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P R E S I D E N T ’S
MAKING GREAT STRIDES
R E P O R T
TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S 1
Letter from the President
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Special Section: NJIT’s COVID Cavalry
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Making Great Strides in Research
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Making Great Strides in Education
10 Making Great Strides in the Community 12 Expenses 13 Revenues and Enrollment 14 Fundraising 16 Milestones 19 Highlanders 2020 20 NJIT Leadership
M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
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he last year has been the most challenging and heartbreaking I can recall, though at times we were buoyed by the unwavering and positive response to the pandemic by the NJIT community. We all have made concessions and changes in the way we lead our lives, for our own health and safety and for those with whom we share our planet. Throughout this challenging and stressful time, the NJIT community has remained strong, caring, empathetic and resilient, marshaling our know-how and resources in heretofore unimaginable ways. Our university community, including our alumni, trustees, overseers, Student Senate, Graduate Student Association, administration, faculty, staff and friends, has given back to help our students, stocked the campus pantry, volunteered at vaccination sites, created personal protective equipment to alleviate the shortage experienced during the pandemic’s early days and continuing in some locations now, designed a swab for COVID testing and a model for contact tracing and tracking, and partnered in the development of deployable mobile medical care units for health care delivery. We thank our students, faculty and staff, who have been diligent in following pandemic protocols. In so doing, they have enabled NJIT to keep our campus open and provide the education we have come to be known for as New Jersey’s public polytechnic university, providing a hands-on curriculum, conducting applied research, giving back to the community and supplying the state with its high-demand science and technology workforce. In addition to helping mitigate the coronavirus crisis, NJIT continued to make great strides in research, education and the community at large. In fiscal year 2020, our research expenditures exceeded $160 million and supported a wide range of investigations that have earned NJIT the distinction of being an R1 university (for “Very High Research Activity”) by the Carnegie Classification®. The work of our researchers has addressed real-world problems in ways that improve the quality of life and has brought deserved national and international recognition to our faculty and our university. During the past year, we complemented our No. 1 national ranking by Forbes for the upward economic mobility of our students with accolades from U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal and The Princeton Review, along with a new designation: QS World University Rankings® 2020, which ranked NJIT third in New Jersey and 74th among colleges and universities nationwide. These acknowledgments energize our community as we pursue our mission to prepare students for leadership roles in today’s innovating, entrepreneurial, science- and technology-dependent economy. NJIT has made a significant and lasting impact on the local community and the Garden State as well. Our annual economic impact on New Jersey is $2.8 billion, and we consistently seek to enhance both our campus and the surrounding neighborhoods through a $400 million capital improvement plan. The university’s next strategic plan, Building on a Strong Foundation—NJIT 2025, reinforces those contributions, upholds the community’s core values and builds on the amazing outcomes of 2020 Vision, our previous strategic plan. NJIT is proud to offer our student population an inspiring living and learning environment within which to experience diversity of people and ideas, have their career aspirations nurtured and be proud of their contributions to the local community, the State of New Jersey and society as a whole. In the pages that follow, you will read about some accomplishments and milestones we achieved during 2020. I wish you a safe, healthy and happy 2021! n Sincerely,
Joel S. Bloom President
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2020 President’s Report 1
PPE/TESTING
COVID-19
NJIT’S COVID CAVALRY WHEN THE PANDEMIC DIMMED CAMPUS LIGHTS, HIGHLANDERS ROARED BACK WITH INGENUITY AND GRIT
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n mid-March, the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly shuttered classrooms, laboratories and workspaces across the campus. But no sooner were the lights extinguished than the global NJIT community mobilized to address the unprecedented global crisis. Here are some of the many ways our community responded.
Honors Scholars Produce Thousands of PPE
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t all started with an email sent by NJIT/ Albert Dorman Honors College (ADHC) alumnus, Biren Bhatt, M.D., to Louis Hamilton, ADHC dean, as the coronavirus pandemic was spreading with lightning speed throughout the New York-New Jersey area. Dr. Bhatt, an emergency medicine physician at Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC), asked the dean to put out a call to Dorman Scholars to design and create a prototype for a face shield, vital personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers. The very next day, a Saturday, ADHC messaged its student body that it was holding a competition for both face shield design and production — offering Amazon
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gift cards as incentives and providing a supplies list that included marine-grade vinyl, industrial tape, foam and elastic. Over that weekend, nine designs were submitted by some 20 students working either individually or on teams, and then sent to Dr. Bhatt and HUMC for approval. The design they green-lighted was from Greg Tanis, a mechanical engineering major who graduated May 2020. Tanis also produced the highest quantity of face shields — more than 500 — by the end of that week, delivering them to Valley Hospital. At the same time, Laura Gould, then a third-year architecture student and fellow Dorman Scholar, was already creating and sending triple-cotton masks to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan. Modifying a design from a YouTube surgical-mask tutorial, and working with her mother, she had sent the hospital 200
masks. By mid-May, Tanis had produced nearly 1,500 face shields and Gould more than 1,200 masks for hospitals, emergency rooms and community organizations in the New York-metro region. Naira Abou-Ghali, a biology student of both ADHC and the Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program, spearheaded the initiative. Scholars producing shields and masks were offered reimbursement with service-learning grants from the Dean’s Fund for Student Development. These efforts to better the health of our community continue through ProtectNJ (ProtectNJ.Life), co-founded by AbouGhali and Gould. n
Above: Some of Laura Gould’s masks in a multicolored array.
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Daniel Brateris (right), director of experiential learning at NJIT’s Newark College of Engineering, tries on a face shield that was designed and fabricated in the Makerspace at NJIT, while Justin Suriano, Makerspace manager, looks on.
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he students behind The CommonHealth Project — a collaborative, communitybased initiative aimed at rallying volunteers for production and distribution of urgently needed personal protective equipment (PPE) — came together through Albert Dorman Honors College’s PPE competition. They included Mark Pothen, a mechanical engineering major, Adé Kolade, a Dorman Scholar studying electrical engineering, and Ruth Fiore, Owais Aftab, Parth Agrawal and Juliana Yang, all biomedical engineering students (Aftab and Agrawal are also accelerated pre-health). The CommonHealth Project was “peoplepowered,” with individuals volunteering their time to either construct face shields in their homes from pre-assembled kits, or deliver the kits to volunteers and then collect the end products and drive them to hospitals in Bergen and Morris counties. The crowdsourced model followed a strict no-contact policy, so kits were placed just outside builders’ houses for drop-offs and pickups. The kits included clear polyethylene terephthalate sheets, elastic bands, foam rectangles and staples for 10 shields. Funding for the project was 100% donation-driven. NJIT and ADHC alumnus Vatsal Shah ’08, M.S. ’09, Ph.D. ’14, a civil engineer with Mott MacDonald, was instrumental in helping the team launch the project, with both a monetary gift and ongoing mentoring. The CommonHealth Project quickly became a well-oiled machine. With 200 volunteers in Bergen and Morris counties, the initiative constructed and delivered 20,000 face shields to hospitals that included Morristown and Holy Name Medical Centers and Valley Hospital. It ultimately switched to rapid-response mode, suspending production until the need for PPE in New Jersey should rise again. n Above: Parth Agrawal models The CommonHealth Project’s face shield.
