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HONORS IN ACTION 2020 CREDITS
TA B L E OF C O N T E N T S
Albert Dorman Honors College Dr. Louis Hamilton Dean Dr. Burcak Ozludil Associate Dean Dr. Lorna Ronald Associate Director, Prestigious Fellowships and Honors Advising Dr. Kyle Dobiszewski Associate Director, Accelerated Programs and Research Office of Strategic Communications Karen Hume Executive Director, Publications and Creative Services Julie Jacobs Associate Director, Strategic Projects and Publications Diane Cuddy Art Director and Designer
Faculty Highlight: Faculty Fellows
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Babette Hoyle Production Manager
Civic Engagement: Pandemic Response
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Recognition: Scholarships and Fellowships
Student Highlights: Class of 2020
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Honors Research: Summer Institute
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Community: Mayor’s Honors Scholars
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Community: Honors College 25th Anniversary
Dean’s Fund Financial Report
ADHC by the Numbers
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Inside Back Cover
FACULTY HIGHLIGHT FACULTY FELLOWS COURSES 2020-2021 Water Quality in Drinking Water and Natural Systems: Assessment and Mitigation
Faculty Fellows Program Provides Distinctive Education for Diverse Experiences
- Michel Boufadel
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unique program that packages distinctive coursework with diverse experiences, by connecting NJIT students and faculty with leading corporations, governmental agencies and private donors, Honors Faculty Fellows expanded in its second year with twice as many classes and three additional Fellows during the Spring 2020 semester — all made possible by generous gifts to the university’s Albert Dorman Honors College (ADHC), which administers the program. Returning fellows Michel Boufadel,
professor of civil engineering and director of NJIT’s Center for Natural Resources Development and Protection; Vatsal Shah ’08, ’09, ’14, adjunct civil and environmental engineering professor, industry practitioner and ADHC alumnus; and Vivek Kumar, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, were joined by Shawn Chester, associate professor of mechanical engineering and ADHC alumnus; Michael Lee, assistant professor of informatics; and Maria Stanko, senior university lecturer in biological sciences.
Maria Stanko focused on climate change and the agricultural system in her course, “Food for a Hot Future,” made possible by a gift from Sarabjit Singh, a 2002 graduate of ADHC. A gift from the school’s namesake and NJIT alumnus Albert A. Dorman ’45, ’99 HON, his wife, Joan, and their family, funded both Chester as the Dr. Saul K. and Roberta Fenster Honors Faculty Fellow in Engineering (also known as the DormanFenster Faculty Fellow) and Lee as the Dr. Joel and Dr. Diane Bloom Honors Faculty Fellow in STEM Leadership (also known as the Dorman-Bloom Faculty Fellow). Chester taught “Mechanics of Soft Materials” and Lee “Design Thinking to Address Structural Inequality.” “These are exciting courses that offer Honors scholars the opportunity to engage in some of the most pressing technical, environmental and social challenges of our times. Cutting-edge science, pursued for the good of society, is precisely what we want an honors education to provide,” said Louis Hamilton, ADHC dean. “We are so grateful to our generous alumni and friends who have made them possible.” Professor Vivek Kumar instructs Faculty Fellows participating students.
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Forensic Engineering: Reverse Engineering to Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure - Vatsal Shah
Engineering Better Medicines - Vivek Kumar
Mechanics of Soft Materials - Shawn Chester
Design Thinking to Address Structural Inequality - Michael Lee
Food for a Hot Future - Maria Stanko
BioGeo Chemical Applications in Environmental Engineering - Lucia Rodriguez-Freire
Spotlight on Faculty Fellow
Michael Lee
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ing Wu College of Computing Assistant Professor Michael Lee, in an effort to help informatics students consider social consciousness, began teaching a new course last spring, “Design Thinking to Address Structural Inequality” which will be offered again in spring 2021 due to its success. The Honors course, IS-485, emphasized real-world projects that apply digital solutions to problems faced by local communities and nonprofit organizations. It’s an area of emphasis for Lee, who is
the Dr. Joel and Dr. Diane Bloom Honors Faculty Fellow in STEM Leadership. “It’s a way of thinking about how to help individuals using technology. You also have to think about who you're not helping or certain biases that come along with it,” explained Lee, whose course had nine students. They divided into four project teams and then switched to mock solutions when COVID-19 hit in the middle of the semester, because working hand-inhand with real organizations was no
longer possible. The projects were Home Slice, which aimed to help K-12 students who don't track well academically; CheckUp, which adds useful health insurance information to job listings so applicants can better consider which positions are good fits; GearUp, to teach first-generation college applicants about processes and opportunities; and uSave, to develop lower barriers-to-entry for online information about healthy eating in lower-income communities.
