NJIT Magazine Fall 2015 by NJIT

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STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE A NEW VISION FOR SOM

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S R U P O F M S A N C RA T A CAMPUS-WIDE BUILDING PROGRAM FOR RESEARCH, TEACHING AND CAMPUS LIFE

E X ECU T I V E SU M M A R Y

A MESSAGE FROM NJIT PRESIDENT JOEL S. BLOOM

TRANSFORMING THE NJIT CAMPUS: THE NEXT FIVE YEARS Since our founding in 1881, NJIT has achieved many significant milestones: supplying over 25 percent of the state’s engineering workforce; establishing one of the nation’s largest incubators for startup technological companies; and developing the world’s leading solar telescope at Big Bear Lake, California. The first wave of a $300 million campus-wide capital building program is now transforming research, teaching and campus life at NJIT with new laboratories, classrooms and student support areas that position our university to maintain its leading role in education with a focus on biological sciences, biomedical engineering and computing fields. Three features in this issue of the magazine highlight the transformation of our campus that will serve to enhance the student experience and solidify NJIT’s position going forward as one of the nation’s leading public polytechnic universities. Our cover story, “Campus Transformation,” provides an overview of the capital projects currently underway that will provide the facilities and technology that enhance education and academic support, maximize student retention and improve graduation rates in the rigorous STEM and design fields. On July 1, NJIT launched a new strategic plan that will chart the university’s course during the second decade of the 21st century. Led by Provost Fadi P. Deek ’85, ’86, ’97, 2020 Vision will guide the development of students, the transformation of the curriculum, the growth of scholarly research, the fostering of a global community, and the appropriate investment in human, physical and technological resources. In “A New Strategic Vision for Education and Research at NJIT,” Provost Deek delineates the collaborative process of creating 2020 Vision as well as its farreaching implications for all members of the NJIT community, including alumni. Leveraging the strengths of its location within a science and technology university, NJIT’s School of Management (SOM) is integrating business and management knowledge with STEM skills to give our students a competitive edge in today’s world of global business. Reggie Caudill, a longtime faculty member who assumed leadership of SOM in June, shares his thoughts on how the school is preparing the next generation of business and management leaders based on technology and close collaboration across the STEM disciplines. Capping off a decade of significant growth and development, the NJIT NEXT campaign recently surpassed its $150 million goal. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, these funds will help us to move forward on the exciting transformations across the university. I encourage your review of these articles and welcome your feedback.

NJIT MAGAZINE FALL 2015

Lauren Ugorji Associate Vice President Communications, Marketing and Branding Denise Anderson Assistant Vice President Strategic Communications Christina Crovetto M.S. ’03 Editor Tanya Klein Editorial Assistant Shydale James Contributing Editor Dean L. Maskevich, Tracey L. Regan Contributing Writers Babette Hoyle Production Coordinator Skelton Design Design Editorial Advisory Board Kevin D. Belfield, Reggie J. Caudill, Charles R. Dees Jr., Atam P. Dhawan, Urs P. Gauchat, Moshe Kam, Katia Passerini, Marek E. Rusinkiewicz, Michael K. Smullen NJIT Magazine is published by New Jersey Institute of Technology, Office of Strategic Communications. Its mission is to foster ties with alumni, university friends and corporate partners and to report on relevant issues, particularly those in education, science, research and technology. Please send letters of comment and requests to reproduce material from the magazine to: NJIT Magazine Office of Strategic Communications University Heights Newark, NJ 07102-1982 crovetto@njit.edu Joel S. Bloom President Charles R. Dees Jr. Vice President University Advancement Michael K. Smullen Director of Alumni Relations On the web: magazine.njit.edu

Cover illustration by Gwen Keraval

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FEATURES PAGE 1 0

CAMPUS TRANSFORMATION A $300 million campus-wide capital building program is transforming research, teaching and campus life at NJIT. PAGE 1 6

A NEW STRATEGIC VISION FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH AT NJIT 2020 Vision will serve as a blueprint for the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development over the next five years. PAGE 2 0

A NEW VISION FOR SOM Dean Reggie J. Caudill discusses his five-year plan for a strong and vibrant School of Management.

DEPARTMENTS 2 A BSTRACTS

NJIT news in brief

7 POINT BY POINT Athletics update

9 GIVING

NJIT development news

26 A LUMNI CIRCUIT

Class notes, calendar of events, and more

37 I N CONCLUSION

Leading-edge achievements by faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of NJIT

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ABSTRACTS BOUND BY HONOR

PHOTO: SCOTT JONES

In the 20 years of its existence, NJIT’s Albert Dorman Honors College has grown into one of the top colleges in the nation, with bright students, successful alumni, an expanding staff, a new building and an incoming freshman class whose students are poised to become leaders in their fields.

The Honors College passes the torch to its incoming class as part of its 20th anniversary.

“ …that’s the beauty of the Honors College: In the end, it gives all students a chance to live up to their full potential.” — Joel S. Bloom, president of NJIT

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The college had much to celebrate last summer, when alumni, students and staff gathered on campus to welcome new students, reconnect and kickoff what will be a year full of 20thanniversary events. The incoming honors freshman class also attended the ceremony, where older students passed them a symbolic torch of knowledge, commitment and leadership. They were later treated to a barbecue on the green behind the Honors Residence Hall. Four successful alumni, including Paulo Pinho ’96 and Jennifer Guevara ’04, gave short speeches about their careers, highlighting how the college prepared them for success. “In the end,” said Pinho, who now works as a pediatrician, does pro bono work to improve health care for the poor and credits the college for instilling him with a sense of social justice, “helping others enriches their lives and makes you rich.” Guevara talked about growing up in a single-parent home,

where money was scarce and how her scholarships enabled her to focus on her studies, participate in sports, become a leader on campus and help her land a program-manager job at Lockheed Martin, one of the largest defense contractors in the world. “When you contribute to a scholarship for a student,” said Guevara, “you are enabling a student’s dream and paying for what may possibly be the next scientific breakthrough.” Twenty years ago, Joel S. Bloom was the founding dean and the biggest champion of the Honors College. And today, as president of NJIT, he’s still championing the college. “Discrimination is unfair and we must fight it wherever it exists,” said Bloom during his speech, which touched on issues of inequality. “The Honors College offers very generous scholarships…and that’s the beauty of the Honors College: In the end, it gives all students a chance to live up to their full potential.” n

The National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have designated NJIT as a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cyber Defense Education through the 2020 academic year. NSA and DHS jointly sponsor CAE with the goal to reduce vulnerability in the national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research, and producing a growing pipeline of professionals with information assurance expertise in various disciplines. “This designation helps reaffirm NJIT’s commitment to interdisciplinary education and research,” says NJIT Provost Fadi Deek ‘85, ‘86, ‘97. “It will assure the protection of our national information infrastructure by training more scientists and technologists, who can contribute to reducing vulnerabilities in our vast networks and securing our systems.” The commendation comes at a critical time, as information security threats continue to dominate headlines, classified email systems are routinely compromised and a recent hack at the Office of Personnel Management exposed the sensitive data of over 22 million people. Still, thousands of cybersecurity jobs go unfilled each year, making it the most in-demand profession in the tech sector with from left:

a potential starting salary upwards of $100,000 per year. “There is a dire need in this area and a critical shortage of professionals with cybersecurity skills in the United States,” says Reza Curtmola, an associate professor of computer science at NJIT who spearheaded the certification effort and conducts research in applied cryptography and security of cloud computing and wireless networks. Curtmola, with the help of Cristian Borcea, associate professor and chair of the computer science department, used the College of Computing Sciences’ Master of Science in Cyber Security and Privacy program – and more than 50 courses across multiple departments – to satisfy the certification requirements. Further cementing NJIT’s status as a pioneer in the education and advancement of proactive cyber defense, Curtmola and several of his colleagues established the New Jersey Center for Cybersecurity, an NJIT-based facility focused on cybersecurity research and transformative solutions. “With our recent CAE designation, the talented faculty we’ve recently hired, the large grants we’ve got coming in and the federally supported research efforts underway,” said Curtmola, “NJIT is building a critical mass and increasing our visibility as a top university for future leaders in the field of cybersecurity.” n

NJIT Provost Fadi P. Deek, Computer Science Professor Reza Curtmola, College of Computing Sciences Dean Marek Rusinkiewicz and Professor James Geller display a certificate issued by the National Security Agency and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, designating NJIT a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education.

PHOTO: NAOMI PATEL

SEAL OF APPROVAL

A courtyard at Bard High School Early College in Newark revamped by the Freedom By Design team.

