Annual Report 2016 | 2017 Albert Dorman Honors College A Top 10 Public University Honors College
ON THE COVER: (Top) A group of Honors College students spent their spring break in Nicaragua with Global Brigades, working to improve local health care efforts. (Middle left) Students enjoyed a class at NJIT Splash! (Bottom right) Honors College students got wrapped up in team games during freshman orientation.
Ta bl e of C on t e n t s 2
Message From the Dean
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College by the Numbers
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Year 1 A.D. (After Dorman)
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Alumni in Touch
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The Dorman Experience
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Student Achievements
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National Fellowships
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Meet the Dorman HEIRs
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Visibility and Outreach
Message From the Dean
I
t is my great pleasure to present the 2016-2017 Annual Report for Albert Dorman Honors College at New Jersey Institute of Technology. This report highlights many of the activities and accomplishments of our students during the last academic year. As you read through these pages, I’m sure you will marvel at the achievements of Dorman Scholars and realize, as I do, the enormous potential of these outstanding young men and women.
“ The ‘Dorman Experience’ is about providing outstanding students with opportunities that help them gain the knowledge and develop the skills that will enable them to impact lives locally and globally.”
The “Dorman Experience” is about providing outstanding students with opportunities that help them gain the knowledge and develop the skills that will enable them to impact lives locally and globally. Our program is more than just honors courses and seminars. It is a rigorous, yet flexible, path toward a well-rounded education. Our students are encouraged to seek out milestone experiences such as study abroad, internships, co-ops and research. They go on study tours, such as the “Brick City” walking tour of Newark, guided by NJIT faculty members. Our students attend formal colloquia as well as informal gatherings with distinguished guests at our Keurig Coffee Hours. Opportunities for civic engagement, service, professional networking and participation in research conferences are readily available. The success of our programs is measured in many ways. The average SAT score of our current students is the highest it’s been in the history of our college. We currently have more women majoring in STEM and more national fellowship winners than we have ever had. Current Dorman Scholars have published research papers in peer-reviewed professional journals, and others have received provisional patents for their innovations. Further validation of our efforts came this year when we earned the distinction of being named a Top 10 Public University Honors College in the biennial publication, “INSIDE HONORS.” The achievements of our students during the past year, and indeed during the past two decades, would not have been possible without the support of many individuals. I want to express my sincere gratitude for the wonderful support we have received from members of our senior administration, faculty and staff. Our Board of Visitors is a remarkable group of distinguished individuals who have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our college and have provided enthusiastic support for our students. Their guidance over the years has helped to create more than a college; they have built a model for honors education. Above all, I want to thank Albert Dorman for his vision and his legacy – he is truly an inspiration for every student who attends his college. Sincerely, John Bechtold Interim Dean
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Albert Dorman Honors College
College by the Numbers
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Freshman Profile
Fall 2017*
Fall 2016
Fall 2015
Enrollment (FTFTF)
170
170
173
Applications
1775
1651
1283
+
SAT Scores (CR+M)
1450**
1420
1385
Percent Female Students
39%
42%
38%
*preliminary **new SAT first-time full-time freshman
+
Average ACT Score 2 out of 3 students
were in the top 5% of their high school class
83
%
of incoming students had AP and/or college credit
Albert Dorman Honors College Student Profile
714 3.6+ enrolled students
Average GPA
63:37 50 male-to-female ratio
students from U.S. News & World Report Ranking of Top 50 STEM High Schools
Graduate Outcomes, Class of 2016 Data based on a six-month post-graduation survey with a 78% response rate Post Graduation Plans 51% Graduate/ Professional School 47% Industry 2% Other (gap year, service, etc.)
69%
respondents secured jobs or were enrolled for further study before graduation
(all students)
1392+ 100% Average SAT
of students receive merit scholarships
First Destinations • EMPLOYER SAMPLING: Google, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan, KPMG, Verizon, UnitedHealth Group, General Mills, Inc., Mott MacDonald, Village West Design • G RADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL SAMPLING: NJIT, Columbia University, Stanford, UCLA, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Colorado, Columbia College of Dental Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Georgetown Law Albert Dorman Honors College
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Year 1 A.D. (After Dorman) Dorman graduates are employed by some of the world’s best companies and attend renowned domestic as well as international institutions of higher education. In this After Dorman feature, recent graduates reflect on their years at NJIT and share their thoughts on how their experience prepared them to excel in the workplace.