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NJIT Designers Fabricate Shields
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fter consulting with emergency room physicians on specifications, a team in the Makerspace at NJIT designed and manufactured a prototype of a face shield for use by various emergency workers. The front of the mask is a long piece of clear polycarbonate plastic, while the frame is made from HDPE plastic — the material used in plastic milk bottles — which pathogens have difficulty clinging to. The shield covers most of the face and is held in place by a simple strap. It can withstand even industrial-grade cleansers. Daniel Brateris, director of experiential learning at NJIT’s Newark College of Engineering (NCE), said the goal was to build something as cleanly as possible that is easily sanitized and reusable. Cutting the masks with lasers from sheets of plastic, rather than 3D-printing them, allowed the effort to avoid the little cavities that develop when objects are built up layer by layer. NCE Dean Moshe Kam noted that the university started to work on designs and make prototypes in anticipation of a steady clip of requests for supplies. n
NJIT Physics Team Provides Free Novel Swab Design
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team of physicists from NJIT’s Additive Manufacturing Lab (AddLab) developed a novel test swab that can be 3D-printed using inexpensive, widely available materials and speedily assembled in a range of fabrication settings. To augment the nation’s testing capabilities, the inventors made the swab’s design publicly available to large and small manufacturers, free of licensing fees, during the COVID-19 emergency. The developers — AddLab’s director, John Federici, and senior additive manufacturing technician, Samuel Gatley, and Nicholas Warholak ’19, a technician and designer for the team — committed to the Open COVID Pledge and posted the design on the National Institutes of Health’s 3D Print Exchange website, which provides technology related to biomedical science that is readily compatible with 3D printers. The typical swab is a 7-inch stick with synthetic material, such as rayon or dacron, attached to the swabbing end. After the sample is taken from the nose or throat, the swab is cut off, preserved in solution and then tested with a chemical called trizol that recovers RNA from the virus. The AddLab swab, by contrast, consists of two interlocking arms that work together, like forceps, to grip the swabbing material. By sliding the two arms against each other, the device can eject the sample, depositing it into a vial with no need to handle it. The swab is intended for immediate use to detect COVID-19 infections, but can be deployed in the future to detect a range of pathogens in pandemic hot spots around the globe, since it can be fabricated locally using inexpensive 3D-printing technology from a design that is downloaded either from the cloud or a website, avoiding the logistical problems of shipping medical supplies. The plastic forceps can be sterilized and reused. n
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PPE/TESTING
Students Develop Unique Platform for Face-Shield Production
TRACKING/FACILITIES/ACADEMICS
COVID-19
A team of environmental engineers meets online to quickly develop a new way to track SARS-CoV-2 that combines statistical methods with models that incorporate environmental parameters.
NJIT Engineers Build a New Model for Tracking
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team of environmental engineers at NJIT has developed a new way to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, by combining advanced statistical methods with models that incorporate environmental conditions, such as wind speed, temperature and social distancing. Michel Boufadel, director of NJIT’s Center for Natural Resources, and Xiaolong Geng, a research assistant professor of environmental engineering, were co-principal investigators of the project, funded by a National Science Foundation RAPID (Rapid Response Research) grant. They were joined by graduate students Firas Gerges, a Ph.D. candidate in computer science who handled data sets
obtained from various counties in the U.S., and Meghana Parameswarappa Jayalakshmamma, a master’s student in environmental engineering who worked with three undergraduates from NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College to investigate the virus’s behavior under varying environmental conditions. Holly McCann, now a third-year chemical engineering major on the team, conducted literature searches to better understand the virus’s physical characteristics, such as its susceptibility to high temperatures and its viability on surfaces and in drops of water. Using data from the five boroughs of New York City and Bergen, Essex and Union counties in northern New Jersey, along with information from officials in all The consortium’s mobile medical care unit.
NJ Consortium Develops Mobile Medical Care Unit
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n response to the extreme challenges to clinical capacity posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, NJIT, University Hospital in Newark and The Tuchman Foundation collaborated on the development of modular, mobile medical care facilities to be deployed to areas of surging disease outbreaks and 4 2020 President’s Report
other disasters, as well as to regions that lack health care infrastructure. The modules are fabricated from 40-foot-long repurposed shipping containers. They were tested in July for their effectiveness as triage centers in a series of staged patient-care simulations conducted by University Hospital.
of these locations about actions they have taken to reduce infections, the team aims to pin down critical points, as in subways and grocery stores, where infections accelerate and suggest ways to modulate the spread. They have also analyzed massive amounts of national and international data sets using the latest techniques adopted in big data. Following months of study, the researchers have shown that existing epidemiological models would need to be combined with a fractal (patterns that repeat across different scales) framework to better capture spikes in cases. On the ground, they have determined that supermarket configurations with narrow aisles with many display shelves reduce the virus-laden particles in the air. n
The units include customizable internal environments that can be configured for various medical needs, including clinical point-of-care services and the testing and treatment of communicable and noncommunicable diseases. They are easily transportable for rapid deployment and can be staged horizontally to create larger clinical field operations sites with effective patient separation and management. The partners contributed their respective expertise. NJIT provided architectural design, management and technological know-how; Julio Garcia Figueroa, an architect and university lecturer in NJIT’s Hillier College of Architecture and Design, was the principal designer, and officials at NJIT’s Martin Tuchman School of Management oversaw project management. University Hospital, the state’s only public
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Strategy for Instruction
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o complete the spring 2020 semester as scheduled, NJIT immediately drew upon its technological resources and know-how to provide a virtual learning experience for its 11,000+ students. The Digital Learning and Technology Support team at NJIT helped prepare faculty to teach online effectively and assisted students who lacked the means to engage. Over 150 document cameras, tablet laptops and drawing tablets were distributed to faculty, and dozens of computers were delivered to students in need of virtual access to their classes. Additionally, more than 6,700 Webex sessions were held and nearly 2,000 videos were created through Kaltura, a platform enabling live and on-demand video presentations.