FUELED BY DESIGN Last spring, Albina Gode ’15, Monali Patel ’15 and Naomi Patel ’15 (no relation), walked across the stage at Newark’s Prudential Center during NJIT’s 99th commencement ceremony to accept their B.Arch degrees after having clocked countless hours of volunteer work fashioning modest design and construction solutions. As co-directors of the NJIT chapter of Freedom By Design – an American Institute of Architecture Students community service committee, which architecture and design students join to utilize their talents learned in school to impact the lives of people in their community – the three Honors College alumnae worked tirelessly on a number of projects this year, including a revamp of an unused quad at the Bard High School Early College in Newark. “We rethought and redesigned their courtyard so that they can use it as a classroom, lounge and an educational gathering space,” explained Gode, who, in 2011, founded the NJIT chapter of Freedom By Design. “The students helped with the planning, painting and designing.” The result is a converted outdoor garden enclosure equipped with rustic wooden bench seating, vibrant artwork and flowers. In addition to the courtyard initiative, the Freedom members also worked on a design competition, which produced sketches of a façade for a factory building used for occupational training and diagrammed a five-chapter DIY emergency handbook to help homeowners in New Jersey better prepare and react to man-made and natural disasters. Gode cites the many NJIT professors she’s interacted with as the motivators and influencers behind the challenging work she’s done. “The greatest and strongest asset of NJIT, I think, is its people,” shared Gode. “Throughout my time at NJIT, I have had the pleasure to study and work amongst commendable faculty and students…

PHOTO: SHYDALE JAMES

and many others I will always refer to with pride.” n

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“ The field of computer science provides great jobs yet far too few young women pick up on the opportunity due to misperceptions.” — NJIT Professor James Geller

EXPANDING THE TALENT PIPELINE NJIT students interning at Prudential this summer participated in a special networking session with employees of the company who are also NJIT alumni. The event was hosted by Steve Saperstein ’84, Prudential Fixed Income’s chief operating officer and the firm’s executive sponsor for NJIT, at which he emphasized the Newark-based company’s commitment to looking for future talent at the university. “Talent is extremely important to Prudential and it was great to meet so many talented students from NJIT,” said Saperstein. “Prudential looks forward to working with NJIT to expand its talent pipeline.” The 17 interns had the opportunity to meet with alumni who are now working in investments, technology, the actuarial division, and other areas within Prudential’s many business and corporate centers. The students received additional information about the company and the variety of career paths it offers. n

BRIDGING THE GAP NJIT is one of 15 universities to participate in the Building Recruiting and Inclusion for Diversity (BRAID) initiative, a three-year effort formed by Harvey Mudd College and the Anita Borg Institute to expand outreach to high school teachers and students to modify introductory computer science courses and broaden participation among women and students of color. “The field of computer science provides great jobs yet far too few young women pick up on the opportunity due to misperceptions,” said NJIT Professor James Geller, who attended the annual BRAID conference at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., where he offered insight

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NJIT aims to increase diversity in computer science.

on ways to simplify explanations of how computers work to high school students. Already in its second year of funding, NJIT will receive $30,000 per year to implement programs that offer creative, interdisciplinary approaches to the modern discipline of computer science and provide data for a research study documenting the progress. “NJIT’s Computer Science Department is thrilled to take part in the BRAID initiative to help break down barriers and ensure that women and underrepresented groups not only understand the importance of computer science,” said Geller, “but also have a fair shot at one of the most lucrative professions in the country.” n

PULLING RANK From federal recognitions to annual “best of” lists, NJIT continues to gain ground and move up the ranks as a smart choice when looking to invest in a good-value education. NJIT was recently ranked first among New Jersey public universities and third among all New Jersey schools where graduates earn the highest starting salaries – $53,900 – in a study by New York-based financial technology company SmartAsset. Time’s Money magazine cited NJIT as one of the top 25 colleges where you can earn six figures before getting an advanced degree, after PayScale found that the midcareer median salary of an NJIT graduate with a bachelor’s degree is $101,000. According to PayScale’s 2015-2016 College Salary Report, NJIT also tied at 226 for best graduate schools (master’s) for salary potential, with a midcareer median salary of $115,000.

U.S. News & World Report ranks NJIT 140 in the category of Best National Universities. NJIT, which moved up nine places from last year’s 149, is also ranked well for its ethnic diversity and providing students with needed opportunities, ranking among the top 20 universities nationally in this category. “NJIT is growing and is in a positive state of transformation, so we’re pleased to receive external recognition of our efforts,” said NJIT Provost Fadi P. Deek. “This is the second year in a row that NJIT has increased in ranking by U.S. News, which we know is widely read by parents and prospective students.” The ranking, which reviewed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities nationally, considers criteria including assessment of excellence, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity and financial resources. n

“ Our one simple goal has been to revolutionize communication and make the experience unique and fun for the user.” — Ricky Isibor ’06

as meet others from similar backgrounds,” recalls Jean. “I find myself visiting the EOP office often to catch up with the EOP advisors and mentor other students. NJIT is not only an institute, but a family.” “I come from a large household and we shared one computer,” says Isibor. “My brothers and I would constantly bicker over computer time. So, when I received my very own

Ricky Isibor ’06 and Haig Jean ’07, creators of the Expresser app.

Ricky Isibor ’06 and Haig Jean ’07 have teamed up to create a free app that is – literally – changing the face of text messaging on mobile devices. The Expresser Keyboard app allows texters to enhance their messaging capabilities by inserting photos – dubbed “Expressers” – illustrated by pop culture icons ranging from comedian Jimmy Fallon to pro boxer Manny Pacquiao. Users can not only learn more about the origins of their Expresser by clicking on the icon, but they can also obtain custom-made expressers by uploading their own pre-existing expresser emojis to the My Expressers page inside the app. They can also submit their photo via an In-App Purchase, from which a personalized “expresser” will be generated. Response to the app has been “overwhelmingly phenomenal,” according to Isibor. “Our one simple goal has been to revolutionize communication and make the experience unique and fun for the user,” says Isibor. Not only have they trended 15 times at No. 1 on Trending Searches in the Apple App Store, but they have also peaked at No. 5 on the chart for Top 200

(Free) in Utilities for iPhone. And since February 2015, they achieved nearly one million downloads worldwide in the App Store alone, which they attribute to their own grassroots marketing efforts and word of mouth. After forming HAIRIC LLC in 2012, the pair has since been working tirelessly around the clock to build the Expresser brand. Isibor and Jean first met in the summer of 2001 as students in NJIT’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and developed an even deeper bond when they were both selected to be part of the Black Engineering Technology Alumni Association (BETAA) program. Coincidentally, they discovered that they were also long-time neighbors: both grew up in Irvington, N.J., lived around the corner from each other and attended the same elementary school. The similarities didn’t end there, as they also were both raised by immigrant parents and completed engineering degrees at NJIT: Isibor in electrical engineering and Jean in industrial engineering. They both credit the EOP program and Executive Director Tony Howell with encouraging their interest in technology. “Mr. Howell allowed me to further my education as well

A MONUMENTAL HONOR “Monument Man” Harry Ettlinger, who received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Newark College of Engineering in 1950, was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in October. He was the only one of the four survivors to speak at the ceremony, which honored the men and women who protected historical sites and recovered cultural artifacts during World War II. A refugee from Nazi Germany, Ettlinger joined the U.S. Army in August 1944, and became part of the monuments men in 1945 because of his German language skills. At the end of World War II, Sergeant Ettlinger along with the other members of the Army’s Monuments, Fine Arts and

PHOTO: ALEX BRANDON FOR ASSOCIATED PRESS

PICTURE PERFECT

first desktop computer as an incoming EOP summer freshman, it meant the world to me. I wouldn’t be the tech-savvy individual I am today. The individuals in the EOP office have assisted me through my years of college and even nine years removed from college. To date, the amount of resources and relationships I’ve been able to utilize from being a part of this program is endless.” n

Archives (MFA&A) section, were assigned to recover and repatriate innumerable works of art looted by the Nazis, as depicted in the motion picture Monuments Men. In recent years, the MFA&A section and Ettlinger’s role have received wide attention through the efforts of philanthropist Robert Edsel, author of The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History and Rescuing Da Vinci. Edsel also established the Monuments Foundation for the Preservation of Art, dedicated to the legacy of the men and women who served in the MFA&A section. In 2007, this legacy was honored in a special way when President George W. Bush presented the foundation with the National Humanities Medal at a ceremony attended by Ettlinger and three other surviving “Monuments Men.” n “Monuments Men” Harry Ettlinger ’50 (center) and Richard Barancik (right) received the Congressional Gold Medal from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) during a ceremony in the U.S. Capitol’s Emancipation Hall.