Kimberly Lam, Lockheed Martin (Mechanical Engineering ‘16)
“Since graduating in May, I began my career at Lockheed Martin as a systems engineer working in weapon systems engineering for the Navy Aegis Weapon System. My team works on a high-fidelity model and simulation of the Aegis Weapons System and I have been supporting the integration and testing of one of our tools. I had interned in the same department the summer before, which helped my college-to-career transition. Even after college, you don’t stop learning at your job. There are many new concepts, tools and objectives that are foreign to any newcomer and my time at NJIT taught me to prepare and take on any challenge that comes my way. My team is software-focused, but I was able to jump right in since I worked with people from all different majors at NJIT and specifically in the Honors College. I look forward to continuing to learn and contribute to the tools used by the Navy at LM.”
Trevor Summerfield, Google
(Computer Science ‘16)
“After graduation I began working as a software engineer at Google. I’m based out of the New York office and I help build and maintain software for Google’s enterprise applications and products. It’s a very exciting and rewarding role. I take on a lot of varied responsibilities and often find myself working in concert with our hardware, design, sales, marketing, product, support or even legal and privacy teams to do my work. One thing I learned during my time at NJIT that I find particularly valuable is the importance of being self-motivated. Google’s upside-down management structure means you more or less design your career yourself – something I find incredibly appealing, but it requires discipline. I also came back to NJIT as an adjunct professor; I’m currently teaching CS100 once a week!”
Andres Alban, INSEAD
(Applied Math and Physics ‘16) “After NJIT, I joined the INSEAD [Business School for the World®] Ph.D. program in technology and operations management. In the past year, I have been preparing to start pursuing my own research. I have taken classes in operations management, microeconomics, social theory, among other fields related to management. I have also visited a few conferences in Europe and started working on my own research projects related to the efficient design of clinical trials. I am glad I was able to participate in several research activities at NJIT, including work on simulation methods to estimate risk of nuclear power plants as part of the Provost Undergraduate Summer Research Program, which prepared me well for this program.” 4
Albert Dorman Honors College
Alumni in Touch
Vatsal Shah ‘08, ‘09, ‘14
Associate and Senior Project Engineer at Mott MacDonald Vatsal received all three of his degrees from NJIT and has been an incredibly active alum since his graduation from the Honors College in 2008. Vatsal commits much of his available free time to the future STEM community, serving as a vice president on the NJIT Alumni Association Board and a past chair of the Young Alumni Association. Among many other honors, in 2016 he was named a “Top 20 Under 40” by Engineering News-Record.
Dhiraj Shah ‘00 - CEO, Avaap Samir Saini ‘97 - CIO, City of Atlanta Samir (left) and Dhiraj were elected to the Albert Dorman Honors College Board of Visitors this year. Samir is the chief information officer for the City of Atlanta and is accountable for information technology across all 30 departments within the city. Dhiraj is CEO of Avaap, one of the largest Infor Alliance Partners in the world.
Ruchika Talwar ‘13
Urologic Surgery Resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania - Penn Medicine Health System
Mousa Hamad ‘12
Neurological Surgery Resident at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center Newly minted doctors Ruchika and Mousa recently matched into very competitive residency programs. Committed to giving back to the Honors College, they have been invaluable resources for both current and prospective students: Ruchika was a panelist at this year’s Women With STEAM roundtable, while Mousa is a frequent guest at Open House information sessions.
Albert Dorman Honors College
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Freshman Retreat
Before the fall academic semester begins, upperclassmen volunteer their time to organize and run our flagship annual retreat for incoming freshmen. New Dorman Scholars participate in a day of exciting events and forge friendships that will endure throughout their time at NJIT.
Colloquium Series
Dorman Scholars are required to attend at least two colloquia every semester. This year we hosted many interesting colloquia: a presentation about entrepreneurship by distinguished guest Richard Sweeney ’82, alum and co-founder of Keurig; three presidential forums; and a Women With STEAM networking colloquium event. We also co-sponsored colloquia with the College of Science and Liberal Arts and the Office of Global Initiatives to commemorate International Week.