hospital and northern New Jersey’s only Level-1 trauma center, was responsible for, among other aspects, input and feedback on the units’ internal configurations, clinical use and regulatory requirements; the clinical team running the simulations — physicians, nurses, technicians and infrastructure support personnel — assessed the efficacy of workflows in the modules in order to continuously refine them. And the Kingston, N.J.-based Tuchman Foundation, established by Martin Tuchman ’62, chairman of the foundation, CEO of the Tuchman Group and an engineering alumnus, supplied his company’s deep experience in shipping and logistics; the foundation, a nonprofit corporation that supports research on health care, including diseases and cures, provided initial funding to develop
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Making modifications to the spring semester would turn out to be just the start of a more than six-month-long undertaking, to not only finish the past academic year but also ready for the next one. A key decision was to implement converged learning together with traditional online instruction. Converged learning, pioneered by NJIT since 2013, essentially breaks down the distinction between face-to-face and remote learning, with students attending the same class at the same time either in person or virtually. With this model, students have the same educational experience regardless of their physical location, and professors can see and interact with all attendees in real time. More than 7,000 students registered for at least one or more converged courses for the fall semester, and utilization of Webex and
Kaltura increased, with upward of 163,800 sessions and more than 31,800 uploaded videos, respectively, between March and November 2020. As for classroom occupancy, no more than 18 students are enrolled in any inperson course, versus the usual 30. Of this reduced group, only nine students at a time are permitted to attend in person, with the other half of the class participating remotely. Inside the classrooms, other measures are being taken to ensure the safety of students and faculty, including designated seating to facilitate social distancing, sanitization of seats and desks after every use and increased air exchange in buildings. Additionally, plexiglass screens have been installed as an extra physical barrier between students and instructors. n
the prototype. The group’s phase-1 prototype, constructed by Integrated Industries Corp in Woodbridge, N.J., focused on simple health care provisioning, including initial COVID-19 point-of-care examination and testing. Last semester, it was moved to the NJIT campus to serve as a testing hub for students, faculty and staff. NJIT and the
foundation are now collaborating with RWJBarnabas Health, which placed four units at its hospital in Hamilton, N.J., for COVID-19 testing of patients, workers and community first-responders. n U.S. Senator Cory Booker (fifth from left) joins members of the New Jersey consortium that developed a mobile medical care unit, including NJIT, University Hospital in Newark and The Tuchman Foundation.
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TRACKING/FACILITIES/ACADEMICS
University Lecturer Catherine Siemann conducts her Honors Humanities class with students attending either in person or, via the back-wall screen, from a virtual location.
M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
RESEARCH
A remora fish readies to feed and skim along a whale body. Photo credit: Stanford University, Cascadia Research Collective and Journal of Experimental Biology
International Study Uncovers Secret Surfing Life of Remoras
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ticking to the bodies of sharks and other larger marine life is a well-known specialty of remora fishes (Echeneidae), accomplished through super-powered suction disks on their heads. But now, NJIT researchers have led a study that has fully documented the “suckerfish” in hitchhiking action below the ocean’s surface, uncovering a more refined skill set the fish uses for navigating intense hydrodynamics aboard a 100-foot blue
whale (Balaenoptera musculus). In the Journal of Experimental Biology, an international research team, studying the complex fluid environments of blue whales off the California coast, describes successfully capturing the first-ever continuous recording of remora behavior on their host, using advanced biosensing tags with video-recording capabilities. Brooke Flammang, assistant professor of biology at NJIT and the study’s corresponding author, calls the recording “incredible,” as little has been known previously “about how remoras behave on their hosts in the wild over any prolonged period of time.” The study shows remoras successfully hitchhike aboard baleen whales more than
30 times their size by selecting the most flow-optimal regions on the whale’s body to stick to, such as behind the whale’s blowhole and dorsal fin, where drag resistance for the fish is reduced by as much as 84%. The researchers also discovered remoras can freely move around to feed and socialize even as their whale host hits burst speeds of more than 5 meters per second, by utilizing surfing and skimming behaviors along special low-drag traveling lanes that exist just off the surface of the whale’s body. The team is using their new insights into the remora’s preferred low-drag attachment locations to better inform how they might tag and track whales in studies to come. n
NJIT is designated an R1 research institution, for “Very High Research Activity,” by the Carnegie Classification®. Removing a Roadblock in the Genetic Therapy Revolution
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ell and gene therapies represent a new frontier in the already complex world of biotechnology. However, the distribution and adoption of these promising therapies are hindered by significant manufacturing challenges. NJIT’s New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII) has launched a new ultramodern facility to help the industry overcome these challenges. The facility does business as “BioCentriq.” The scientists and engineers at BioCentriq work directly with biopharmaceutical companies to perfect their manufacturing processes, 6 2020 President’s Report
develop their processes for scale-up and produce supplies for their preclinical testing and clinical trials. BioCentriq was formed in collaboration with technology providers, biopharmaceutical companies, regulatory agencies and economic development organizations. Its business model allows for the client’s own scientists and engineers to work alongside BioCentriq experts to foster stronger collaboration and faster technology transfer. Cellular and genetic therapies work by delivering cells or genetic material that have been engineered to elicit a therapeutic effect in a patient, such as reprogramming the body’s immune system to detect and fight certain types of cancers, neurological disorders and other autoimmune diseases. This approach may also be used to fight infectious viruses.
The challenges in developing and manufacturing these drugs consistently and at the necessary scale have slowed their entry to the market and made them cost-prohibitive. BioCentriq aims to speed up the production of these medicines while maintaining clinical safety standards and reducing costs. Cell and gene therapy work requires a highly trained workforce. To address current shortages in manufacturing talent, NJIT offers a 30-credit professional master’s program in cell and gene therapy, and BioCentriq provides customized training for biotechnology companies. n Left: BioCentriq Senior Vice President and General Manager Haro Hartounian at the company’s South Brunswick, N.J., facility, where NJII scientists work with drug developers to streamline the processing of new cell and gene therapies.
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Machine-Learning Method Finds Therapeutic Targets in Pediatric Genome
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team of researchers from NJIT and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have developed an algorithm through machine learning that helps predict sites of DNA methylation — a process that can change the activity of DNA without changing its overall structure — and could
identify disease-causing mechanisms that would otherwise be missed by conventional screening methods. Their paper was published online by Nature Machine Intelligence. DNA methylation is involved in many key cellular processes and is an important component in gene expression. Errors in methylation can be linked to a variety of human diseases, and while genomic sequencing tools are effective at pinpointing polymorphisms that may cause a disease, those same methods are unable to capture the effects of methylation because the individual genes still look the same. To address this issue, the researchers turned to deep learning. Zhi Wei, professor of computer science at NJIT, worked with fellow senior co-author of the study, Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., director of the Center for Applied Genomics at CHOP, and his
team to develop a deep-learning algorithm that could predict where these sites of methylation happen, which would then help researchers determine the effect they might have on certain nearby genes. Wei calls his software Deep6mA and led the development of a neural network, a machine-learning model that attempts to learn in similar ways to a brain. Neural networks have been utilized in cellular research before, but this is their first application to study DNA methylation sites on natural multicellular organisms. Deep6mA was able to identify 6mA methylation sites down to the resolution of a single nucleotide, or basic unit of DNA. Even in this initial confirmation study, the researchers were able to visualize regulatory patterns that they had been unable to observe using previously existing methods. n
NSF CAREER Award for Simplifying Crowdsourced Requests
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enjuti Basu Roy, assistant professor of computer science and an expert on optimizing machine-learning techniques, received a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER award for her research addressing inefficiencies of deploying tasks in crowdsourced labor services. The award acknowledges early-career activities of scholars who integrate research and education in the context of their organizations. Crowdsourcing is the concept of solving complicated jobs by dividing the work among large groups of dispersed workers, who are often lay people rather than professionals. Unfortunately, the process of planning and deploying tasks through crowdsourcing can be almost as complicated as the job itself, in that there is little to no help for requesters in deciding how to organize the workforce, in what style and in what structure to satisfy deployment parameters, Basu Senjuti Basu Roy Roy explained. Basu Roy is developing middleware called SLOAN (short for Scalable, decLarative, Optimization-driven, Adaptive and uNified) to make life easier for the task deployers. SLOAN will have components for analyzing workers’ preferences and availability, modeling and recommending deployment strategies for batches of requests, and aggregating results to estimate the quality of the completed tasks undertaken by the workers. n
Ushering in a Carbon-Neutral Economy
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Siva Nadimpalli
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he stakes for next-generation batteries that are high-capacity, long-lived and affordable could not be higher, as the promise of a carbon-neutral economy depends on their success. While newer batteries can store 10 times as much energy as their graphite predecessors, they fade too quickly. The breakdown occurs at the interfaces between the polymers and the active materials that sustain electrochemical reactions; when these particles become electrically isolated, a battery’s charging capacity and overall longevity are curtailed. Siva Nadimpalli, director of NJIT’s Micro and Nano Mechanics Laboratory, uses novel techniques to reveal how battery electrodes
break down in real time, rather than after they degrade. His custom-made cell enables electrochemical and stress measurements simultaneously, and his thin-film electrodes — 10,000 times thinner than a human hair — capture real-time, uniform readings when a cell is running. He aims to advance to development of multiphysics mathematical models, which capture a battery’s mechanical behavior and the electrochemical activity of its electrodes, to predict how mechanical forces impact chemical reactions in battery materials, and to assess their corresponding electrical performance on, say, the current supplied by batteries at any voltage. n 2020 President’s Report
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M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
E D U C AT I O N
NJIT Cited Among the Top Universities
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JIT has been ranked third in New Jersey and 74th nationally in a Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings® USA
2020 list, placing NJIT in the top 10% of universities nationwide. Over 700 universities were evaluated according to 17 metrics falling into the following broad categories: employability, diversity and internationalisation, learning experience and research.