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END NOTES Yi Chen, an associate professor and The Henry J. Leir Chair in Healthcare in NJIT’s School of Management, received the Big Data Young Researcher Award at a plenary session of six co-located IEEE conferences in New York City. Her research focuses on applications of big data and social media to improve health care delivery. Rajesh Davé, distinguished professor of chemical, biological and pharmaceutical engineering, has won the 2015 Lectureship Award in Fluidization from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). Davé also will be honored by the New Jersey Hall of Fame with its “Innovators” award. Karen A. Franck, professor in the

College of Architecture and Design (CoAD) and director of CoAD’s Joint Ph.D. Program in Urban Systems, has authored Memorials as Spaces of Engagement: Design, Use and Meaning (Routledge), which examines memorial design and the relationships between commemorative sites and their visitors. Richard Garber, director of the

New Jersey School of Architecture (NJSOA) served as a judge for Build NY Live, the sixth in a series – and the first in the U.S. – of international design competitions sponsored by BuildEarthLive.com, a 48-hour virtual design, cloudbased collaboration competition organized by cloud technology company, Asite. James Geller, professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science, coauthored and presented the paper “Auditing of Systematized Nomenclature of MedicineClinical Terms (SNOMED CT)” 6

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using the National Drug File-Reference Terminology (NDF-RT) at the 2015 Medical Informatics Europe Conference (MIE2015) in Madrid. Eric Katz, professor and chair of

the Department of Humanities, has published Anne Frank’s Tree: Nature’s Confrontation with Technology, Domination and the Holocaust (White Horse Press), which uses several case studies or historical examples that demonstrate the pervasive power of the idea of domination expressed through the development and use of science and technology. Michael Lee, assistant professor

in the Department of Information Systems, received the Young Generation Leadership Award from the Korean-American Scientists and Engineering Association. The award was presented at the U.S.-Korea Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Bernadette Longo, associate

dean in the College of Science and Liberal Arts and an associate professor in the Department of Humanities, has published Edmund Berkeley and the Social Responsibility of Computer Professionals (ACM Books), the first full-length biography of computer pioneer/social activist Edmund Berkeley, who is credited as being the founder of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in 1947. Longo also presented a paper related to her book at the Society for the History of Technology annual meeting in Albuquerque in October. Vincent Oria, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, has won the prestigious Test of Time Award given by the

Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Management of Data in recognition of his paper, “Robust and Fast Similarity Search for Moving Object Trajectories.” Bill Rapp, The Henry J. Leir Professor in NJIT’s School of Management and Director of the Leir Center for Financial Bubble Research, presented the keynote address in June at the International Conference in Current Economic Trends in Emerging Countries in Timisoara, Romania. “What Is An Emerging Market and When Do We Know It Has Emerged?” was the title of his talk. Donald H. Sebastian, president and chief executive officer of the New Jersey Innovation Institute, an NJIT corporation, has been named an Innovation Hero as part of the 2015 NJBIZ Healthcare Heroes Awards program, which honors individuals and organizations that are making a significant impact on the quality of health care in New Jersey. Judith Sheft, associate vice president of technology development, was recognized as one of six top women “intrapreneurs” by Leading Women Entrepreneurs & Business Owners. This is the first year the organization has honored “intrapreneurs,” which it defines as corporate innovators who are all accomplished, intelligent and inspire others through their work and make a vital impact in their companies, their industries and their communities.

Osvaldo Simeone, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, received a Best Tutorial Paper Award from the IEEE Communications Society for “Multi-Cell MIMO Cooperative Networks: A New Look at Interference,” IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, Vol. 28, No. 9, December 2010. D. Yvette Wohn, assistant professor in the Department of Information Systems, has been named a recipient of the 2015 Yahoo Faculty Research and Engagement Program (FREP) Award. One of the many industry-academia programs powered by major technology companies, FREP is an academic outreach initiative designed to produce the highest-quality scientific collaborations and outcomes by engaging with faculty and students conducting research in areas of mutual interest. Zhipeng Yan, associate professor of finance, was named a 2014 Top Ten Outstanding Researcher at the 2015 Internet Economy Researcher Conference in Beijing, China. Yan was recognized for his research study “Caring for the Elderly: Top 100 Chinese City Index” conducted with graduate students Kuang Du ’14 and Zhongcheng Lin ’15 and the Alibaba Research Institute. Mengchou Zhou, distinguished

professor of electrical engineering, was presented with the 2015 Norbert Wiener Award for fundamental contributions to the area of Petri net theory and applications to discrete event systems at the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics in Hong Kong.

POINT BY POINT

THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT NJIT SPORTS:

njithighlanders.com

SOCCER ALUM NAMED NCAA WOMAN OF THE YEAR FOR INDEPENDENT PROGRAMS Jenny Cislo â&#x20AC;&#x2122;15, who is in the discussion for best womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soccer player in NJIT history, was named NCAA Woman of the Year for Independent Programs. With NJIT competing as a Division I Independent in 2014-15, Cislo, an Albert Dorman Honors College scholar, was selected by the NCAA from among all programs that competed as Independents in all sports. The NCAA Woman of the Year program honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, nominees must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have completed eligibility in her primary sport. Eligible female student-athletes are nominated by their member school. Each conference office then reviews the nominations from its member schools and submits its conference nominee to the NCAA. [continued on page 8]

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An anchor for the Highlander defense from the day she arrived on campus, Cislo started all 76 games the team played in her four-year career and played every minute of every game for four seasons. With NJIT playing as a women’s soccer Independent her last two seasons, she was recognized by the website CollegeSportsMadness as a first-team performer among the Division I Independents in both 2013 and 2014. As a senior, she was selected as Defensive Player of the Year among the DI Independents. Cislo was named to the University Division Scholar All-East Region Team, compiling a 3.85 cumulative GPA. She was selected earlier in 2014 as one of five NJIT chemical engineering students to receive internships and scholarship grants from Merck, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. She was also honored as NJIT’s recipient of the New Jersey Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (NJAIAW) Woman of the Year award. n

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TOPS IN TENNIS Markus Schultz finished the 2014-15 season ranked 20th in the NCAA Division I Men’s Northeast Region by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA). Schultz, a junior from Stockholm, Sweden, earned his second consecutive season-end regional ranking from the ITA. As a freshman, he finished the 2012-13 season ranked 18th, becoming the first NJIT tennis player to achieve a regional ranking since the Highlanders began NCAA Division I competition in 2006-07. Schultz finished the 2014-15 season with an 18-8 overall record (15-5 at first singles, 3-2 in tournament play and 0-1 at sixth singles).

The 18 wins for Schultz was the highest win-total in singles competition this season. In doubles play, Schultz recorded a 13-10 overall mark (12-7 at first doubles, 1-2 in tournament play and 0-1 at third doubles). He captured the Tiger Draw Consolation title at the 46th Annual Farnsworth Ivy Plus Tournament hosted by Princeton on September 20 and earned NJIT men’s tennis outstanding performer at the NJIT Annual Awards Banquet. Six NJIT tennis players – three men and three women – were selected as ITA Scholar Athletes and both teams earned ITA Team Academic honors for the 2014-15 season. The ITA All-Academic Team award is open to any member program that has a cumulative

team grade-point average of 3.20 or above (on a 4.00 scale). In order to earn ITA Scholar-Athlete status, players must be a varsity letter winner, have a grade-point average of at least 3.50 (on a 4.00 scale) for the current academic year, and have been enrolled at their present school for at least two semesters (including freshman thorough senior year). The Highlanders receiving the award include junior Andres Alban (applied physics)*, junior Arnaud Holl (business), Jan Cimrman (digital design), Carolina Zanotta ’15 (industrial engineering), Nathalie Habegger (biochemistry), and Tiffany Barnes (digital design). n * Dorman honors scholars

GIVING

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Learn more and contribute at njit.edu/giving

MAKING DREAMS COME TRUE As a young girl, Monica Khattak ’16 was interested in math and science, but it wasn’t until high school that she discovered the STEM fields. She majored in civil/mechanical engineering technologies at The Middlesex Academy and first learned about NJIT from the Engineering Career Day program. Participating in the overnight experience sponsored by the university’s Murray Center for Women in Technology clinched her decision to attend. For Khattak, a biology major with a minor in business whose “dream job” is to become a surgeon, scholarship support has enabled her to pursue a wide range of extracurricular activities that have helped to enhance her academic studies. In addition to shadowing a vascular surgeon for the past two years and traveling to Ecuador to conduct research under NJIT Biology Professor Eric Fortune, Khattak served as president of her residence hall and as a member of the Pre-Health Society, Biology Society, Engineers Without

Borders and the Emergency Medical Services Society. “Receiving these scholarships has greatly affected my life,” said Khattak, a first-generation college student whose mother arrived in the U.S. from Poland when she was her age. “I am putting myself through school, so having these scholarships is a great financial relief. I can spend my summers working in a lab or volunteering in the hospital without having to worry about next year’s tuition.” Khattak, who also is an Albert Dorman Honors College scholar,

Student speakers Monica Khattak ’16 and John Canela ’15, shown here with NJIT President Joel S. Bloom, described how the generosity of donors has impacted their academic success at NJIT’s 27th Annual Scholarship Brunch.