Tejasree Seelam, of Edison, graduated in May 2020 with a B.S. in computer science and now works as a technology analyst at Barclays. She was on the CheckUp team. “The project was to create something that could solve a problem. We decided to go with the problem of how a lot of young people come out of college and they don’t really know much about the insurance system or health care in general. With a lot of job search engines it’s not really transparent,” she noted.
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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
Pandemic Response: Meeting the Demand Some of Laura Gould's masks in a multicolored array.
Honors Scholars Produce Hundreds of Personal Protective Equipment
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t all started with an email sent by NJIT/ Albert Dorman Honors College (ADHC) alumnus, Biren A. 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 attending emergency 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. Without hesitation, the Honors College 4
sprung into action. The very next day, a Saturday, it messaged its student body that it was holding a competition for both face shield design and production — offering Amazon gift cards as incentives and providing a supplies list that included marine-grade vinyl, industrial tape, foam and elastic. Interested scholars were directed to visit CDC guidelines for compliance regulations, and to consult a video of New York City nurses making shields. Over that weekend, nine designs were submitted by some 20 scholars 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 in May 2020. Greg also produced the highest quantity of face shields — more than 500 — by the end of that week, delivering them to Valley Hospital. Once he received the go-ahead to create more, he headed to Staples, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Ace Hardware to secure supplies. He produced the first 50 by himself, but knowing that production required ramping up, he assembled kits with instructions and materials and tapped into his personal network for help. 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. The crucial need for PPE was amplified when, just days after the Honors College’s call went out, another Dorman Scholar, then third-year biology student Constantine Baltzis, approached ADHC for help with PPE for the Lyndhurst Police Emergency Squad. Baltzis is a squad member, and Tarcisio Nunes, an NJIT alumnus, is the squad’s
captain. They received approval from the squad’s medical director for use of Greg’s face shield and Laura’s mask and requested a hefty supply, prompting the Honors College to put out a second call to its scholars with an expanded competition to tackle the growing demand. The squad received an initial 50 shields from Greg and 50 masks from Laura. The process of reaching out to students, fielding requests and responses, and facilitating deliveries when necessary required much coordination. Naira Abou-Ghali, a biology scholar of both ADHC and the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, took on the challenge and spearheaded the initiative. (Naira had been awarded the Albert Dorman Future Leader award earlier in the year, and proved a worthy recipient.) Scholars producing shields and masks were offered reimbursement with service-learning grants from the Dean’s Fund for Student Development. As of midMay, Greg had produced nearly 1,500 face shields and Laura more than 1,200 masks for hospitals, emergency rooms and community organizations in the New York metro region. These efforts to better the health of our community continue through ProtectNJ (ProtectNJ.Life), co-founded by Naira and Laura.
Students’ Unique Platform for Face-Shield Production Hits Close to Home
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The CommonHealth Project logo
or the students behind The CommonHealth Project — a collaborative, community-based initiative aimed at rallying volunteers for production and distribution of urgently needed personal protective equipment (PPE) — the pandemic has been deeply personal. Mark Pothen ’22, a mechanical engineering major at NJIT, for example, has heard stories from his mother, a physician working on the front line at Mountainside Hospital. Adé Kolade’23, an Honors scholar who is studying electrical engineering, is the son of a doctor and a public health nurse-turned nursing professor. And Ruth Fiore ’21, a biomedical engineering student, is living with two of her sisters, who both work full time at a grocery store and had been wearing the same KN95 masks every day for more than a month. Other NJIT team members — Owais Aftab ’20, Parth Agrawal ’21 and Juliana Yang ’21, all biomedical engineering students (Aftab and Agrawal are also accelerated pre-health) — either know emergency medical technicians or are planning careers in health care. The group, which came together through ADHC’s PPE competition, described The CommonHealth Project as people-
powered, 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. Builders and drivers also adhered to specific instructions laid out by the project to further ensure safety. The kits included clear polyethylene terephthalate sheets, elastic bands, foam rectangles and staples for 10 shields. Funding for the project was 100% donation-driven. As supply chain manager, Mark worked with Parth, project coordinator, in securing materials to maintain production; he also packaged materials and served as distribution manager for Bergen County. Ruth was logistics manager, assigning constructors and drivers, coordinating routes for drop-offs, pickups and deliveries, and ensuring the system ran smoothly overall. Both Adé and Juliana were involved in face-shield design. Adé, who initiated the response to the ADHC challenge, was the point person for design development,
Parth Agrawal
innovation and tinkering. Juliana designed the shield’s first prototype — greatly inspired by University of Wisconsin’s opensource shield design — and, as design and outreach manager, continued to help refine that prototype based on feedback from both the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management and medical professionals at local health care centers; she maintained communication with area hospitals and conducts outreach to build the volunteer network as well. And as finance manager/ treasurer, Owais tracked the project’s finances and explored fundraising channels. NJIT and ADHC alumnus Vatsal Shah ’08, ’09, ’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 recently switched to rapid-response mode, suspending production until the need for PPE in New Jersey should rise again. ho no rs .njit .e d u
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RECOGNITION
NJIT 2020 Goldwater Scholar Class Among Largest in U.S.
