Our Team
Treena Arinzeh
Treena Livingston Arinzeh, PhD is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University. She received her B.S. from Rutgers University in Mechanical Engineering, M.S.E. from Johns Hopkins University in Biomedical Engineering, and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in Bioengineering. She was a project manager at Osiris Therapeutics and a founding faculty member of biomedical engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She joined the faculty in biomedical engineering at Columbia University in the fall of 2022. Arinzeh has been recognized with numerous awards for her research, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). She has 16 issued patents.
Nancy Steffen-Fluhr
NJECC Co-PI Nancy Steffen-Fluhr, PhD, is the Director of the Murray Center for Women in Technology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). From 2006 to 2013, she was the Principal Investigator on the university’s NSF Advance Institutional Transformation Grant (“More than the Sum of Its Parts - Advancing Women at NJIT through Collaborative Research Networks”). An Associate Professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences department (HSS), Dr. Steffen-Fluhr teaches courses on the intersection of gender, race, and technology. She is the winner of WEPAN’s University Change Agent Award.
Judith Sheft
Judith Sheft is the Executive Director of the New Jersey Commission of Science, Innovation and Technology. She is on the Board of Advisors to the NJIT Murray Women’s Center, the Advisory Board of NJIT Martin Tuchman School of Management Leir Research Institute, and the Princeton University Dean for Research’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council. She is the Board Chair of Greater Newark Enterprise Corporation and is on the board for the Women’s Center for Entrepreneurship Corporation, Einstein’s Alley, SheTek and NJEDA Technology Advisory Board.
Forough Ghahramani
Forough is Associate Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Sponsored Programs for Edge. As chief advocate for research and discovery, Forough helps translate visions for supporting research collaboration and innovation into actionable strategy. Forough’s education includes a doctorate in Higher Education Management from University of Pennsylvania, an MBA in Marketing from DePaul University, MS in Computer Science from Villanova University, and BS in Mathematics with a minor in Biology from Pennsylvania State University. Forough has served in leadership roles in educational and non-profit boards, and professional associations, such as AWIS, SWE, AUTM, and IEEE Women In Engineering (WIE).
Jeffrey Robinson
Jeffrey A. Robinson, Ph.D. is an award-winning business school professor, international speaker, and entrepreneur. Since 2008, he has been a leading faculty member at Rutgers Business School where he is the Prudential Chair in Business, the Academic Director of The Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development and Director of Special Programs at the Rutgers Advanced Institute for the Study of Entrepreneurship and Development. Emerging from his pioneering research, the New Jersey Social Entrepreneurship Institute and the CUEED Pipeline to Inclusive Innovation are national and international models for economic development and social problem solving using entrepreneurial approaches. He leads research on four NSF-funded research projects related to inclusive innovation.
Heather Metcalf, PhD, is the Director of Research and Constituent Relations for the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). Dr. Metcalf has degrees in applied mathematics (BS, Clarion University of Pennsylvania), computer science (BS, Clarion University of Pennsylvania; MS, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), gender studies (MA, University of Arizona), and higher education (PhD, University of Arizona). She combines the knowledge from these fields to engage in research, policy, and programmatic efforts related to inclusive organizational cultures, individual and organizational change, and career pathways and experiences in STEM fields across all sectors.
Erin Kelley
Erin Kelley is a consultant specializing in inclusive STEM commercialization and entrepreneurship. Currently, Ms. Kelley leads an NSF-funded project to develop a platform for equity, diversity, and inclusion audits, education, and guided best practice implementation. She has degrees in international relations (BA, Mount Holyoke College; MA, Johns Hopkins University) and general management/corporate innovation (MBA, University of Virginia). With her unique interdisciplinary background, Erin has research, policy and programmatic expertise in innovation and commercialization; organizational and systemic change; entrepreneurship ecosystems; design thinking and product/process development; and instructional design.
Michael van Ter Sluis
Michael is the Assistant Vice President for Strategic Partnerships & Entrepreneurship at the New Jersey Innovation Institute.
Harleigh Jones
Harleigh is the Program Manager for Entrepreneurship at the New Jersey Innovation Institute. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, with a professional background in Research and Operations.
This program is supported by NSF ADVANCE Partnership: New Jersey Equity in Commercialization Collective
(NJECC), NSF award HRD-2121941.