Herman Blackman, who received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Newark College of Engineering in 1938, accompanied by members of his family.

Guest speaker Charles R. Lipuma ’53, ’56 with Michael Taylor ’15, a student who has benefited from his scholarship support.

shared her personal journey with scholarship donors and their student recipients on April 24, 2015 at the 27th Scholarship Brunch. The annual event provides an opportunity for donors to meet the students in person for a glimpse into how their generosity impacts their lives. In 2015, private scholarship aid amounted to more than $3 million and helped nearly 1,240 students. Also speaking was Jon Canela ’15, who received a B.S. in information technology on May 19. Canela, whose parents emigrated from the Dominican Republic in the mid-1980s, credited NJIT’s Educational Opportunity Program for providing the academic and financial support and career and personal counseling he needed as a freshman. In his remarks, Canela described the “monumental

moment” when Carlos Dominguez, senior vice president in the office of the chairman and chief executive officer at Cisco Systems, was a guest speaker at a Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers general meeting. The connection led to a successful IT analyst internship at the company and, in July, Canela launched his career as an IT engineer in San Jose, Calif. “It was because of the scholarships given by those in this room that I am standing here today,” he said. Guest speaker Charles R. Lipuma ’53, ’56, who retired from ExxonMobil and now serves the mayor of Kiawah Island, South Carolina, shared his personal motivation for providing an endowed scholarship since 2004. Lipuma, who was raised in the Ironbound section of Newark, recalled his father and paternal grandfather as motivated individuals who taught him to never outlook the value and importance of hard work and education. “Looking back, I owe any success I’ve achieved and the high quality of education to NJIT,” Lipuma said. n To learn more about establishing and supporting scholarships at NJIT, contact: Darlene Lamourt, director of donor engagement at 973-596-3403 or darlene.lamourt@njit.edu.

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CAMPUS ehind the century-old neoGothic facade of the Central King Building a remarkable transformation in campus life is unfolding. The cavernous rooms on the former high school’s third floor have been replaced with luminous, technology-filled teaching labs and classrooms, smaller “break-out” rooms for independent group study and a 120-seat lecture hall tucked into an intimate space with built-in video conferencing equipment for recording and streaming classes. The once-dingy corridors now beckon students with benches and working-height countertops, large writing surfaces and plenty of natural light.

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TRANS FORMATION

A suite of biology labs on the floor above houses scientific instruments such as a fish “treadmill,” a large tank with simulated ocean currents, and a growing collection of species – from a striped remora fish with unique suction powers, to a black ghost knifefish emitting a weak electric field, to a tank of coral-tinted eyeless cavefish studied for their adaptations to an extreme environment. And that is just the beginning of the changes rippling across the 45-acre campus.

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The gut-level renovation of the five-story CKB as it’s known is but the first wave of a $300 million capital building program that is transforming research, teaching and community life at NJIT. Three new buildings are soon to follow: a 24,500 sq. ft. life sciences and engineering building; a 200,000 sq. ft. Wellness and Events Center with a 3,500-seat arena, an indoor pool, track and turf field and conference rooms; and a seven-story parking garage next to the Enterprise Development Center on the western edge of campus. The new facilities, funded in part by the 2013 Higher Education Capital Facilities Grant Program, reflect the university’s evolution from a commuter school where engineering students once dashed from class to class and then back to their cars, to a diversified Tier I research institution with an expanding residential population. Indeed, the university’s growing reputation as a leader in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education has prompted a surge in students, who now number well over 11,000, the recent addition of 70 new faculty members, and the creation of the New Jersey Innovation Institute (NJII), a research and development engine that connects the university with private- and public-sector partners around the world. “The changes on the NJIT campus are broad and deep,” said President Joel S. Bloom. “As the demand for students with STEM backgrounds exceeds the supply, we are 12

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Architect’s rendering of the Life Sciences and Engineering Building.

committed to meeting what amounts to an urgent national challenge.” While serving different sectors of campus life, the new buildings have a common purpose: to promote a rich, collaborative climate that encourages students, faculty, alumni and partners from industry, academia and government to share their experiences and ideas, generate new ones and successfully develop them. Part of the 2008 facilities master plan, with further guidance from NJIT’s strategic plan, 2020 Vision, the building program has won the enthusiastic buy-in of alumni: each of three major building projects has an NJIT firm or graduate either at the helm or in a prominent role. Karen Cilento ’12, an Albert Dorman Honors College student and graduate of the College of Architecture and Design (COAD), recounts jumping at the chance to join the Marvel Architects team designing the CKB renovation. “I was excited to join this project because I am very familiar with what students on campus need and I wanted the opportunity to design spaces that would not only meet that need, but exceed it in an exciting way,” she noted. “As an alumna, I understand the university culture: NJIT students are hard-working and are constantly brainstorming ideas and discussing their coursework. We’re creating a new environment that encourages this kind of interaction.”

TRANSFORMING TEACHING In designing the third floor, “we were very interested in this idea of informal learning and spontaneous collaboration. Particularly at NJIT, where there are architects and engineers, math and business majors, there is great potential for innovation if you can create the opportunity for people to share ideas, to cross-pollinate these closely linked disciplines,” she said, adding that it was therefore important to “create spaces people would want to stay in, to occupy.” Before the first nail was sunk, Blake Haggerty, director of NJIT’s Technology Support Center, and his team held focus groups of students and faculty to get a better handle on 21st-century teaching and learning needs. “What we heard loud and clear from the community was infrastructure, technology and furnishings,” Haggerty recalled, pointing to details such as the multi-port electrical plugs on classroom floors for students’ devices and desks large enough to accommodate both their books and laptops. “Students take notes and access their textbooks on their computers now. Some even record lectures on their phones.” And rather than recreate traditional “sageon-a-stage” classrooms with the lecturer rigidly front-and-center, the chairs, desks and tables have wheels so they can be moved and reconfigured to suit a given class. “Maybe the professor is in the center of the room with screens around the room and the students are working in groups,” said Andrew Christ ’94, ’01, vice president for real estate and capital operations. Small rooms with whiteboards and flatscreen monitors adjacent to some of the large classrooms allow groups of students to “leave, return and report,” while also providing space for teamwork outside of class, noted Basil Baltzis, vice provost for academic affairs, adding, “We’ve put an emphasis on spaces that support cooperative learning, including formal groups to gather to work on projects, as well as spaces in open areas and hallways where students can study alone, informally work with their peers and socialize.”

“ WHAT WE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR FROM THE COMMUNITY WAS INFRASTRUCTURE, TECHNOLOGY AND FURNISHINGS. STUDENTS TAKE NOTES AND ACCESS THEIR TEXTBOOKS ON THEIR COMPUTERS NOW. SOME EVEN RECORD LECTURES ON THEIR PHONES.” — Blake Haggerty, director of NJIT’s Technology Support Center

To encourage students and faculty to share and explain their ideas, the public spaces of the building are blanketed with writing surfaces such as whiteboards, chalkboards and tack panels. Enclosing some of the smaller rooms with glass walls gives passers-by a window on their peers’ creativity. On a recent afternoon, a rat snake named Dave slumbered in his terrarium in one of the teaching labs despite the tanks of squabbling red swamp crayfish and Madagascar hissing cockroaches close by. In an empty room next door, a trio of biology students was similarly relaxed, hunkered down in conversation at a small cluster of desks. “We come in here to study – and sometimes just to hang out,” said Peter Takacs ’16, of Woodbridge, who said he enjoyed the new rooms’ modern aspect, up-to-date features and cheerful light. “The smaller classrooms also allow for more friendly discussions during class time.” Cilento called the top two floors “a warmup” for the bottom three. Over the next year and a half, they will be transformed into the Center for Innovation and Discovery, a space programmed to bring together students from various disciplines, faculty and partners from industry. The two floors accessed from a new grand entry stairway on Summit Street and a sunken court will house areas for students with both open and enclosed study lounges, math and science engagement centers, a writing center and new classroom models, including a technology-intensive room with round tables, each with a flat panel screen, where groups of nine students or so can work collectively on problems. The lowest level of the building, accessed from Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, will feature NJII’s Innovation Labs, giving students a direct connection to professional research and development. top: A rendering of the Central King Building as viewed from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. center: Students have access to state-of-the-art technology in a suite of biology labs. bottom: A striped remora fish in the lab of Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Daphne Soares.