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f the more than 5,000 applicants this year for the prestigious Barry Goldwater Scholarship, only 396 students from 461 colleges and universities nationwide have been named Goldwater Scholars — four of them are from NJIT. The 2020 NJIT Goldwater Scholar class marks a university record and is 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 is a senior majoring in chemical engineering, whose nanoparticle research is aiming to improve health care for Type 2 diabetes patients. During a first-year NJIT Provost Summer Research Fellowship with her professor Xiaoyang Xu, she began 6
a study of hydrogels for the delivery of heart regenerative therapeutics, and contributed on a review paper on nanotechnologymediated devices to treat obesity published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Biomaterials. Since then, she’s earned a $3,000 seed grant for research to improve diabetes drug delivery — work she presented at the 2019 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) national conference.
Joseph Torsiello is a junior dual majoring in applied physics and mathematical sciences and is involved in research spanning everything from nanotechnology to mosquitoes. As part of his NJIT Provost Summer Research Fellowship alongside professor Dibakar Datta, he’s been applying molecular dynamics simulations to study friction properties of twodimensional materials, namely graphene,
which could enhance the engineering of nanotechnologies. In other research, with physics professor Benjamin Thomas, he is using a laser-based technology called lidar (light detection and ranging) to measure backscattered light from spinning blades of nanodrones, as well as the wings of flying mosquitoes. He generates numerical simulations that can help monitor mosquito populations more precisely.
Sara Abdelhamid is a third-year chemical engineering major researching the impact that different bottom shapes of industrial stirring vessels have on the production quality of everything from the taste of our food, to the effectiveness of our drugs, to the texture and fragrance of our home goods. She started her work as a secondyear student in the mixing lab of NJIT Distinguished Professor Piero Armenante,
and has since been constructing her own customized mixing systems for her research at NJIT's Makerspace. Her work received first prize in the 2019 AIChE Conference’s Undergraduate Poster Competition. Last semester, she took part in a co-op in Johnson & Johnson’s consumer R&D department, investigating consumer products and ways to overcome production problems. Philip Zaleski is a senior majoring in applied mathematics who began showing his talents with numbers at an incredibly early age. He started taking AP calculus exams when he was 10, counting toward his college calculus course credits. Arriving at NJIT at age 14, he is currently analyzing and creating mathematical models that explain fundamental physical processes, including how and why charged droplets become unstable. Through his recent NJIT research fellowship with mathematics professor Shahriar Afkhami, he’s published work in the MDPI journal Fluids to better model the behavior of electrified droplets, such as those used in inkjet printing or electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.
Prestigious Fellowships
DONALD “WILL” ANDREWS Humanity in Action Recipient
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onald “Will” Andrews is NJIT’s first-ever recipient of the Humanity in Action Fellowship. The now thirdyear industrial engineering major was scheduled to travel to Berlin for the June fellowship, which centers on diversity, human rights and citizenship around the world. He would have met with community leaders, politicians and activists and toured the city, all as part of an international group of 26 students from Germany, Greece, Bosnia, the United States and other countries. While an in-person experience may come at a later date, the fellowship continued as planned, albeit virtually via Zoom during this time of COVID-19. Through his fellowship, Will examined democracy and pluralism in modern Germany in the context of the Holocaust. The program required him to complete an individual “action project” that addresses the issues delved into during the fellowship.