Service to the Community
Dorman Scholars completed 21,726 hours of service during the fall semester. Over 60 students tutor children in STEM subjects at local elementary schools, while others are involved in NJIT Against Hunger, a charity project led by Dorman Scholar Ramsha Javed (Biology ’17). Another group of students spent their spring break in remote regions of Nicaragua with Global Brigades, working to improve local health care efforts.
The Dorman Newark Study Tours With NJIT Faculty
This spring the Honors College hosted the first “Brick City” walking tour of Newark for sophomores. Professor Jon Curley of the Department of Humanities served as our guide as we stopped by many Newark sites of historical importance. The tour ended with a dinner in the famed Ironbound section of Newark.
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Albert Dorman Honors College
Publications
The Honors College houses two studentrun publications: the Technology Observer, published annually, which features articles on current science and technology developments, and the Honors Newsletter, which highlights Honors community activities and is published once per semester. All Honors College students have the opportunity to apply for staff positions with these publications and, among other perks, receive service hours for their efforts.
Walter Mielarczyk
Milestone Experiences
Dorman Scholars are strongly encouraged to participate in one or more co-curricular learning experiences, including study abroad, research and internships/co-ops. The number of NJIT students who study abroad has increased substantially in the last few years, and Dorman Scholars represent the majority of students who go abroad. These opportunities serve to broaden our students’ education, and they return with a global perspective as well as an appreciation of other cultures and customs.
(Mechanical Engineering ‘19) “Without a doubt, deciding to spend a semester studying abroad was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made. While the idea of traveling to the other side of STUDY ABROAD TESTIMONIAL the world without knowing anyone may have seemed a bit daunting, the welcoming nature of the people I met made for a smooth transition to living in a new culture. I quickly made friends with Australians and fellow exchange students alike, and the most important lesson I learned is that we all have much more in common than what we have that makes us different.”
n Experience Senior Banquet
As a farewell to our graduating students, we host an annual senior banquet. The spring 2016 banquet was held at a restaurant in Newark, and this spring it will be held at a venue on the Jersey Shore.
Networking Events
The Honors College organizes a number of networking events for Dorman Scholars. In the spring semester we hosted a leadership event at Hotel Indigo in Newark, a Women With STEAM mentorship event with 15 Honors College alumnae, and a roundtable with Albert Dorman and members of the Honors College Board of Visitors.
Keurig Coffee Hours
This is a new event begun this year, in which Dorman Scholars are given an opportunity to mingle with distinguished guests in an informal setting. During this inaugural year, guests included Richard Sweeney ’82, alum and co-founder of Keurig; Joel S. Bloom, president of NJIT; and Albert Dorman ’45, AECOM founding chairman and benefactor. Albert Dorman Honors College
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Student Achievements Nandini Isaac
Scholar for 2016-17.
(Biochemistry ’18) was named a New Jersey Governor’s STEM
Priyadharshini Rajbabu (Computer Science ’19) was one of 25 students nationwide selected to attend the MIT Digital Currency Initiative’s Introduction to Cryptocurrency Bootcamp last summer. Priya was also selected to receive the Microsoft Travel Award to attend the Grace Hopper Conference during the fall semester.
Olivia Hadlaw (Electrical and Computer Engineering ’19) was awarded a
scholarship from the IEEE Power and Energy Society Scholarship Plus Initiative.
Adam Bindas (Chemical Engineering ’17) was the first recipient of the Albert Dorman Future Leader Award. This award is given to a graduating Honors College senior with an exemplary academic record who also demonstrates outstanding leadership qualities.
Shikha Shah (Computer Science ’19) Scholarship.
received the Grace Hopper Conference
Dorman seniors (left to right) Sahitya Allam (Biomedical Engineering ’17), Stefani Kocevska (Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering ’17) and Andrew Pennock (Mechanical and Industrial Engineering ’17) were each named Outstanding Senior in their respective departments at the 19th annual NCE Salute to Engineering Excellence awards reception. Sahitya was also named Outstanding Senior (Overall).
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Albert Dorman Honors College
National Fellowships For the past two years Albert Dorman Honors College has coordinated the university’s national fellowship and scholarship activities. During this time, we have experienced a significant increase in both the number of applicants for and recipients of these prestigious awards.
PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS - 2016/2017 Dylan Renaud
Bailey Keyser
(Applied Physics and Math ’18) Winner, Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship
(Biomedical Engineering ’17) Semifinalist, Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship
Adithya Kannan
Akhil Dondapati
(Biomedical Engineering ’18) Winner, DAAD RISE Germany
The 2015/2016 application cycle garnered wins and honorable mentions for several notable fellowships, including the Goldwater, DAAD RISE Germany, Fulbright and Whitaker awards. Two of last year’s national fellowship winners share their thoughts on their year abroad:
(Biology ’17) Alternate, Fulbright U.S. Student Program, Germany
Alison Schroeder (Biomedical Engineering ‘16, Whitaker Fellow) “I received a national fellowship through the Institute of International Education to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. While I am excited about the academic opportunities this experience provides me, I am equally excited about the opportunity to travel, meet new people and try new things! In the two months I have been in NZ, I have gone surfing, impulsively bought cross-country plane tickets, done my first overnight backpacking trip, walked on black sand beaches, visited the Hobbiton movie set, witnessed a Maori cultural performance, joined two futsal leagues and much more. Academics are important, but they aren’t the whole package! Make sure you get out and explore; personal and professional growth are not independent of each other.”
David Anderson (Mathematical Sciences ‘16, Fulbright Fellow) “The Fulbright Program in Germany has been such a great experience so far. Besides being a great aid to my career through the program at the Technical University of Munich and accompanying internships, the experience has allowed me to take advantage of living in the diverse culture of Germany. Munich, a very international city, has provided the perfect atmosphere for project work, life and studying. Through the Fulbright Program I have been able to further pursue my dreams of working in international risk management consulting and am looking forward to what the next six months will bring!” Albert Dorman Honors College
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Dorman Scholars are encouraged to explore their own ideas and to become innovative thinkers. The Honors College provides many resources and opportunities to involve students in research projects and entrepreneurial activities.
Meet the Do H O N O R S Two seniors and one recent alumnus have received provisional patents stemming from their innovative research. Robert Gioia (Information Technology ’17) and John Vito d’Antonio-Bertagnolli (above, Biomedical Engineering ’16) are two of six co-inventors awarded a provisional patent on using virtual reality (VR) gaming for treating eye disorders in children. Sahitya Allam (Biomedical Engineering ’17) received a provisional patent for a new technology she helped develop involving the fabrication of an electrically conducting scaffold to spur the regeneration of nerve tissue, which combined two highly conductive polymers in a novel fashion.
Harshit Ratanpara (Chemical Engineering ’19) was awarded second place in the Newark Innovation Acceleration Challenge for his project entitled “Campus Cravingz,” a food delivery website that connects local restaurants to college campuses, allowing students and faculty to order their favorite food any time of day.
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Albert Dorman Honors College
E N T R E P R E N E U R S , Three seniors have published papers in peer-reviewed professional journals. Tasneem Shaltout (above, Biochemistry ’18) was coauthor on “An unexpected restructuring of combustion soot aggregates by subnanometer coatings of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,” which appeared in Geophysical Research Letters. John Palmieri (Biomedical Engineering ’17) was co-author on an article that appeared in Nature Communications entitled “Dynamical Majorana edge modes in a broad class of topological mechanical systems.” Sahitya Allam co-wrote a paper, entitled “Safer Fuels by Integrating Polymer Theory in Design,” that was published in Science magazine.
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Four current students have been selected to attend the National Academy of Engineering Grand Global Challenges Research Summit in Washington, D.C. Sahitya Allam, John Palmieri (above), Katrina David (Biomedical Engineering ’19), and Katherine Cicala (Biomedical Engineering ’19) will present their research at the conference in July.
Dorman Scholars swept all four places in the 2016 TechQuest Innovation Competition at NJIT. John Vito d’Antonio-Bertagnolli and Robert Gioia won first place for their project on VR vision therapy. Second place went to Diego Rios (Applied Math and Applied Physics ’18) for his work on the trans-palpebral self-tonometer, and third place went to Matthew Reda (Mechanical Engineering ’19) and Kevin O’Connor (Mechanical Engineering ’18) for their project on autonomous snow removal. In addition, first place for first-time contestants went to a team that included Dorman Scholar Arisha Javed (Chemical Engineering ’17).