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TRANSFORMING RESEARCH “It’s exciting to see the progression of the institute both in the stature of its academic programs and the advanced facilities and campus environment. It is also exciting for me personally and professionally to be a part of it,” said Stephen Aluotto ’80, president of Morristown-based NK Architects, following the October groundbreaking ceremony for the new life sciences and engineering building his firm has designed. The four-story facility, which will be appended to the existing Otto H. York Center for Environmental Engineering and Science and house shared laboratories and meeting spaces, IT infrastructure and cutting-edge scientific instruments, is designed to promote collaboration and convergence within fields ranging from biomedical engineering and the biological sciences to electrical engineering and healthcare technologies. With a particular focus on biotechnology, biosensors and medical devices and nanotechnology, the long-term goal is to come up with new applications in clinical healthcare, therapeutic interventions and pharmaceutical drug development. With its shared labs, large open atrium and flexible spaces, the building is meant to do for research what the CKB does for teaching: to enable formal and also encourage “informal and spontaneous collaboration,” in this case, among researchers from different disciplines, Aluotto said. Pamela Hitscherich, a Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering who spoke at the groundbreaking, called these opportunities critical. “One of the great features of open labs is how well they promote teaching, learning and discussion – and not just from the top down,” she said. “By talking to each other, we will The new Wellness and Events Center will provide arena space for the annual Convocation ceremony and other university events.

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learn about each other’s research and open ourselves up to discussion, debate and fresh new perspectives. Great ideas often begin with a conversation – and an open mind.” TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY AECOM, the global engineering firm founded by Albert Dorman ’45, ’99 HON, is leading construction of the Wellness and Events Center, which broke ground in November on the site of the athletic field. It has been designed as a multi-purpose venue with a fitness center, a running track, a 10,000 sq. ft. indoor turf field for intramural and intercollege play, a 25-meter indoor pool, an arena that will hold up to 3,500 spectators, conferencing capacity for as many as 4,200 people, study areas and lounges. The three-story building aims to bind the campus together in several ways. It will face onto a new soccer field planned for the site of the current athletic center, providing stadium seating for spectators, contain an internal path for students walking from Lock Street to the main campus and include a 30-foot wide promenade for socializing on its eastern

side facing Tiernan Hall. Its glass-walled front gives the campus a view inside. “The Wellness and Events Center is transformative in a different way from the other two buildings – it provides the entire community with the opportunity for more of the true college experience,” Christ said, adding that he envisions concerts, international trade conferences, Convocation and possibly even elements of graduation taking place there. Lenny Kaplan, NJIT’s athletic director, called the center “a unique opportunity to create a new focal point for the entire community. At some point over the course of their time at NJIT, everyone will have spent some time there.” “Kids will see this place before they decide to come here and they’ll spend time there once they arrive. Over the years we’ve gone from no residential community on campus to almost 2,000 students and they need something to do. This will be a great place to hang out, watch NJIT teams compete, play intramurals or sit in other small seating pods with their friends,” he noted. “Alumni will return for games and events. Parents will come, too.” COAD Dean Urs Gauchat calls college buildings “catalysts that spark a sense of

“ THE WELLNESS AND EVENTS CENTER IS TRANSFORMATIVE IN A DIFFERENT WAY FROM THE OTHER TWO BUILDINGS — IT PROVIDES THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY WITH THE OPPORTUNITY FOR MORE OF THE TRUE COLLEGE EXPERIENCE.” — Andrew Christ, vice president for real estate and capital operations

The three-story Wellness and Events Center faces onto a new soccer field planned for the site of the current athletic center.

university community, where ideas are born, friendships are made and attachments to the institution are formed.” The Wellness and Events Center, Kaplan argues, is where NJIT’s “engineers, architects, computer scientists and athletes will all come together, where in the end, we’re all Highlanders.” TRANSFORMING UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS “When I think back to my existence here as a commuting student, I either parked off campus or took the train – needless to say, at times, it was not a very pleasant walk to campus – and primarily hung out in the second

floor lounge of the Student Center. That was about it,” Aluotto said. “Now there is parking right here and I get the sense of a burgeoning campus environment that is at the same time better integrated with the neighborhood.” “Visibility is important,” he added, noting that the new science building and the CKB renovation feature glass facades facing Summit Street to give passers-by a view of what’s happening inside, putting “science on display” and thus “connecting the internal activities of the building to the streetscape and the energy of the intersection of Summit and Warren Streets.” “We don’t want to create buildings that are friendly on the inside and hostile on the outside. They should not be fortresses,” says Gauchat, a key participant in the discussions around the campus’s development. “We want them to add to the street life. Ultimately,

we would like to join with Rutgers to make University Heights a pedestrian-friendly precinct. The vision is a college town.” On the road, Kaplan relishes the power of NJIT’s athletic teams to unite the community. But as he greets alumni who flock to games in cities such as Providence, Houston or Washington, he invariably asks: “When was the last time you went back to campus?” “Many times the answer is “not since graduation” or “it’s been a while,” he recounts. “I always say in response: ‘come back and I’ll give you a tour. You will see the tremendous growth of the campus and the unlimited potential of the university, which is represented best by our students.’ ” n Author: Tracey L. Regan is an NJIT Magazine contributing writer.

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A NEW STRATEGIC VISION FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH AT NJIT Q&A WITH PROVOST FADI P. DEEK

n July 1, 2015, the NJIT community began implementing 2020 Vision – A Strategic Plan for NJIT that will guide the university’s progress over the next five years. The university will achieve its vision through five strategic priorities that will inform the development of students, the transformation of the curriculum, the growth of scholarly research, the fostering of a global community, and the investments in human, physical and technological resources.

A driving force behind the creation and implementation of 2020 Vision is Fadi P. Deek, who was appointed NJIT Provost and Senior Executive Vice President in June 2013 and brings a long association with the university and very diverse experiences to the job. Provost Deek first came to Newark and NJIT from Lebanon in 1983 to continue his undergraduate studies. After completing a bachelor’s degree in 1985, he went on to earn a master’s in 1986 and a Ph.D. in 1997, all in computing. Subsequently, he became a professor at NJIT, having served in a number of administrative roles that included director of Undergraduate Computer Science Programs, vice chair of the Computer and Information Science Department, founding chair of the Information Technology Program, and associate dean of the College of Computing Sciences. He also has served as dean of the College of Science and Liberal Arts and as interim provost and has faculty appointments in two departments: Information Systems and Mathematical Sciences. Following are thoughts that Provost Deek recently shared with Christina Crovetto, editor of NJIT Magazine.

On a day-to-day basis, why is 2020 Vision such an important initiative? For students? For faculty and staff?

It is an important initiative for the entire community. There are five different priorities in 2020 Vision. The first is students – our most important asset. The second is learning, certainly as it relates to students but also to the faculty. While teaching is among the most important tasks that the faculty engage in, another is scholarships. So the third priority is scholarly research. All these three priorities are essentially the core business of the university. This is what we do and that is primarily why we are here. But there is also the rest of the community, which is the fourth priority. This is not just about students and faculty, it’s about everyone else who make NJIT the wonderful place it is, from helping the students learn, obtain their degrees, and get jobs to becoming alumni and successful members of our society. The community that we have built for ourselves, and that we want to continue to build, is one where every person on campus is just as important as the next in carrying out the mission of the university. And finally, the fifth priority is investment. It may seem a bit unusual to include investment as a formal priority because we all know that when you have a strategic plan you want to invest, but what we wanted to do is tie specific initiatives and projects to allocated budgets so we know that there are sufficient funds, for example, to enhance the learning environment, to carry out the faculty renewal – the hiring of new faculty – and to put in place the infrastructure necessary for the kinds of education and research that take place on our campus.

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“ EVERY OBJECTIVE OUTLINED IN 2020 VISION IS DESIGNED TO HELP MOVE NJIT INTO THE RANKS OF PREMIER RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS.” What further changes can we anticipate over the next year?

The importance of 2020 Vision is not that we have a plan. We’ve always had a plan, as there has to be at any complex organization like NJIT. This is the third cycle of strategic planning at our university; each is five years. But this time, I think, what is important is how this plan evolved from the community, with over 200 people working in committees involving faculty, staff, administration, board members and alumni who participated in the development of this strategic plan. It represents the wishes of the entire university and how they would like to see NJIT advance, or how NJIT will be transformed by 2020. That is the importance of the strategic plan that we now have. Not just that we have it; it’s how we actually created it. How does 2020 Vision differ from previous strategic plans?