“I think it was the focus on preserving the rights of those who historically would not have them, especially now,” Will remarked of what appealed to him about the opportunity. “There are people in unfortunate situations around the world, and there are different contexts for those bad situations.”
MATTHEW CHERREY Fulbright Recipient
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atthew Cherrey is NJIT’s first Fulbright awardee to Germany. He will undertake cybersecurity research at the Technische
Universität Darmstadt. Matthew will create a security model that defines the necessary protection elements in a network security protocol. He will use this model to propose solutions to the defense mechanisms used by secure websites and VPNs. This will ensure that highly sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, medical information and business communications, are properly encrypted while traveling
across the internet. Matthew transferred to NJIT as a secondyear student and discovered his interest in computer science. He has conducted research, interned at Facebook and led campus ministry and homeless outreach as president of the Newman Center. Of the Fulbright process, Matthew said, “I learned a lot about the country and about myself through the application process. I am really excited to go to Germany … to learn about another culture and share mine.”
DANIEL MEZA Fulbright Recipient
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aniel Meza is the first Fulbright awardee from Hillier College of Architecture and Design. The scholarship will take him to Macquarie University in January 2021, where he will develop a method for creating furniture out of slime mold. Meza, who dreams of becoming a professional artist, said, “There are a few different things that make slime mold
One of Meza's tables incorporating slime mold.
interesting on the research end. It's one of the few single-cell organisms that you can see with the naked eye. It doesn't have a central nervous system, but it's able to solve problems.” Meza’s work crosses disciplines, combining an understanding of swarm intelligence with sustainable design principles. Professor Jose Alcala, of Hillier’s industrial design program, praised Meza’s ingenuity. In a senior thesis project, “He’s using the so-called intelligence of slime mold to help design objects ... the growth pattern, the direction they grow in ... that starts to create a computer model,” Alcala said. “This is a case where success happened because there’s collaboration across campus.”
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STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
Dorman Scholars Class of 2020
Biology Major Chloe Jelley As a sophomore, Chloe Jelley began working as an understudy to evolutionary biologist and ant expert Phil Barden at NJIT’s Department of Biological Sciences. There, she studied ant fossil collections from his fieldwork and eventually investigated both living and extinct prehistoric ant species from around the world. Her research was showcased at NJIT’s Undergraduate Research Symposium and at the 2019 Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, where she won an undergraduate President’s Prize for her first-ever formal presentation on the comparative morphology of ant eyes. Chloe furthered her study during an expedition to Madagascar’s dry forest of Ankarafantsika National Park, conducting one of the area’s first samplings of leafy-dwelling ants that dominate the expansive forest canopy. “The Madagascar trip really solidified that I wanted to pursue a career researching ants and got me applying to schools for it,” said Chloe, now a student in Cornell University’s Ph.D. entomology program. “I think the research I’ve done at NJIT is the thing I’ll think most about looking back at my time as an undergrad.”
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Med Student Sravya Vegunta This fall, Sravya Vegunta started her studies at New Jersey Medical School. She is excited to rotate through the various medical specialties, which she said should help her decide on a clinical discipline to pursue. What she is certain about is that she aspires to deliver direct patient care, conduct clinical research and, down the road, engage with Doctors Without Borders and the World Health Organization. In her first two years at NJIT, she assisted Distinguished Professor Namas Chandra in the university’s Center for Injury Biomechanics, Materials and Medicine (CIBM3), in characterizing the changes in microglial cells and monocyte infiltration after blastinduced traumatic brain injury. She won a silver medal for her work at NJIT’s 2019 Dana Knox Showcase, which recognizes undergraduate and graduate researchers. Of the CIBM3 opportunity, she remarked, “I was learning from day one. I was doing handson experimentation and analyzing data independently. I had the opportunity to publish my work as well as present it multiple times. The experience definitely exceeded what I thought I would be able to achieve as an undergrad.”
Astrophysics Researcher Samantha Lomuscio Applied physics graduate Samantha Lomuscio worked with astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), where she conducted high-energy astrophysics research to detect Jupiter in a way that has never been done successfully — through gamma-ray emissions. Her exploration began when she was one of eight students selected last year to participate in the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates program for the physical sciences. She continued working remotely with the museum throughout this past summer, until the next phase of her research career began. She is now at the University of Virginia, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in astronomy. “Looking back, my AMNH experience gave me the opportunity to learn about high-energy astrophysics and the mechanisms behind gamma-ray emission in more in-depth than ever,” she said. “It’s given me scientific knowledge that I will take with me through graduate school, but it’s also helped me affirm that I want to pursue science and astrophysics research as my career, and helped me develop confidence in myself that I am capable of accomplishing this in the future.”