The university also has been named a top college according to The Princeton Review in the newest edition of its college guide, The Best 386 Colleges — a designation only about 14% of America’s 2,800 four-year colleges have earned. NJIT received honors, as well, as a top college in the Northeast region, a Best Value college and a Top 50 College for Undergraduate Game Design and Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Studies. NJIT also improved its standing among more than 800 U.S. universities and colleges by 83 spots in The Wall Street Journal/ Times Higher Education College Rankings for 2020. At No. 245, the university nearly doubled its improvement compared to last year, which saw a 43 spot gain for 2019, and saw enhanced performance in two key areas of the ranking’s metrics: outcomes and engagement. Additionally, NJIT was cited among the Top 70 nationally for the environment metric, which looks at student and faculty diversity. n
NJIT’s degree programs and scholastic initiatives have consistently resulted in top standings nationally and around the world. Math Success Initiative Celebrates First Graduates
The first cohort of the Math Success Initiative.
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n summer 2019, 35 11th-graders from four Newark high schools — Central, Malcolm X Shabazz, Science Park and Technology — participated in a seven-week enrichment program as part of the inaugural Math Success Initiative (MSI), an academic partnership between NJIT, the City of Newark and Newark Public Schools. That following school year, 23 of the 35 completed either Math 110 or Math 111 as a student at the university. And this past fall, 17 of the 23
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became full-time Highlanders; another two have begun attending NJIT this spring. Beyond representing the first cohort of the program, these students exemplify the MSI mission: to increase the number of Newark high school graduates who enroll at NJIT for undergraduate education. MSI is designed to strengthen their math knowledge and skills as well as their college readiness. It also provides professional development to a select number of mathematics teachers from the
designated high schools to build learning communities that support best practices in mathematics instruction. NJIT’s Center for Pre-College Programs and College of Science and Liberal Arts administer the program. The university celebrated the students’ success at a virtual ceremony in June 2020, where many were on hand, including NJIT President Joel S. Bloom and Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, to congratulate the MSI participants. Perhaps the most impactful remarks came from the MSI graduates themselves, who described the program as a “life-changing experience” that both improved their math skills and offered a bird’s-eye view of college. The MSI cohort for summer 2020 welcomed 46 students from five Newark high schools (West Side High was added last year). Of the 46 students, 41 were invited and 37 agreed to take Math 110 or Math 111 this academic year. n njit.edu
Ying Wu Professor Awarded for Mentoring Women and Minorities in Computing
Albert Dorman Honors College
New Admissions Option Will Increase Honors Student Enrollment
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lbert Dorman Honors College (ADHC) welcomed more than 70 additional students this year as part of a new program called Dean’s Scholars, designed to allow for a more robust honors education across campus. Each year, the program admits scholars from the College of Science and Liberal Arts (CSLA), Hillier College of Architecture and Design (HCAD), Martin Tuchman School of Management, Newark College of Engineering (NCE) and Ying Wu College of Computing who desire the rigor of an honors education within their academic discipline. Dean’s Scholars pursue a minimum of
three honors-only courses within their degree-granting college and participate in a speakers series and networking events every year. They also receive merit aid. Beyond the honors courses, there are distinctive variations for Dean’s Scholars between the NJIT colleges. For example, CSLA offers leadership opportunities; HCAD emphasizes connecting to its alumni network; and NCE encourages joining its Grand Challenges program. Although any NJIT student can register for individual honors courses, the goal is to pull more students into honors education, ADHC Dean Louis Hamilton explained. n
Grant Funds Recruitment and Retention of Women in Computing
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new plan to recruit and retain more women as computer science majors began in earnest last summer at NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing. Similar efforts have been underway for five years, said James Geller, a professor and associate dean for research, but the push has a new tailwind in the form of a $520,000 grant from Northeastern University’s Center for Inclusive Computing (CIC), which seeks to help schools create gender equality in computer fields. njit.edu
In Newark, the plan includes opening a drop-in center for female students on the third floor of the Guttenberg Information Technologies Center. A new staff member will be hired to track the academic wellness of female students. There will also be more female guest speakers and additional recruitment efforts will be made for female students at county colleges. Additionally, two faculty members on the project team will study the plan and publish results. n
Yvette Wohn
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vette Wohn, associate professor of informatics, received the 2020 Mentoring Award for Undergraduate Research from the National Center for Women & Information Technology. The award recognizes outstanding mentorship, high-quality research opportunities, recruitment of women and minority students, and efforts to encourage and advance undergraduates in computingrelated fields. Seven years ago, Wohn launched the Social Interaction Lab, also known as the Social X Lab, dedicated to developing novel technologies for positive social interaction and studying how people use social technologies, such as social media, mobile phones and multiplayer games. As she set up the lab, Wohn envisioned creating a welcoming, inclusive research environment for underrepresented student groups, especially those from NJIT’s undergraduate population. Since the lab opened, 49% of Wohn’s students have been women and 70% people of color. They come from diverse academic backgrounds like computing, biology, math and humanities. Wohn has helped mentor 71 students, including eight who came to the Social X Lab from other universities. During their time in the lab, Wohn’s undergraduate students work closely with her on research and authoring papers. Several lab alumni continue to do research as part of their professional lives, while others are considering master’s and even doctoral studies in the field. n
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COMMUNITY
NJIT-Stryker Alumni Club Helped to Kick Off FIRST Robotics Season
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he NJIT-Stryker Alumni Club helped local high schools kick off the new season of FIRST Robotics in January 2020. FIRST Robotics is a national organization that creates the requirements for robotic
designs for high school teams, used to build a robot and compete against other regional high schools. Stryker Corporation, an orthopedic implant design and manufacturer located in Mahwah, N.J., is a Mid-Atlantic FIRST Robotics regional sponsor, and funded and mentored two New Jersey high school teams this year: International High School in Paterson and Science Park High School in Newark. The NJIT-Stryker Alumni Club led the effort.