It differs by its process, as I have already indicated, but also by its product. For the first time, at least formally, we have a strategic plan with an almost exclusive focus on education and research. We have had important foci in earlier strategic plans, but this strategic plan sets specific key performance indicators that will be routinely measured, assessed and reported on. Every objective outlined in 2020 Vision is designed to help move NJIT into the ranks of premier research institutions, with some being absolutely fundamental to becoming a top science and technology university including achieving ambitious graduation rates for all students; implementing a cutting-edge curriculum for educational success; supporting and facilitating faculty scholarly research; developing and retaining faculty committed to excellence in education and research; and fostering international collaborations in a diverse academic setting. 18

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Students are becoming savvier about their career choices, and many more are realizing the importance of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education. And, as manufacturing returns to U.S. shores, there will be high-paying jobs waiting for them. Therefore, as a STEM university, NJIT will see increased enrollment. Similarly, because of initiatives we have put in place, our students will be retained in higher numbers, and they will be graduating in higher numbers as well. This is also good for our student profile because better-prepared students are attracted to STEM disciplines, which in turn will lead to even better retention and graduation rates. Just as important, we as faculty are also becoming more mindful that the way we were taught or learned is different from the way that these students learn, so we’re paying attention to it, whether it’s pedagogical or technological. So, in terms of teaching and learning, I expect that we will see significant changes as well. In fact, on September 30, we launched the Institute for Teaching Excellence, a deliverable from the 2020 Vision itself. This Institute has as its core faculty members, named earlier as master teachers, serving as the initial cohort of Fellows who will provide support and professional-development activities to other instructors. Master teachers and distinguished professors are taking on the important responsibility of mentoring new faculty as well as working with existing faculty who have a desire to explore the integration of new pedagogy and technology into their classrooms. You can also anticipate seeing a rather unique approach that brings back together face-to-face and online learning modes. There was a time when these two approaches diverged out of necessity because the kinds of tools needed to engage in online learning

were different than what was needed in a traditional classroom. But today’s instructional technology is common to both. Even face-to-face students want to access their course content on the Web, want to see rich media introduced in the learning they are engaged in, just like online students. What we want to do is be open to the idea that how students actually come into the class is just not relevant. They may be physically there or they may join the class via live streaming. We will no longer have to offer different sections for face-to-face, online or hybrid instruction. The course is simply offered and interested students will take it. They may choose to come to class in person but if, for example, a student is traveling, he or she can still get the same kind of instruction in that same class through enabling technology. And that’s unique because in this model, which we call converged learning, you decide what works for you and when. If you happen to be on campus, we want you in class, but if you’re not, we still want you to be in the same class but online – just tune in. We have been experimenting with such an option, the flexibility of converged learning, for a little over a year now and the early results are encouraging. For scholarly research, we aim to achieve an increased national and international presence for the innovative, multidisciplinary and creative work carried out by our faculty and students. You can expect an intensity of activities in those domains that will lead to doubling the external research awards given to NJIT. Similarly, you can also expect to see significant investment in infrastructure – administratively, technologically and materially, for example – in support of both teaching and research. Finally, we will build on existing relations and develop new ones that will yield much closer cooperation with industry. In terms of community, obviously NJIT takes pride in its diversity. We’re often cited as being one of the most diverse institutions in the nation. That’s at the student level. We want to do that at the faculty level and

“ THE ALUMNI’S VOICE WAS HEARD, AND AS A RESULT IMPACTED WHAT NJIT WILL BE LIKE AS A RESULT OF THE TRANSFORMATION THAT WILL TAKE PLACE.” at the administrative level. We have some ambitious goals there; currently, 16 percent of our faculty are women and we would like to see this at 21 percent. But we would also like to promote the diversity that already exists, to have NJIT perhaps be seen in a better light elsewhere. For instance, because we have a very large number of international faculty, we want each of them to become an ambassador, to create connections: student connections, but also connections to other universities, to create opportunities for our students to go and learn in these countries. One of the most important deliverables of 2020 Vision is what we call milestone experiences. Our students routinely engage in such experiences, including co-ops and internships. Some also participate in service learning. We would like these experiences to be anchored even more in the curriculum and their value recognized toward graduation. But there’s more, including undergraduate research which we’re intensifying, study abroad, international exposure and anything else that contributes to students’ learning and career development – it may be in the arts, it may be in music, which we are doing a lot more of on this campus, for example. I expect that now, where co-op is probably the most common, other milestone experiences will become just as common. In general, what are the challenges of implementing the goals of 2020 Vision?

The excitement I sense from the NJIT community about where the university is heading gives me comfort that we will realize our vision. But the magnitude of the plan seems, at times, daunting. A major challenge is for us to make sure that what we said we will do is actually being done. There is also the financial challenge. For the first time in our strategic planning, we have put in place a companion document for 2020 Vision that focuses strictly on how we will finance our goals and the things we need to get there. We obviously spent money in earlier strategic plans, but there wasn’t a

tight linking between ideas and making them a reality in terms of allocating the needed resources. The president and the board of trustees have made a strong commitment to 2020 Vision and allocated $88.5 million in support of the plan. We will also need to prioritize and repurpose existing resources as well as reinvest resources that become available. The challenge is how best to do it. Take faculty renewal, a major task in our plan, as an example. Not all needed funds are new, because we expect that faculty will retire and be replaced. We have already hired 67 faculty over the last four years; all were replacements. But we also say that the faculty size will grow from its current level of roughly 280 to 345. So, I expect that we would not bring just 65 new faculty but 100 because others will also separate for a number of reasons. We understand that it is a massive task to hire 100 faculty over five years. It is an investment not only for us but them too, and we want to make sure that we all succeed. Ensuring that all stakeholders remain on board is another challenge. We don’t want to lose the enthusiasm and energy that we managed to create for this plan during its development. We have put in place a steering committee plus five additional subcommittees, one for every priority that will coordinate and assess progress toward full implementation. Does successful implementation of 2020 Vision require a significant change in “institutional thinking?” If so, what needs to change, and is this happening?

The ideas in this plan rose bottom up. This is already a change in institutional thinking. It’s not as if the president or provost said, “We are going to do this.” The community said to the deans, the president and the provost, “We want to do this.” We took the written ideas and the aspirations of more than 200 people representing the entire community and we produced out of them what we called the “unified community report.” That was then followed up with additional consultations, reviews and refinements that

produced the final 2020 Vision document without any significant additions or alterations from the top; it was all the ideas that came from the community itself. Now, the implementation of the plan is being done consistently with its development. That is a different kind of thinking. What does 2020 Vision mean for alumni?

I hope it means pride and confidence. Pride in what NJIT has become and will be in the future, and confidence in our collective abilities to make it happen. The alumni were engaged in the development of 2020 Vision. In the finalization of the document, there was an assimilation of ideas that came from various stakeholders. The alumni’s voice was heard, and as a result impacted what NJIT will be like as a result of the transformation that is taking place. When I sent community reports on 2020 Vision to everyone, I heard so often from alumni. I received beautifully written emails from people, including some who I went to school with who were proud of the plan and felt reconnected and energized. I think that is wonderful. In any case, the outcomes of 2020 Vision will be reported on through 2020, but there will be lasting ramifications for decades to come. We expect that NJIT will be among the top polytechnic universities in the nation. I hope everyone will be pleased, including the alumni. Certainly everyone in the community deserves thanks for making 2020 Vision a reality. n

Read the full report: njit.edu/2020vision

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A NEW VISION FOR

SOM

INTERVIEW: DEAN REGGIE J. CAUDILL Reggie J. Caudill was named dean of the NJIT School of Management in June 2015. Since assuming the role of interim dean in September 2014, Caudill has led the SOM faculty initiative to develop the 2015 SOM Academic Plan, which provides a roadmap toward the future goals and expectations of the school to clearly differentiate its programs, leverage strengths across the university, and align directly with the NJIT Mission and 2020 Vision strategic priorities. He also guided the hiring of two new assistant professors to strengthen core disciplinary areas within the school and support new strategic research directions. Caudill previously served as chair of the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; executive director of the Multi-lifecycle Engineering Center; and as executive director of the Center for Manufacturing Systems. He has authored or co-authored over 100 technical and scientific publications and served as chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Electronics and the Environment, as well as conference and program chair for international symposia and conferences related to sustainability. He has also served as a member of the advisory committee for New Jersey’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Fund. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and his master’s degree in engineering mechanics from the University of Alabama and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota. Dean Caudill recently shared his thoughts about SOM and the school’s potential for the future with Christina Crovetto, editor of NJIT Magazine.

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Your academic background is in mechanical engineering. How does that background inform your thinking about management and business education?

Let me put this in the context of what’s happening in business and in engineering. Since the very beginning, engineering has been technology-focused and technology-based and firmly rooted in technology. But what’s happened in the last decade is a convergence of business and technology that has never happened before. All these technologies that are all around us are changing the way we do business on an everyday basis and make decisions. Engineers are skilled at making good decisions based on rigorous analysis and the data you have available. Technology is an integral part of analysis and decision-making in engineering and the same thing in the business world. Being an engineer, originally I thought, “What would I be doing in the School of Management?” But the fact is that management and business and engineering just fit together. The strengths I have in looking at the technology side – making decisions from an industrial engineering perspective – and then also being able to bring these technical skills and knowledge into business, I think is a very powerful combination. Looking at engineering and technology and business together is just the way that the world has converged and continues to accelerate. Also, I think coming from mechanical engineering, I’ve always been involved in exploring the challenges of systems – computer-based systems dealing with the world of manufacturing, automation and robotics, aerospace systems, transportation systems and sustainability – all the kinds of things that excite mechanical and industrial engineers. And so now within the School of Management, we can integrate business and management knowledge with STEM skills to give our students a competitive advantage in today’s world of

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SOM students are provided with unique opportunities to study in a program that is interdisciplinary and leverages strengths across NJIT from engineering and science to architecture and computer science.

global business. I think that’s the context within which an engineer and business and management major fit together very nicely; and, as I said it’s a powerful combination. In your new role as SOM dean, what are your immediate priorities?