Engineer Niyam Shah For his senior capstone project, civil engineering major Niyam Shah went big: He and his teammates designed a 40-story commercial tower with a thick concrete core and X-patterned steel bracing for an empty lot on Manhattan’s building-jammed West Side. Shah, who hopes to make a career of building “very tall” steel buildings, is now at the University of Texas at Austin to pursue a master’s degree in structural engineering. As a Highlander, Shah was nominated for NJIT’s Outstanding Senior Award and served as the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Student Senate representative. He was also the 2019 vice president of NJIT’s American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment, however, is the founding in 2018 of NJIT’s chapter of the professional engineering fraternity, Theta Tau, which bridges all of the engineering disciplines. “We had to create an organization from scratch: recruit members, find locations to meet and hold events and people to help administer them, secure funding and communicate with other groups to coordinate activities,” he recalled. “As in a business, we had to identify all of our stakeholders.”
Sustainable Designer Erin Heidelberger Erin Heidelberger, an architecture graduate, has continued her education as a master’s student at Georgia Tech in the High Performance Building Lab, where she says she looks forward to making strides in sustainable design. While at NJIT, she developed a proposal that converted a last-mile shipping warehouse into a building to house flexible workspaces, dedicated office spaces, laboratories, a makerspace and an event space. Focusing on sustainable design, the proposal retained the original structure grid and adapted the program inside. “I’ve grown so much as both a person and an architect, and I have learned so many lessons that I will take with me through life,” said Erin of her time at NJIT. “This was all made possible by the faculty members and my classmates who I had the opportunity to work with over the years.”
Coder Ayushi Sangoi While still in high school, Ayushi Sangoi had already sketched out a design for a medical device — a cushion to support people with hip fractures. She also was among the first women chosen nationally to be a Kode with Karlie (now Klossy) Scholar at the Manhattan-based professional coding boot camp. A double major in biomedical and computer engineering at NJIT, who was named Newark College of Engineering’s “outstanding engineer” for the class of 2020 and recently inducted into the International Honor Society of IEEE, Ayushi helped develop a novel vision therapy device as a senior capstone project that generates and analyzes streams of data on eye movements in need of rapid and precise analysis. The device, embarking on clinical trials at children’s hospitals nationwide, was developed in NJIT’s Vision and Neural Engineering Laboratory, where Ayushi has joined the lab’s director, Tara Alvarez, as a Ph.D. student. “Ayushi has an incredible gift for coding, an understanding of science and clinical medicine, and the ability to work on a team,” Alvarez said. “She’s the whole package.”
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HONORS RESEARCH
Honors College Summer Program Advances Undergraduate Research
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he Honors Summer Research Institute (HSRI), an eight-week program launched in June 2018, promotes interdisciplinary collaboration between Albert
Dorman Honors College (ADHC) scholars who are engaged in on-campus research during the summer. Through regular meetings and discussions moderated by ADHC
FOLLOWING ARE SELECTED ABSTRACTS FROM SUMMER 2020 PARTICIPANTS.
faculty and staff, it also introduces them to peer review, fosters presentation and communication skills, and provides instruction in perfecting presentations and writing concisely. This past summer, the HSRI was fully remote, culminating in an online mini-conference. To take part in the institute, scholars undergo a competitive proposal and review
An Exploratory Study into the Effects of Total Sleep Deprivation Using fNIRS Katherine Ji, Class of 2021 (NJMS Accelerated Program) We explored the application of functionalnear infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure changes in the brain caused by sleep deprivation. We demonstrated that sleep deprivation reduced functional connectivity across different regions of the brain and lowered accuracy under a task condition, but not at rest.
process. Participants receive awards from the Dean’s Fund for Student Development, while others are funded by the Provost Summer Research Fellowship. The Honors Summer Research Institute is just one component of an ADHC research pathway that includes granting students course credit for reaching Honors College research milestones, such as filing a patent with a faculty member, crafting a peer-reviewed manuscript that gets accepted for publication, working on an Undergraduate Research and Innovation Phase II team, and, of course, engaging in the institute. Involvement in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program and the McNair Summer Research Institute at NJIT also qualify.