“As alumni and as business professionals in the State of New Jersey, we want to give back,” said Robert Cohen ’83, M.S. ’84, M.S. ’87, president, Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies at Stryker, and chair of NJIT’s board of trustees. “FIRST Robotics high school teams design and make robots where they put their knowledge to the test. Many of these students will contribute to future innovations and we are proud to be part of their journey.” n
NJIT partners with industry and the community to boost opportunities for students and improve quality of life. Facilities Projects Enhance Campus and Community
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JIT has acquired two properties adjacent to its campus that have great potential for positive impact on both the university and the community. These properties include the former Mueller’s Wholesale Flower Distribution building and the former Warren Street School. While NJIT’s vision for these properties was a catalyst for its decision to acquire them, the university also recognized and is acting upon the reality that these properties have posed a danger. The Mueller’s flower shop building was an antiquated wooden structure in severe disrepair and was a significant fire risk. Therefore, NJIT has razed this structure in order to mitigate the fire hazard it presents to the community. The location will be converted into an attractive green space on a temporary basis. NJIT believes that adding a small park at the corner of its open campus will be of great benefit and serve as a passive recreation and aesthetically 10 2020 President’s Report
pleasing resource for the campus and local communities. In 2019, NJIT purchased the Warren Street School, which had been vacant and was severely damaged by a fire. After purchasing this property, NJIT went through an RFP process and has reached an agreement with a private partner to develop the property into housing for NJIT students. The university anticipates opening the new housing complex as soon as fall 2022 and has been successful in securing commitments from the developer to keep costs at affordable market rates and to incorporate the history of the Warren Street School into certain design elements of the new structure. n Left: NJIT intends to transform the antiquated Mueller’s flower shop building into an attractive welcoming green space for both the university campus and local community.
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A model of Newark, here in the Newark Public Library, is now at Newark City Hall. Photo credit: People Power Planning Newark
Hillier College Turns Ad Hoc Relationships Into Design Collaborative
F
aculty from Hillier College of Architecture and Design are formalizing ad hoc relationships with NJIT departments, the City of Newark, local neighborhood groups and private developers into a new entity called the Newark Design Collaborative. Doing so will transition students from theoretical studio instruction to practical real-world projects, explained
Hillier’s Tony Schuman, professor of architecture and co-organizer of the collaborative. Newark, for one, has plenty to do as it develops its next master plan, which is due in 2023, according to City Planner Christopher Watson, who is also pursuing a doctorate in urban systems at NJIT. Previous Newark student projects produced a massive handmade model of the entire city, a 3D-printed model of downtown, a preservation plan for parts of the abandoned Essex County Jail and a design called Music Village in the historic Lincoln Park neighborhood. There also have been many research papers and studio designs for other city landmarks, including Newark Liberty International Airport and
Branch Brook Park. To support the collaborative, organizers plan to create a downtown Newark facility featuring studios, an exhibit gallery and possibly event space or meeting rooms. Among the participants in the collaborative are Jonathan Curley, senior university lecturer in the humanities department; Pallavi Shinde ’11, a senior planner for Newark who holds a Master of Infrastructure Planning from NJIT; Samer Hanini ’99, M.S. ’03, a managing partner at real estate firm Hanini Group and member of the Hillier College advisory board; and Anthony Smith, executive director of Lincoln Park/Coast Cultural District. Student participant Mateo Aristizaba ’20, who has a B.A. in architecture and is studying for a Master of Infrastructure Planning, will serve as a teaching assistant in the collaborative studios. n
Left: Anna Wadhwa, STEMentors founder and president. Right: Abigail Varughese teaches students about healthy habits as part of the Healthy Heroes Program.
Scholarship Recipients Are Winners in Community Service
T
he university’s students have contributed thousands of hours of community service and given their time to hundreds of community-based organizations over the years. Among the many volunteers worthy of recognition are the recipients of Career Development Services’ (CDS) Garrison-Kirk Community Service Scholarship. Established in honor of former CDS staff members George Garrison and Sandy Kirk, the award promotes civic engagement and acknowledges exemplary commitment of NJIT students. Each year, a CDS review committee presents a $750
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scholarship to both a student and a student organization. The 2020 awardees were Anna Wadhwa, for her STEMentors Club, and NJIT’s Pre-Health Society (PHS), for its Healthy Heroes Program. Wadhwa, a biochemistry major in Albert Dorman Honors College’s seven-year accelerated medical program, founded STEMentors to introduce STEM to young girls in nearby underserved communities. Established in September 2019 under the auspices of the university’s Center for PreCollege Programs (CPCP), the club recruits Highlanders to assist CPCP in planning
and holding events and competitions that engage underrepresented students, including the annual New Jersey Science Olympiad and TSA-TEAMS. The organization also provides mentoring to pre-college girls and takes part in networking forums such as the NJIT LEADS Conference for leadership, engagement, advocacy, diversity and service. PHS — which offers mentoring, workshops and service opportunities to any NJIT student interested in any branch of health care — launched the Healthy Heroes Program in spring 2017 to provide health education to elementary-school children at Camden Street Elementary School in Newark. The program focuses on a range of health topics, from dental hygiene and nutrition to puberty and mental health, and teaches related lessons that the children can apply to their daily lives. It is proving to be a valuable endeavor, given that most Newark public elementary schools are unable to offer comprehensive health classes, points out Abigail Varughese, PHS president and Dorman Scholar biology major. n 2020 President’s Report 11
270,210
FY2020 EXPENSES $468,516
FY2019-2020 (Dollars in Thousands)
86,792
’06
’08
’09
’10
’11
’12
’13
’14
155,715
161,233
Auxiliary Enterprises
152,234
Depreciation & Change in Net Assets
142,154
14,103
110,548
’07
106,082
FY ’05
107,310
80,000
102,851
External
100,490
100,000
92,318
Internal
77,580
120,000
92,893
140,000 89,557
(Dollars in Thousands)
Scholarships & Fellowships
15,574
160,000
88,700
2005-2020 RESEARCH EXPENDITURES
81,837
130,887
Support
Academic & Research
76,920
M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
EXPENSES
60,000 * FY2018 total research expenditures was re-stated post-audit. FY2018 audit was delayed until April 2019 due to delay in received GASB75 from State.