We have two major priorities for this coming year. We are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the highest standard of achievement for business schools worldwide. This year, we will be implementing changes and preparing for an accreditation peer-review team coming to visit with us in the winter of 2017. So, one of our priorities for this year is to get everything in order so that we can clearly show how we are meeting all the guidelines and standards associated with AACSB. Obviously, maintaining accreditation is extremely important for us. The other priority is connected with accreditation and involves implementation of the Academic

Plan our faculty developed last year. This plan is not only a vision, but is a roadmap, compass and touchstone for transforming the School of Management. This year, we will begin implementing our plan. What inspires you as a leader?

In an academic setting, I think leadership involves challenging the very essence of who you are and how you do things. We are not satisfied with saying, “This is the way we’ve always done it, so let’s just continue.” This last year, we did challenge our faculty in asking, “What should the School of Management be, what makes us different, distinctive, and adds value for our students, and how are we going to get there together?’ To me, a good leader is someone who asks these questions and encourages everyone to be engaged; creating a common vision that is embraced by everyone and then being able to implement those strategies so that vision becomes a shared reality that everyone embraces and contributes toward. In an academic environment, collegiality and making sure that everyone stays on the same page is extremely important – that is what leadership

“ WHETHER YOU’VE GRADUATED AS AN ENGINEER OR COMPUTER SCIENTIST, OR AN ARCHITECT, OR GO ON TO MEDICAL SCHOOL, YOU END UP IN SOME WAY DEALING WITH BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT CONCERNS AND ISSUES.” to me. I have always been very fortunate to work with outstanding faculty and know that we are moving in the right direction to make the School of Management a strong, vibrant and integral part of the university community. What distinguishes SOM from other management schools?

With the convergence of business and technology in the business world, companies are looking for people who understand business fundamentals, but also have technology skills. We have the opportunity to create a new generation of business and management professionals who really understand the business and management side and also have the technical skills to be successful. Why would you not want to go to a business and management program at a very strong science and technology-based university? Because that’s where the future is! It just really makes sense that the School of Management at NJIT is the model for business and management education in the future. What are some examples of how SOM provides unique real-world opportunities for students? And how is SOM partnering with business and industry to the benefit of students?

One good example is that we tie into the Enterprise Development Center (EDC), which provides an opportunity that is almost unique for our students to be able to work with entrepreneurs and small, technology-based start-ups, and the opportunity for our business students to work in teams with engineers and computer scientists in innovation competitions and challenges. We must provide experiential opportunities that go beyond the classroom to bring real-world experiences to our students. We must strive to make these experiential and cooperative education opportunities available to all of our students. This would provide our students with a distinct advantage over others. This will also benefit our corporate partners and strengthen our relationships with these corporations. Our Academic Plan was developed with close collaboration with our corporate leaders who

SOM provides a strong foundation in business and management principles with a focus on the analytic and technology skills necessary to succeed in today’s data-driven world of global business.

are members of the school’s Advisory Board. It wasn’t just something we sat back and dreamed up. Our industry partners helped shape the vision for the school that really satisfies a major need for the type of business professional that didn’t exist a few years ago. We want to develop a strong, vibrant School of Management and the way to do this is to leverage the strengths of the rest of this university. We are rebuilding our business and management programs based on STEM technology and close collaboration across the STEM fields. What are your thoughts about strengthening relationships with alumni?

These relationships are extremely important. We have a great alumni base, many of whom are engineers who get involved very quickly in the business and management aspects of their companies. Whether you’ve graduated as an engineer or computer scientist, or an architect, or go on to medical school, you end up in some

way dealing with business and management concerns and issues. Our alumni base can be a window in understanding what skills are really important for success, can open doors for our graduates and also bring real-world knowledge and experience back to our students. All of our undergraduate and graduate programs benefit greatly from these interactions. What better resource to help shape future generations of NJIT graduates than our alumni base? What do you hope to achieve in the next five years?

Our academic plan is a five-year plan and we are moving quickly to implement our strategic initiatives and actions. The plan is very bold and aggressive, but achievable. We just need to make sure we keep everyone engaged and involved so that together to make it happen. We encourage others to share in the vision for a strong and vibrant School of Management and to join us in this journey. n SOM.NJIT.EDU

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CONGRATULATIONS

PHOTOS: GRADIMAGES

TO THE CLASS OF 2015!

More than 2,700 Highlanders joined the ranks of NJIT alumni at the 99th Commencement ceremonies on May 19, 2015 at the Prudential Center in Newark. Honorary degrees were awarded to Charles Elachi, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a vice president at California Institute of Technology and Irving Pressley McPhail, chairman and chief executive officer of the National Association for Minority Engineering, Inc. (NACME). McPhail, who also was the commencement speaker, underscored the crucial need for diversity in the STEM disciplines in order to maintain our nation’s competitive edge and to “unlock innovation and drive growth.” “Don’t be afraid to take risks,” McPhail said. “Most importantly, continue to dream and follow your dreams.”

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NJIT President Joel S. Bloom, who presided over the ceremony, advised graduates to be open to the good that technological change can bring and to pursue every opportunity to be among the first guiding change in constructive directions toward a future that is healthier, more economically prosperous, culturally vibrant and sustainable. “Take the lead in breaching the barriers that deny this human connection,” Bloom said. “Do whatever you can to foster tolerance and understanding that will benefit men and women of every nation and background. The emerging ‘Internet of Things’ will fulfill its promise only if it supports caring interconnection among people and provides equitable access to the full range of benefits possible.”

A brilliant eruption of red and white confetti marked the conclusion of the 2015 Commencement ceremonies.

“ Don’t be afraid to take risks. Most importantly, continue to dream and follow your dreams.” — Irving Pressley McPhail, chairman and CEO of NACME

clockwise from above:

Senior Class President Gretchen Von Koenig, who addressed the Class of 2015 and received a B.S. in industrial design and a B.A. in theatre technology, told her classmates to be “immensely proud of the seat you’re in now.” Von Koenig began her graduate studies in the history of design and curatorial studies this fall at Parsons The New School for Design and the Smithsonian Design Museum. Irving Pressley McPhail, chairman and chief executive officer of the National Association for Minority Engineering, Inc. (NACME), delivered the 2015 Commencement address and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Charles Elachi, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a vice president at California Institute of Technology, received an honorary Doctor of Science from Board of Trustees Chairman Stephen P. DePalma ’72. Vatsal Shah ’08, M.S. ’09, Ph.D. ’14 carried the alumni gonfalon in the commencement procession.

William Holden, who received a B.S. in mechanical engineering, with his grandfather, William Chesnut ’58.

ALL IN THE FAMILY William Chesnut (B.S.M.E. ’58) marched with the Golden Highlanders (alumni who graduated from Newark College of Engineering 50 years ago or more) and saw his grandson, William Holden, receive his B.S. in mechanical engineering. Holden is now employed as a project engineer at his grandfather’s company, Chesnut Engineering, which has been in business in Fairfield for more than 40 years. “I’m really proud of the education I received at NJIT,” Chesnut said. “There’s no better engineering school than NJIT and I’m proud of my grandson for getting his degree here.” Holden said he was delighted at the prospect of working for his grandfather, who he said is still “passionate about engineering and about his business.” “I’m really happy to get my degree and to start working for my grandfather,” Holden said. “It was also really sweet of my grandfather to come here to my graduation. His being here for me made me really happy and made my graduation a great experience.”

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ALUMNI CIRCUIT

A MESSAGE FROM THE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT We have all heard the comment: “The only thing that is constant is change.” It would appear this statement was written to describe the NJIT campus. Have you walked through the campus recently? You would be amazed at the changes that have taken place over the years. Do not put off your visit because more changes are on the way. The groundbreaking ceremonies have just taken place for the Life Sciences and Engineering Building and the Wellness and Events Center. You only have to go back a couple of years to have seen the opening of the Albert Dorman Honors College building and residence hall and the Warren Street Village. You can have the opportunity to stay in the Albert Dorman Honors College dorms if you attend Alumni Weekend on May 20-22, 2016. Also, this year the third and fourth floors of the Central King Building opened with new classrooms, lecture halls, study areas and laboratories. The original architecture of the former Central High School was preserved and world-class classrooms and laboratories were integrated into the design. I am confident that there are no alumni who would recognize this building today, inside or out!