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Analysis of the Accessibility of Health Care Facilities in the Tri-State Area Vrushali Koli, Class of 2020 This research investigated the location of health care facilities relative to mobility access points (e.g., train stations, parking lots, etc.) in the tri-state area. Our work suggests that health care facilities have limited mobility access (mostly parking).
Effects of Age and Surface on Muscle Co-Contractions During Walking Matthew DaSilva, Class of 2021 We investigated the neuromuscular adaptations associated with aging and how they are affected by walking over uneven and even surfaces. Our results suggest that older adults have greater muscle cocontractions at the ankle joint on uneven surfaces, resulting in increased joint stiffness and motor control deficits.
Improving Collaboration, Motivation, and Engagement in a Participatory Learning System Zoraiz Naeem, Class of 2021 We implemented a commenting and flagging system to improve coherence in different workflows of an online course management system. This system is built to conduct assignments based on participatory learning principles.
fMRI Study of Functional Brain Connectivity in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) Shruti Varshney, Class of 2022 We investigated the effects of PD on functional brain connectivity using fMRI. Our work suggests that PD alters connections in the brain. Further work may lead to new avenues of R&D on related treatments.
Analysis and Visualization of LongTerm Thermal Comfort Performance of a Net-Zero Energy House Anuradha Kadam, Class of 2022 Understanding high-resolution thermal comfort data is critical for communication of net-zero energy house performance to decision makers, building operators and occupants. This research project measures and evaluates the thermal comfort performance of net-zero energy houses to develop a whole-house thermal comfort rating system and explore innovative visualization and modeling methods.
Dynamics of Generalized Half-Center Oscillator (HCO) Neuronal Networks Shiva Senthilkumar, Class of 2022 We used mathematical modeling to study the biophysical parameters of 2- and 3-cell HCO neural networks. We found that our model effectively characterized the electrical activity that underlies HCO functionality.
An Algorithm for Restructuring of Coated Soot Aggregates Divjyot Singh, Class of 2022 We developed a novel algorithm to model the restructuring of coated soot nanoparticles. We showed that a Morse potential can simulate partial restructuring of soot and that there is a mathematical correlation between the Morse parameters and coating volume.
Revisiting the 80-Year-Old Moody Chart: A Novel Graphical Representation Manisha Kannan, Class of 2022 This research sought to simplify pipe design calculations by enabling explicit approximation of parameters through a novel graphical representation of Moody’s chart. Our novel method simplifies the calculation process while maintaining a low mean calculation error of 3.71%.
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HONORS RESEARCH
Analyzing Tardigrade Locomotion Steven Munoz, Class of 2021 (NJMS Accelerated Program) This research investigated machine learning with DeepLabCut to characterize tardigrade locomotive patterns. Our results suggest that machine learning effectively captures tardigrade gait patterns and future work in this area is justified.
Apolipoprotein E4 and Cholesterol Metabolism in Alzheimer’s Disease Lindsey Riggs, Class of 2021 We used molecular dynamics simulations to study the apolipoprotein E4 (apoE4) gene and cholesterol metabolism in Alzheimer’s. We show that cholesterol effectively binds to apoE4; further study is warranted to understand lipid binding capacity and lipoprotein formation.
Morphological Evolution Between Social Parasites and Their Hosts Nitya Shah, Class of 2021 We studied the influence of parasitic specialization on morphological evolution in social insects. Interestingly, we found that specialist parasites were not necessarily morphological matches to their hosts, nor were generalists a mosaic of their combined hosts.
Neural Mechanisms for the Discrimination of Moving Sensory Images Rita Vought, Class of 2021 (NJMS Accelerated Program) Our research explored the processing of moving sensory stimuli in animals’ brains. We deployed a nonlinear feedback control model, which incorporates a Reichardt detector and relies on short-term synaptic depression, to interpret data.
Examining Parameter Estimation Unidentifiability in Dynamic Models Dylan Lederman, Class of 2023 We evaluated the efficacy of parameter estimation algorithms in the presence of model degeneracy. We found that the parameters were nonidentifiable and the algorithms’ performance was not improved by perturbing the ground truth data with noise.
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Geoacoustic Inversion in Ocean Environments via Neural Networks Akaash Patel, Class of 2023 We evaluated the use of machine-learning models with acoustic data to characterize seabed conditions to improve submarine performance. Our results showed that these models successfully classified various seabed conditions based solely on the input of transmitted acoustical signals. Using Long-Read Sequencing to Assemble Genomes With Repetitive DNA Andre Pugliese, Class of 2021 We investigated the effect of repetitive transposable elements (TEs) on genome assembly using long-read sequencing technologies. We concluded that removal of TEs from a human genome leads to greater assembly quality when using long-read sequencing techniques like Nanopore simulations.