40,000 20,000 0
FY2020 RESEARCH EXPENDITURE BY SOURCE $155,715
Institutional 53,630 34%
’15
’16
’17
’18*
’19
’20
Federal 85,746 55%
(Dollars in Thousands)
Corporate & Foundation 13,366 9%
12 2020 President’s Report
State 2,973 2% njit.edu
208,847
FY2020 RESOURCES $468,516
FY2019-2020 (Dollars in Thousands)
103,673
* State Appropriation includes $34.4 million for Base Operations, and $57.2 million for State-Supported Fringe Benefit and OPEB (GASB75)
91,560
31,214
Federal Grants
Tuition & Fees
State & Other Grants
State Appropriations*
18,152
15,070
Auxiliary Enterprises
Other
NJIT TOTAL OPERATING RESOURCES VS. STATE APPROPRIATIONS
120,000 80,000 40,000
9000
’07
’08
’09
’10
’11
’14
’15
’16
’17
’18
’19
’20
7000 6000 5000 4000
731
740
726
653
0
716
1000
716
2000
njit.edu
’13
8000
3000
* Figures are not incremental, but rather included in Undergraduate enrollment.
’12
9084
’06
8794
’05
8532
0
2568
Graduate
160,000
2724
Undergraduate
200,000
2891
Honors*
280,000 240,000
2963
TOTAL ENROLLMENT BREAKDOWN BY LEVEL
320,000
8483
$34,384 State-Based Appropriation
360,000
8211
$57,176 StateSupported Fringe Benefits
400,000
3016
$376,956 Tuition, Fees and other Resources
440,000
8008
FY2019-2020 (Dollars in Thousands)
480,000
3317
TOTAL REVENUES: $468,516
Fall 2015
Fall 2016
Fall 2017
Fall 2018
Fall 2019
Fall 2020
2020 President’s Report 13
M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
REVENUES AND ENROLLMENT
M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
FUNDRAISING
D
espite the unprecedented disruptions and challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, NJIT continued to grow and flourish in 2020 — thanks, in large part, to the generosity of its alumni, friends, corporate partners and foundation supporters. Last year, 5,390 donors collectively contributed $13.6 million to the university. These generous philanthropic investments strengthened the university in a host of critically important ways. They contributed to the development of STEM-focused, career-relevant curricula. They supported the renewal of the spaces in which our students learn, study, conduct research and prepare themselves to become tomorrow’s innovators, problem-solvers and leaders. They funded research that is pushing the frontiers of knowledge and improving human lives. And — through the establishment of 37 new scholarships and fellowships, as well as more than $175,000 in gifts to the Highlander Student Emergency Fund — they helped to ensure that an NJIT education remains financially affordable for all deserving students and their families. Just as important, for the third consecutive year, a record number of NJIT alumni made a gift in support of their alma mater in 2020. These donations boosted the university’s alumni giving rate to 10.35% — more than double the national median for public universities. To all of you who invested in our hardworking students, world-class faculty, cutting-edge programs and state-of-the-art facilities during the past year, thank you for your continued generosity. Because of your loyalty, dedication and advocacy, NJIT’s future remains exceedingly bright. n
FY2020 Philanthropic Commitments to NJIT
Kenneth Alexo Jr.
$100,000 to $249,999 Adobe Systems, Inc. Automatic Data Processing, Inc. Foundation Avanade, Inc. Linda K. and Nicholas M. DeNichilo ’73, ’78 Sonia and Raymond J. McGowan ’64 Mott MacDonald National Steering Committee for CIM PepsiCo American Beverage Company Louis Rizio Edward R. Sedlmayr ’47* Harry Sholk ’57* Steffanie and James F. Stevenson* Tuchman Foundation, Inc. Victoria Foundation, Inc. William Randolph Hearst Foundations
Vice President for Development & Alumni Relations President, Foundation at NJIT
Charles A. Colton
New Recognition Society Honors Donors to NJIT
T
he Colton Society, NJIT’s newest recognition circle, welcomed 63 inaugural members at a virtual induction event held Oct. 29 and hosted by NJIT President Joel S. Bloom and NJIT First Lady 14 2020 President’s Report
Diane Bloom. Membership in the society is extended to donors whose lifetime giving exceeds $500,000. “Our success in launching the Colton Society reflects NJIT’s rise to prominence as a science and technology powerhouse. With more than $160 million in research expenditures and a $2.8 billion annual impact on the State of NJ, NJIT has joined the ranks of the nation’s premier polytechnic universities,” said Kenneth Alexo Jr., vice president, Development and Alumni Relations. “We would not have come so far, so fast, without the leadership and support of our Colton Society donors. Their investments in programs, facilities and, above all, our talented and hardworking students, have ensured that we remain true to our founding value of excellence and affordability. Our gratitude for their generosity cannot be overstated.” The society is named in honor of Charles A. Colton, founding director of the Newark Technical School, which opened in 1881 and later became New Jersey Institute of Technology. A plaque bearing the names of the members was unveiled at the online event and hangs in Eberhardt Hall. Nearly half of the benefactors are NJIT alumni. n
$1,000,000 or more Raymond F. Carulli ’73 Barbara and J. Robert Hillier ’17 HON Independent Alumni of NJIT Rudolph R. Zirm ’44* $500,000 to $999,999 Martin Tuchman ’62 Weiss-Aug Co. Inc. Eleanor J. Weissenrieder and Dieter Weissenrieder ’76 $250,000 to $499,999 Norma J. Clayton ’81 Gustavus & Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation Northeastern University Jack J. Pariser ’55
$50,000 to $99,999 Bernadette and Benjamin Aiello Siddhartha Bala ’96 Christine and Robert C. Cohen ’83, ’84, ’87 Compass North America Group ExxonMobil Hope and Alfred J. Frungillo Gourmet Dining Services Debra and Robert W. Mullen ’79, ’86 PSEG Caroline A. and Paul D. Rogers ’08, ’11 Wells Fargo *deceased
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WHAT YOUR GIFTS SUPPORT FY2020 TOTAL GIFTS AND PLEDGES: $13.6 MILLION
Students 65%
Campus & Facilities 5%
Faculty & Programs 27%
Research 3%
TOTAL GIFTS AND PLEDGES FY2018-FY2020
12 10 8
$45.4 Million
6 4
ALUMNI PARTICIPATION RATES FY2018-FY2020
10.35 10%
8.16 8%
6%
4%
5.0 2018
2019
2020
Undergraduate Alumni Participation Rate Overall Alumni Participation Rate National Median for Public Universities
M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
MILESTONES
Board of Trustees Welcomes New Chair
R
obert Cohen ’83, M.S. ’84, M.S. ’87 is now the new chair of NJIT’s board of trustees. Cohen is president of Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies at Stryker. He has worked in the orthopedic medical device industry for more than 35 years and holds more than 25 patents. At NJIT, he has served on Newark College of Engineering’s board of visitors for over 10 years and joined the university’s board in 2018. He also is a recipient of the Alumni Achievement Award in 2012, and served as vice president of the Alumni Association board of directors. Cohen assumed the reins from outgoing chair Stephen P. DePalma ’72, who served on the board of trustees from 2003-2020, as well as on the board of overseers from 1989-2003. n
Robert Cohen
NJIT Joins the America East Conference
E
ffective July 1, 2020, NJIT became the 10th full member institution of the America East Conference. The current members of the conference are State University of New York at Albany, Binghamton University, University of Hartford, University of Maine, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Massachusetts Lowell, University of New Hampshire, Stony Brook University and University of Vermont. NJIT is competing for the America East Championships in a total of 14 sports including baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, men’s swimming and diving, and women’s volleyball. The Highlanders departed the ASUN Conference after five seasons as a member (first season 2015-16), which marked the first time they had been a full member of an automatic qualifying NCAA Division I multisport conference. n
Clifford Samuel ’88, ’19 HON Is a Role Model Clifford Samuel
16 2020 President’s Report
H
aving developed, implemented and managed innovative models for the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines to third world countries, Clifford Samuel ’88, ’19 HON has helped save countless lives. Immigrating with his family to Newark from Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samuel honed his expertise in the pharmaceutical industry at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where he rose to senior vice president of access operations and emerging markets. He made the company’s HIV, viral hepatitis and fungal medicines available at affordable prices in resource-limited and evolving economies. Samuel is a member of the Albert Dorman Honors College board of visitors and a 2010 recipient of the university’s Edward F. Weston Medal for Professional Achievement. In 2019, the mechanical engineering alumnus was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, “among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer,” for his “innovations in supply chain management and manufacturing technologies central to delivering medication in developing countries.” n
