has pursued an academic career as a researcher in physics and as a leader at the intersection of science and society.

Having earned an undergraduate degree from MIT, a graduate degree from Columbia University, and an Honorary Doctorate from Sofia University in Bulgaria, he serves as Professor Emeritus of Technology Management in the Business School at Stevens Institute of Technology.  His book, “Nuclear Energy: Boom, Bust, and Emerging Renaissance,” was published in 2025 by Oxford University Press. At Stevens, he held the position of Dean of the College from 1973-1986. While serving as Dean, he initiated and led a national program to promote technology as a core subject in higher education through the Council for the Understanding of Technology in Human Affairs (CUTHA) from 1979-1982. His management of the development of a computer intensive educational environment at Stevens led, in 1982, to Stevens becoming 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 1970-1973. From 1988 thru 2004, at Stevens he pioneered the use of Internet resources in teaching/learning mathematics and science in primary and secondary schools. From 2004-2008, he collaborated with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on the use of expert computer systems to facilitate treatment of patients at rural clinics in Sub Saharan Africa.

Dr. Friedman received the national education medal from King Zaher Shah of Afghanistan in 1973. He was also awarded the New Jersey State Albert Einstein Medal for educational leadership in 1993. In October, 2017 he was elected to the Board of Trustees of the American University in Bulgaria a position in which he served until 2025.

He resides in Hoboken, New Jersey with his spouse, Dr. Arline J Lederman, who has had a career as a fine artist and professor of art. Their son, Millard Timur Friedman, is a professor of computer science at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France and their son, Philip Kerim Friedman, is a professor of anthropology at National Dong Hwa University in Hualien, Taiwan.