Role of Neuromodulation in Circadian Signaling Victoria Vought, Class of 2022 (NJMS Accelerated Program) This research investigated the role of neuromodulation on mammalian circadian signaling. We found that neuromodulators play an important, yet complicated, role in mediating circadian rhythms, yet much is still unknown.
Ultrasonic Testing to Determine Porosity in Shale Michael Tuma, Class of 2023 We utilized ultrasonic testing to elucidate the relationship between shale softening and changes in shale porosity. Our results suggest that there is a correlation between porosity and ultrasonic signal attenuation, i.e., heat generation, in shale.
Retrieving Population Density From Entomological Optical Sensors Joseph Torsiello, Class of 2022 We studied the correlation of insect transit data from entomological optical sensors and population density. We found an analytical relationship for population density and used numerical simulations to elucidate the observation time necessary to retrieve population density. ho no rs .njit .e d u
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COMMUNITY
Mayor’s Honors Scholars Program
Samara Augustin, Samantha Augustin, and Kiaja Jones were selected as Mayor’s Honors Scholars from the high school class of 2019.
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JIT President Joel S. Bloom and Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka officially announced the three students selected as Mayor’s Honors Scholars from the high school class of 2019 on June 28, 2019, in NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College (ADHC).
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In his introductory remarks, Bloom described how students enrolled at the ADHC have a wealth of opportunities to optimize their own educational path. “You have a palette here that you can fill however you want to proceed,” he said. Natasha Rogers, interim deputy mayor/ director of Economic and Housing Development and COO of the city of Newark, explained that the goal of this partnership is to become more familiar with residents of the community and incorporate issues of public concern. “You are exemplary models to follow,” she said. “We hope that you will be inspired to work at City Hall.” In February 2019, NJIT, the city of Newark and the Newark Public Schools announced the Mayor’s Honors Scholars Program at NJIT, which was designed to create a pipeline from the Newark Public Schools to NJIT’s prestigious and top-ranked ADHC. Each year, NJIT will work with the Newark Public Schools to select Mayor’s Honors Scholars for admission to ADHC. These students will receive full scholarships as well as paid internships with the city of Newark during the summer months. The first recipients are: Samara and Samantha Augustin are twins
whose parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti. They lost their father seven years ago in an accident. They both are graduates of Science Park High School. Samantha was a member of the robotics, environmental science and UNICEF clubs. She was a Governor’s STEM Scholar and president of the National Honor Society, as well as a member of the track team. At NJIT, she is majoring in biomedical engineering, and her career goal is to establish her own ophthalmology practice in Newark. Samara was a member of the Pay It Forward, Honoring Our Elders and UNICEF clubs. She was a Governor’s STEM Scholar and a member of the National Honor Society who also ran track. She is studying computer science at NJIT and hopes to become the CIO for a major corporation. Kiaja Jones is a graduate of Technology High School. She is a soprano, trombonist and bowler, was a member of the Math Club and was a Sadie Nash Fellow working on gender and social justice issues. She is majoring in computer science and hopes to study abroad while at NJIT. This fall, the Honors College welcomed three new Mayor's Scholars: Okyere Boateng, Dequan Marshall and Priestly Ogbonna.
Albert Dorman Honors College Turns 25!