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Dorman Scholars Achieve Award Record and Firsts
O
Goldwater Scholars 2020 (clockwise from top right) Sara Abdelhamid, Sydney Sweet and Joseph Torsiello
Donald “Will” Andrews
f the more than 5,000 applicants last year for the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship, only 396 students from 461 colleges and universities nationwide were named Goldwater Scholars — four of them from NJIT. The 2020 NJIT Goldwater Scholars class marked a university record and was the largest from any academic institution in New Jersey, equaling second-most across the nation and beating out universities such as Columbia University (3), Harvard University (3), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2) and Princeton University (2). Here are the deserving recipients: Sydney Sweet ’21 (chemical engineering) is engaged in nanoparticle research that aims to improve health care for Type 2 diabetes patients. She contributed on a review paper on nanotechnology-mediated devices to treat obesity, published in Advanced Healthcare Biomaterials, and earned a $3,000 seed grant for research to improve diabetes drug delivery. Joseph Torsiello ’22 (applied physics and mathematical sciences) is involved in wide-ranging research, from applying molecular dynamics simulations to study friction properties of two-dimensional materials, to using lidar, a laser-based technology, to measure backscattered light from spinning blades of nanodrones as well as the wings of flying mosquitoes. Sara Abdelhamid ’21 (chemical engineering) has researched the impact that different bottom shapes of industrial stirring vessels have on the production quality of everything from the taste of food, to the effectiveness of drugs, to the texture and fragrance of home goods. Her work received first prize in the 2019 AIChE Conference’s Undergraduate Poster Competition. Philip Zaleski ’22 (applied mathematics) analyzes and creates mathematical models that explain fundamental physical processes, including how and why charged droplets become unstable. He has published work in the journal Fluids. Other NJIT students also have realized prestigious firsts. Donald “Will” Andrews ’22 is NJIT’s first-ever recipient of the Humanity in Action Fellowship. The now third-year industrial engineering major was scheduled to travel to Berlin for the June fellowship, which centers on diversity, human rights and citizenship around the world. While an in-person experience may come later, the fellowship was held via Zoom during the pandemic. Through his fellowship, Andrews examined democracy and pluralism in modern Germany in the context of the Holocaust. Daniel Meza ’20 is the first Fulbright awardee from Hillier College of Architecture and Design. The scholarship will take him in summer 2021 to Macquarie University in Australia, where he will develop a method for creating furniture out of slime mold. Meza’s work crosses disciplines, combining an understanding of swarm intelligence with sustainable design principles. n
One of Daniel Meza’s tables decorated with slime mold. Meza (left) also wants to explore construction techniques.
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2020 President’s Report 17
M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
MILESTONES
NJIT Engineering Team Wins an Edison Patent Award
A
team of NJIT engineers won a Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award in the sustainability category from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey for a resilient water treatment system that can run on waste heat or low-grade energy. The team — Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Mengchu Zhou, and Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Professors Chao Zhu and Zhiming “Jimmy” Ji, Ph.D. student Guangyu “Tony” Guo and Ph.D. graduate Bo Zhang — was among 60 honorees at the council’s virtual awards ceremony, themed “Transforming Hope into Action.” Their system distills dirty or ocean water in a chamber that separates pure water from particles, such as salts or metals, through evaporation. It requires neither filters nor membranes, which degrade over time and need regular replacement. The entire system Members of NJIT’s Edison Patent-winning team of operates at low temperatures and low pressure on low-grade energy, such as any renewable engineers are (left to right) Mengchu Zhou, Zhiming “Jimmy” Ji, Guangyu “Tony” Guo and Chao Zhu. energy, or residual energy from industrial processes that otherwise would be wasted as heat. Most industrial distillation plants rely on energy derived from fossil fuels. The NJIT technology incorporates a new vacuum generation mechanism that helps accelerate the process of converting the heated incoming liquid to steam via water evaporation. Guo, who built prototypes of single- and two-stage vacuum distillation systems, is currently optimizing Robert Cohen the current design for use in large-scale commercial applications. n
Honors College Turns 25
A
quarter of a century ago, a generous endowment from NJIT alumnus Albert Dorman ’45, ’99 HON not only named the Honors College, but also enabled it to more than triple enrollment and expand its curriculum to include research, colloquia and community service. Today the Albert Dorman Honors College encourages, challenges and provides a strong educational foundation to over 700 students annually. Dorman Scholars have gone on to pursue careers at notable companies in a variety of industries, as well as continue their education at prestigious medical and law schools. At a live, online celebration last October, Dorman, who earned a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering at NJIT at the age of 19 and rose to become founding chairman and CEO of the global engineering firm AECOM, commended the college’s students. Those who joined the celebration included current students, professors, administrators, board members, alumni and generous benefactors such as Dorman and his wife Joan. The event featured videos, a virtual tour of the college’s building led by students, and remarks by Dean Louis I. Hamilton and NJIT President Joel S. Bloom, who was the founding dean of the college. n
Louis Lanzerotti Honored With Career Award Louis Lanzerotti
D
istinguished Research Professor of Physics Louis Lanzerotti, best known for shedding light on the space environment around Earth as well as its impact on hardware in space and critical infrastructure on the ground, received the 2020 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics James A. Van Allen Space Environments Award. Lanzerotti, a member of NJIT’s Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, was tapped for his “significant contributions to our understanding of the space environment of the Van Allen radiation belts and leadership in establishing societal awareness of space weather.” He recently has served as the principal investigator of NJIT’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes Ion Composition Experiment (RBSPICE), involving instruments aboard NASA’s two Van Allen Probes that traveled for seven years through the magnetosphere collecting data. The NJIT-led RBSPICE team received a Group Achievement Award from NASA, citing the mission’s outstanding cost and schedule performance, as well as its groundbreaking science. n
18 2020 President’s Report
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H I G H L A N D E R S
2 0 2 0
Those Who Graduated in May and Those Who Joined Our Community in September
GRADUATING CLASS MAY 2020*
FIRST-YEAR CLASS 2020
Awarded degrees at the
1295 average overall SAT score
104th Commencement 3.63 average GPA 1,575 graduates 1,241 students emerged from 1,009 bachelor’s degrees 540 master’s degrees 26 doctoral degrees
more than 10,299 applicants
7 high school valedictorians 10 salutatorians
171 Albert Dorman Honors College graduates
Albert Dorman Honors College Students
3.410 average GPA 24% of bachelor’s grads
1500 average overall SAT score 3.89 average GPA 139 incoming students
reported source of employment as co-op/internship continuation * Figures represent students who completed their degrees in May 2020.
