Databazaar Scholarship Advisors

Mr. Scott Alboum

Mr. Alboum serves as the video technologies coordinator at Rider University. He is also the advisor to student organization R.U.N., the Rider University Television Network. He primarily teaches courses in television production and digital composting. Alboum is the founder and Chairman of the Passaic County, NJ Student Film and Video Festival. He also is serving on the Databazaar.com Scholarship Jury. He earned his undergraduate degree in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Miami in 1999 and completed his M.F.A. in film production at the University of Miami in 2002. His production interests include documentary and narrative film production. He can be contacted at salboum@rider.edu

Mr. Aashish Kumar

Aashish Kumar’s teaching areas are video production (single and multiple camera) and documentary filmmaking. Before coming to Hofstra, he taught at Framingham State College, Franklin Pierce College, and Southern Connecticut State University.
Aashish is also an independent media producer whose production portfolio consists of documentaries, programs for public broadcasting and fundraising videos for nonprofit organizations. His most recent work, Raising Our Voices (ROV, 2002) addresses hate-crime victims and has been screened at the Smithsonian, the Dallas Asian American Film Festival and over 100 academic institutions and community-based organizations. On September 10, 2003, ROV along with other digital media pertaining to September 11 was added to the Library of Congress permanent collection. His previous documentary, Serial for Breakfast, was awarded Third Place in the Documentary category at the 1999 Broadcast Education Association convention. His reviews and research has been published in the Journal of Film and Video, Journal of Transnational Broadcasting, Feedback, and the Almanac of the International Council of NATAS.
His current research and practice is focused on engaging media production students in community advocacy issues. Towards this enterprise, he is working on setting up "Media Action Project, Hofstra," a University-based community media production entity. He recently served as Program Director of Documenting Diversity, a pilot Summer Documentary Filmmaking workshop for High School kids. Aashish is also involved in an advisory capacity with the 1st Databazaar South Asian Scholarship Fund, an initiative “aimed at promoting greater understanding of business and culture between the United States and South Asian countries.”
Aashish Kumar, Associate Professor, has a B.A. and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Delhi, an M.S. in Radio/TV/Film from Indiana State University, and an M.F.A. in Television Production from the City University of New York, Brooklyn College.