Biography

Dr. Ali Emdad is the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Blockchain and Financial Technology (The FinTech Center) where he manages a multi-year, multi-million dollar grant received from Ripple in February 2019. Previously, he served as the Associate Dean of the Earl G. Graves School of Business and Management at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, as well as the Founding Chair of the Department of Information Science and Systems in the Graves School where he holds rank of Full Professor with tenure. Dr. Emdad provided leadership for the department's growth and addition of new programs including the B.S. in Supply Chain Management; the M.S. in Project Management; the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Project Management (both online and on campus); and the Information Systems Track in the Ph.D. Program in Business Administration.

Dr. Emdad has more than forty publications in various areas of IT. He focuses on FinTech related technologies including cryptoassets and blockchain program development and adoption models integrating design thinking and agile methodologies. He has shepherded the growth of the Graves School's Capital Markets Lab. An experienced educator, Dr. Emdad has a thorough knowledge of the AACSB International accreditation standards and processes. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Emdad served as an IT specialist at Kennecott Corporation. A prolific fundraiser, he has established strong partnerships with corporations and government agencies and has been instrumental in bringing in large grants to Morgan State University. Dr. Emdad has been awarded the Iva G. Jones Medallion, the highest honor the university bestows upon a faculty member for outstanding teaching, research, and service. A 2007 Fulbright Fellow, Emdad holds a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University and has completed executive management, leadership, and technical education programs at Harvard, Yale, and MIT.

Research Interests
Blockchain and the last mile problem; Verification and trust in cryptoeconomics; IT strategy; Management of risk

Teaching Interests
FinTech; Cryptoassets and entrepreneurship; Management of risk and Innovation; IT strategy; 

Selected Publications (2009-2019)

Hughes-Darden, C.; Ellington, R.M.; Zaveri, J.; Bapna, S.; Akil, L; Hargett, S.; Bhattacharya, P.; Emdad, A.; Nkwanta, A. (2019), Interventions Addressing Recruitment and Retention of Underrepresented Minority Groups in Undergraduate STEM Disciplines. IN: Culturally Responsive Strategies for Reforming STEM Higher Education: Turning the TIDES on Inequity, Edited by Kelly M. Mack, et al., Emerald Publishing Limited, pp 229-248.

Emdad, A.; Fanusie, Yaya J. (2018), A Model for Introducing the Study of Cryptoeconomics and Blockchain Technology to College Campuses, Proceedings of SIBR 2018 Osaka Conference on Interdisciplinary Business & Economics Research, July 5th - 6th, 2018, Osaka, Japan.

Patel, S., Bhatt, G., & Emdad, A. (2014). Development of simulation: A student's learning approach. American Journal of Information Technology, 4, (1), 33-49.

Bhatt, G., Emdad, A., Roberts, N., and Grover, V. Building and leveraging information in dynamic markets: the role of IT infrastructure flexibility as an enabler of organizational responsiveness and competitive advantage, Information & Management, 47, (2010), 341-349.

Bhatt, G., and Emdad, A. (2010) ). An empirical examination of the relationship between information technology (IT) Infrastructure, customer focus, and business advantages. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 12, (1), 4-16.

Emdad, A.; Bhatt, G. (2009). An empirical examination of the relationship between information technology (IT) Infrastructure, customer focus, and business advantages. Association for Information Systems: Americas Conference on Information Systems, AIS.