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23 states and 18 countries represented
2020 President’s Report 19
M A K I N G G R E AT S T R I D E S
NJIT LEADERSHIP
UNIVERSITY OFFICERS Joel S. Bloom
Demetrios (Jim) Stamatis ’85
Sonya Kakkar
Fadi P. Deek ’85, ’86, ’97
Dennis M. Toft, Esq.
Steve Kalafer
Kenneth Alexo Jr.
Dale McLeod
Trustees Emeritus Stephen P. DePalma ’72 (Chair Emeritus) Kathleen Wielkopolski (Chair Emerita) Philip K. Beachem Dennis M. Bone Vincent L. DeCaprio ’72 Elizabeth “Liz” Garcia ’73 Anthony J. Knapp, Jr.
Simon Nynens
Holly Stern
President
Provost and Senior Executive Vice President Vice President for Development & Alumni Relations President, Foundation at NJIT
Edward J. Bishof Sr.
Senior Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Andrew P. Christ, PE, ’94, ’01
S enior Vice President for Real Estate Development and Capital Operations Vice President for Human Resources Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer CEO, New Jersey Innovation Institute
CEO Louis Berger (A WSP Company)
Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC
Secretary
Treasurer
Edward J. Bishof Sr.
Donald H. Sebastian
S enior Vice President for Technology and Business Development
Holly Stern, J.D.
General Counsel and Vice President, Legal Affairs
BOARD OF TRUSTEES Hon. Philip D. Murphy, ex-officio Governor of the State of New Jersey
Hon. Ras J. Baraka, ex-officio Mayor of the City of Newark
Officers Robert C. Cohen ’83, ’84, ’87 (Chair)
President, Digital, Robotics, and Enabling Technologies Stryker
Norma J. Clayton ’81 (Co-Vice Chair)
Vice President of Learning, Training & Development (Ret.) The Boeing Company
Nicholas M. DeNichilo ’73, ’78 (Co-Vice Chair) President and Chief Executive Officer Mott MacDonald
Diane Montalto ’82 (Co-Vice Chair) President DSA Engineering, LLC
Lawrence A. Raia, PE, ’65 (Co-Vice Chair) Partner Raia Properties
Joseph M. Taylor ’11 HON (Co-Vice-Chair)
C hairman and CEO (Ret.), Panasonic Corporation of North America Managing Officer of the parent, Panasonic Corporation
Dr. Jason R. Baynes
Founding Member/Manager Baynes Orthopaedics
Peter A. Cistaro ’68
Vice President, Gas Delivery (Ret.) Public Service Electric and Gas Company
Gary C. Dahms, PE, PP, CME President and CEO T&M Associates
Kuo-Lin (Jordan) Hu ’89
Chief Executive Officer RiskVal Financial Solutions, LLC
Richard M. Maser ’73 Executive Chairman Maser Consulting P.A.
Chairman Flemington Car and Truck Country Somerset Patriots Baseball Team
Robert J. Levin, Esq.
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Orbis Operations, LLC
Ralph Maddalena ’75, ’77
President, NSB Global Solutions LLC Retired Executive, ExxonMobil Corporation
John McCann
Operations Executive Con Edison Competitive Energy Solutions
Raymond J. McGowan ’64
Executive Vice President (Ret.) ExxonMobil Chemical Company
Robert Medina ’75
Founder, Medina 43 Business Strategies, LLC
BOARD OF OVERSEERS Officers Marjorie A. Perry ’05 (Chair)
President and Chief Executive Officer MZM Construction & Management
Kenneth M. Colao ’77 (Co-Executive Vice Chair) President, CNY Group
Arthur A. Kapoor (Co-Executive Vice Chair) Chief Executive Officer and Founder, HEALTHEC
Kenneth Alexo Jr.
President, Foundation at NJIT Vice President for Development & Alumni Relations
Edward J. Bishof Sr.
S ecretary, Foundation at NJIT S enior Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Pascal Montilus ’87
Vice President, Global Home Care Supply Chain Colgate-Palmolive Company
Patrick J. Natale ’70, ’75
Senior Vice President of Business Strategies Mott MacDonald
Kathleen Natriello
Partner, Fortium Partners, LP
George M. Newcombe, Esq. ’69
Partner (Ret.), Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
Brett Newton
Vice President, Applications & Azure Platform Offerings Executive – Northeast Avanade
Kelly A. O’Connor ’94, ’96, ’03
Senior Vice President, Transformation Jacobs
Board Members Joel S. Bloom
John H. Olson ’61, ’66
Steven Annunziato ’82
Paul V. Profeta
President, NJIT
Financial Adviser Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc.
Fadi P. Deek ’85, ’86, ’97
Provost and Senior Executive Vice President, NJIT
Alfred A. DeSeta ’84, ’86
Partner, Robin Hood Ventures
Albert A. Dorman ’45, ’99 HON Founding Chairman (Ret.), AECOM
Kim Felix
Vice President, Information Technology United Parcel Service
Caren L. Freyer
Regional Public Affairs Manager PSEG Services
John J. Fumosa ’74
Vice President and District Manager Gilbane Building Company
Managing Director, Northeast Region (Ret.) Morgan Stanley President, Profeta Urban Investment Foundation
Philip L. Rinaldi ’68, ’77 (Chair Emeritus)
Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (Ret.) Philadelphia Energy Solutions
Mark Romanski
Vice President and General Manager Turner Construction Company
Gregory Sauter
Founder, Smart City Works
Steve B. Saperstein ’84
(Co-Executive Vice-Chair Emeritus) Chief Operating Officer, PGIM Fixed Income
Edward J. Schmeltz ’71
Senior Vice President and Director of Maritime and Special Projects (Ret.), AECOM
John W. Seazholtz ’59 (Chair Emeritus)
Chairman of the Board (Ret.), Westell Technologies
David T. Gockel ’81
W. Marcus Sheridan
Daniel A. Henderson
Stephanie Tonic
President and Chief Executive Officer Langan Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc. Chief Executive Officer (Ret.), Intellect Wireless
Emil C. Herkert (Chair Emeritus)
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (Ret.) Hatch Mott MacDonald Infrastructure and Environment
J. Robert Hillier
Principal, Studio Hillier
20 2020 President’s Report
Regional Quality Head, Biotech Operating Unit Pfizer Inc.
Vice Chairman, Asset Management J.P. Morgan Private Bank Senior Vice President, Northeast Region Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Martin Tuchman ’62
Chief Executive Officer, Kingstone Capital V
Joseph T. Welch III ’62 (Emeritus) Division President (Ret.), BD
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6/19 3,250
4/21 3500
njit.edu
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