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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 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. Here, in celebration of the Honors College’s 25th anniversary, are the sentiments of those for whom the college holds a special place in their hearts. “I want to challenge all of you to become committed; to augment your technical skills with other skills; to make it a lifelong duty to help define and achieve important social as well as scientific goals; and to help inform the nonscientific segment of the body politic. … Learn and, more importantly, practice the skills of synthesis. Learn to manage controversy so that it may lead to consensus. Learn to meld strongly-held differing opinions into an action plan
for the common good.” - Dr. Albert Dorman Dedicatory Address at the founding of Albert Dorman Honors College, Oct. 4, 1994
to contributing to solutions of the grand and complex challenges confronting our world.” - President Joel S. Bloom, Founding Dean of Albert Dorman Honors College
“It is very fitting that we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Albert Dorman Honors College at this time. We are currently fraught with multiple complex challenges which require interdisciplinary solutions based in the sciences, technology, human behavior, economics, history, religion and more. Having met Albert Dorman some 25 years ago and having had the absolute pleasure of engaging with him these many years, learning of his vast intellect, many interests, remarkable achievements and determination to succeed in making the world, particularly the designed and built environment, significantly better, I know that Al envisioned that the Honors College would prepare students to work on the solutions to complex challenges, like pandemics, degradation of the environment, natural disasters, famine and racial-genderfinancial inequality. Al has been a visionary his entire life, and a legacy for this college. On its 25th anniversary, Albert Dorman Honors College shall embrace and commit
“At the 25th anniversary of the founding of Albert Dorman Honors College, we rededicate ourselves to our founding commitment to an interdisciplinary education that will allow us to best deploy our expertise for the good of society. As the beneficiaries of the generous spirit of the Dorman family and so many alumni and friends who have come before us, we are more determined than ever to pay forward that debt. We are proud of our legacy of academic and industrial achievement, but prouder still of our commitment to the communities we serve, here in Newark and around the world. We strive to be scientists and citizens to our fullest capacity, to become leaders resolving humanity's greatest challenges.” - Dean Louis I. Hamilton Albert Dorman Honors College “Lessons I learned at NJIT helped me succeed in medical school and my residency. I am eternally grateful to have had access to
wonderful academic programs and generous scholarship packages at Albert Dorman Honors College. …Prospective students seeking a college experience that fosters personal and professional growth should consider the incredible, affordable public universities of New Jersey. Albert Dorman Honors College at NJIT is the crown jewel of the system.” - Biren A. Bhatt, M.D. ’05 “In my past two years in the Honors College, not only have I been able to explore exciting academic and professional prospects, but I have also had the amazing opportunity of learning to grow. Through a multidisciplinary education, I met people with entirely different worldviews and skill sets from me, and worked to pursue both old and recently discovered passions. The most important moment of growth for me, however, was learning the power that exists in moments of kindness, which was encouraged through the emphasis the Honors College places on service. I hope to carry these moments of growth into all aspects of my life, and use these skills of empathy and collaboration to encourage change in our society.” - Elizabeth Kowalchuk ’23 ho no rs .njit .e d u
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PLEASE SUPPORT THE DEAN’S FUND FOR STUDENT DEVELOPMENT! SCAN THE QR CODE TO DONATE!
DEAN’S FUND FINANCIAL REPORT Thirteen percent of the Dean’s Fund directly supports the Honors First-Year Seminar, such as the native planting on the Honors Green, ensuring a successful first year at NJIT. The First-Year service project underscores the role of scientists as engaged citizens, as it introduces the concept of sustainability and fosters campus biodiversity.
T
he Dean’s Fund for Student Development is funded through
the generosity of alumni and friends of Albert Dorman Honors College. It enables scholars to engage in co-curricular educational activities that transform their careers. Many of our Goldwater Scholars’ first independent research experiences and first research conferences were funded through the Dean’s Fund. Many
DEAN’S FUND FOR STUDENT DEVELOPMENT
of our Fulbright Scholars first studied
$48,000 IN EXPENDITURES
internationally with the support from the Dean’s Fund. The Fund supports applied-
Biodiversity Planting - Honors Green (First-Year Seminar)
learning experiences and our commitment
Conference & Research Travel Awards for Scholars
to building a more sustainable campus and
10%
strengthening our community, by funding
First-Year Seminar
projects like the Solar Car Team and the
8%
pollinator garden on the Honors Green. Thank you for your support! Elzabeth Kowalchuck ’23 and Mary Riccio ’22 in Rome, Italy, in 2019, supported by the Dean’s Fund. Ten percent of funding helped scholars attend conferences or research internationally. 16
5%
First-Year Orientation
12%
65% Honors Summer Research Institute ( Research Awards for Scholars)
ADHC BY THE NUMBERS
Record prestigious fellowships: 4 Goldwater Scholars* 2 Fulbright Scholars* 1st Boren Scholar 1st Humanity in Action Scholar *single-year record
Over 20,000 hours of community service performed in 2018-2019
Undergraduate prestigious fellowships up by 167% from 2017
Incoming class 44% female
Number of applications received for fall 2020: 2,422
100% of first-year class arrives with AP, IB or college credits
1502 SAT score for Class of 2024
Albert Dorman Honors College New Jersey Institute of Technology honors.njit.edu • honors@njit.edu
10/20 200
University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102