Meet Kyle Dobiszewski ’09 Kyle F. Dobiszewski is the new associate director of research initiatives and accelerated programs at Albert Dorman Honors College. He is a 2009 graduate of the Honors College and a biophysics researcher. Dobiszewski’s overarching goal in this position is to prepare our students for graduate/professional schools and their careers through participation in formal research programs. He is working with partners throughout the campus to maximize involvement in current research programs, while concurrently working to set up new initiatives.
rman HEIRs: O V A T O R S
A N D
R E S E A R C H E R S Robert Gioia (Information Technology ’17)
“Thanks to the NJIT Honors College, I had the opportunity of participating in the two-year undergraduate thesis program. I worked with NJIT’s Vision and Neural Engineering Laboratory developing virtual reality video games for children with eye disorders. I also wrote a research article which I am submitting to Simulation & Gaming, a leading journal on the use of video games in education, training and research. After graduating from NJIT in December 2016, I landed a great game development job at Jump Ramp Games in New York City. My interviewers loved the fact that I had hands-on experience coming out of college and also said that NJIT is one of the top colleges at which to study game development. I would highly recommend NJIT’s Honors thesis program for undergraduates, as it will provide you with hands-on experience in your chosen field and will help to set you apart in the real world once you graduate.”
Katrina David and Katherine Cicala (both Biomedical Engineering ’19) “Through the Honors College, we were given the chance to complete an internship with Prudential Insurance’s Global Health Organization, an opportunity that we wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of otherwise. As interns at Prudential, we were able to work under the direction of Dr. Paulo Pinho, an NJIT Albert Dorman Honors College alumnus, and complete research on the effects of advances in biomedical technologies on human longevity. This opportunity truly allowed us to explore the various disciplines of biomedical research and have a better understanding of the future of health care. Working at Prudential was an amazing opportunity that helped widen our perspective on the applications of biomedical engineering.”
Albert Dorman Honors College
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Visibility and Outreach Governor’s STEM Conference On Feb. 4, 2017, Albert Dorman Honors College hosted the Governor’s STEM Scholars Industry and STEM Conference in the Architecture Gallery at NJIT, where 72 bright young minds learned about opportunities in the state’s private sector and networked with a dozen professionals from some of the state’s top STEM companies.
Grace Hopper Conference Five Dorman Scholars attended the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, a three-day conference that introduces young women to the careers, research opportunities and exciting innovations in the field of computing. Shikha Shah (Computer Science ’19), Priya Rajbabu (Computer Science ’19), Raiha Khan (Mathematical Sciences ’19), Paul Clemente (Business and Information Systems ’19) and Rachel Selsky (Bioinformatics ’19) received scholarships from Ying Wu College of Computing to travel to Houston, Texas, and networked with over 15,000 peers as well as recruiters from top tech companies in search of summer interns.
Women With STEAM Event The inaugural Women With STEAM Roundtable and Mentorship Colloquium featured 15 successful Honors College alumnae who came to share their professional experiences and advice with our students. The goal of the colloquium was to encourage current students in STEAM disciplines, put them in contact with alumni who are in positions to provide mentorship, and share with all students, male and female, the importance of having women in STEAM.
Girls Who Code Last summer, NJIT hosted the seven-week Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program. Forty high school girls spent most of their summer in studio classrooms at the Honors Residence Hall, studying robotics, mobile development, HTML and programming languages. Several Dorman Scholars served as instructors for the program, which inspired many of the coders to consider pursuing a computer science major or minor when they get to college.
NJIT Splash! Four Dorman Scholars – Sarah Aldakhlallah (Biochemistry ’17), Maryam Elhadad (Human-computer Interaction ’18), Urvya Iyer (Mathematics ’17) and Taylor Tu (Computer Science ’18) – organized the inaugural NJIT Splash!, a one-day enrichment program for high school students that offers a wide variety of courses taught by NJIT students. The creative college-campus experience, held March 25, attracted over 300 students from throughout New Jersey and featured classes on topics such as how to build a computer, battlefield medicine, physics in video games, public speaking, knitting, dance and even stand-up comedy.
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Albert Dorman Honors College
honors.njit.edu 973-642-4448 honors@njit.edu
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njit.edu