Jack Wagner ’74

student population has brought its own level of excitement to the campus. At 7 a.m. you can see the women’s soccer team practicing on Lubetkin Field. Later in the day—if you can see through the snowstorm—you might catch a

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The transformation of the NJIT campus is not just about new buildings. It is about capturing the spirit of NJIT today and seeing it grow on the campus. That spirit is something that you have to see in person to believe. view of the men’s lacrosse team playing a game on that field during a raging blizzard. If it is too cold, go inside the Athletic Center to see the women’s volleyball team compete against conference rivals in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Get your tickets early for the men’s basketball games because chances are they will be sold out to see our Highlanders take the court in their new conference! The Highlander spirit has to be seen to be appreciated. The campus evolution continues in the classrooms also. The School of Management, along with corporate sponsors, host business and innovation competitions. Newark College of Engineering draws a huge crowd of sponsors and alumni participating in the “reverse engineering” competition. Hundreds of companies come to the NJIT Career, Co-op and Internship Fairs. Alumni and business professionals meet on campus for the “Speed Networking” event to help students prepare for the business world. The students across the campus, representing all of the schools, are engaged in projectbased learning and applying what they have learned in the classroom to real business, engineering, architecture and IT situations. That is a transformation that far transcends any new building or facility. It is another example of the evolution of the NJIT spirit.

I have the rare opportunity to see all of this activity on a daily basis. I have returned to the NJIT campus as a member of the School of Management team. I walk around the campus and see many things as they were when I graduated in 1974. Everyone still picks up a copy of the Vector. Students are still concerned about their classes and internships. The Campus Center is the hub of activity on a daily basis. But one cannot ignore the changes. The new buildings, classrooms, residence halls, parking, and athletic fields are all great additions to the campus. Highlander spirit lives on in the hearts and minds of the new students. The campus is alive with activity during all 12 months, day and night. It has to be seen to be believed. “After changes upon changes we are more or less the same.” We are and always will be NJIT. That is what sets us apart from everyone else. This is our house and we will keep updating it and adding to it. Highlander spirit will continue to grow with our alumni and student population. Take this opportunity to visit the campus and stop in at the Alumni Office.

Jack W. Wagner ’74 President, NJIT Alumni Association

ANNUAL HONORS FOR ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE Newark College of Engineering marked 17 years in March of honoring the accomplishments of notable alumni, industry partners and high-achieving students at the college’s annual Salute to Engineering Excellence. This year, Theodore Cassera PE, PP, ’72 and Arnold Peskin ’65 each received an Outstanding Alumnus Award. The Utility and Transportation Contractors Association of New Jersey (UTCA) was the recipient of the Outstanding Industry Partnership Award—an award received on behalf of the group by UTCA President Scott Lattimer. Cassera, who majored in civil engineering, says that the greatest satisfaction of his career has been seeing site-development projects progress from concept to transformative reality on the landscape. “You have a real sense of making something positive happen.” He began to make many positive things happen when he joined the engineering firm Schoor DePalma in 1974. During more than three decades with the firm, he progressed in the ranks to become director of the Real Estate Division, retiring in 2008 as senior executive vice president. Numerous major projects took shape in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania during Cassera’s executive watch. They include corporate headquarters and other commercial projects, residential developments, and facilities in the public sector that have greatly contributed to the economic and social vitality of the region. Notable are the New Jersey headquarters for Tiffany, L’Oreal and Chubb, the two-millionsquare-foot Connell Corporate Park in Berkeley Heights, and the Trenton Thunder Arena. In addition to his demanding corporate responsibilities, Cassera was a very active advocate for his profession. He has been appointed twice to the New Jersey State Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. In 2010, Cassera had to admit to a significant failure, but one that actually turned out to be quite

fortunate. “As my wife says, I failed at retirement. I wasn’t really ready to stay away from work that has been so satisfying.” In short order, Cassera once again became a professionally engaged civil engineer — offering his considerable skills to Omland Engineering Associates. “I had known and respected Stan Omland, the founder, for many years as a friend and highly capable fellow engineer. When I was looking for a place to land after trying retirement for two years, I was pleased when Stan asked me to join his company.” Cassera has been quite busy with Omland Engineering. He’s even had the satisfaction of moving a project that he helped to initiate in 1985 at Schoor DePalma to the “10-yard line,” as he puts it. It’s a major residential and commercial development in Rockaway Township that had to be guided through a challenging permitting process. Omland Engineering is bringing it to the goal line. During his career with Schoor DePalma, Cassera had a key role in improvements at NJIT that included the current Campus Center. A special highlight of his work with Omland has been the addition of Warren Street Village, formally opened in 2013 to provide new housing for the university’s fraternities and sororities and for students enrolled in Albert Dorman Honors College. These are physical manifestations of a connection with his alma mater that has been strong and enduring for Cassera. As a student, Cassera’s engagement with the wider NCE community began with commitments such as serving as class vice president and president of his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi. He has maintained a close connection with NCE over the years as a member of the Civil and Environ-

Theodore Cassera PE, PP, ’72

mental Engineering Advisory Board, which he chaired from 2003 to 2014. Although he stepped down from the chairmanship after he was recently named to the NCE Board of Visitors, he is still a member of the civil and environmental advisory group. Honored in 2005 with an Alumni Achievement Award from the NJIT Alumni Association, Cassera also remains in direct contact with the students studying to follow him into the field of civil and environmental engineering. Cassera says that his dedication to giving back to the university is rooted in both the benefits that have accrued from his NCE education and his experience working part-time during his student years for the company that today is Hatch Mott MacDonald. He came to appreciate the importance of the supportive relationship that his employer maintained with NCE, which included providing scholarship aid — assistance that Cassera himself received for his final year at the college and which he promoted while he was with Schoor DePalma. As a personal commitment, he established the Cassera Family Scholarship for NJIT students. Cassera’s advocacy for the importance of professional licensure prompted NCE to implement the requirement that all young men and women in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department take preliminary steps toward this certification before they graduate. The seminar program that he helped to initiate introduces firstyear students to the great range of specialties and opportunities in the major that they have chosen. The message that Cassera has for the students is that they have

embarked on a very demanding academic course. But it’s one which, if they persist, will lead to a very fulfilling career. He says, “Hang in there, the rewards are worth it.” Cassera’s accomplishments in the field of work that he chose, and the satisfaction he has experienced, clearly validate the perspective that he continues to share at his alma mater.

Arnold Peskin ’65 with his wife

Peskin is the retired head of the Information Technology Division and senior scientist at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, where he served from 1967 to 2004. After receiving a B.S. in electrical engineering from NJIT’s Newark College of Engineering, Peskin began his career as a development engineer at IBM (1964-67). He later received an M.S. in electrical engineering from Polytechnic University. “My career thrived based upon what I learned at NCE,” he says. “My education was excellent.” While at Brookhaven, Peskin took part in early developments in computer networking, computeraided design of analog and logic circuits, and most recently data visualization. His team developed X-ray computed microtomography and immersive 3D visualization techniques that found application in oil exploration (with GTE and Mobil Oil), brain imaging, high-energy physics simulations [continued on page 28]

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RECOGNIZING EXCEPTIONAL ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT In what has become an Alumni Weekend tradition, the Alumni Association of NJIT honored six graduates for exceptional achievements in the private and public sectors at a dinner enjoyed by the honorees along with family members and friends. and protein data structure analysis. Other technical contributions were made in scientific computing, stereographic visualization techniques, associative computer memories, optical mass data storage, and computer-aided design of processor architectures. Peskin has invested significant efforts in college education, with a focus on underserved and adult populations. Among his achievements in this arena was the development of an accessible, self-perpetuating, “real-world” capstone experience for students in isolated, rural locations, as well as for students who could not complete their studies at a single institution (such as those in the military). He was also one of the developers of an innovative undergraduate nanoscience technology program for adult learners. At IEEE, he was active in the Educational Activities Board, both as a volunteer member and as a member of the staff. He has represented IEEE for the accreditation agency ABET, Inc. and was named Fellow of ABET for his contributions to the agency as a longtime volunteer. In 2012, he received a Meritorious Achievement Award from IEEE for advancing continuing education through mentoring, leading technology transfer and impacting adult learning. What advice would he give to students who are planning to pursue a career in electrical engineering? “The primary thing about technology in the 21st century is that it changes so fast,” Peskin says. “So to best succeed, embrace change and pursue your own radical ideas fearlessly, but be guided by the tried and true engineering principles you learn at NJIT.”

UTCA, the Outstanding Industry Partner for 2015, is a national award-winning, nonprofit trade association headquartered in Wall, N.J. UTCA currently includes approximately 1,100 member firms active in all phases of heavy, highway, site, utility and environmental remediation construction, in the public and private sectors and throughout the state. On behalf of its member firms, UTCA strives to improve working conditions for the construction industry. Over the years, UTCA has provided scholarship support for NJIT students and has actively recruited NJIT graduates. Among the NCE student honorees, Anthony Calvano was named outstanding senior in his major— Civil and Environmental Engineering—and outstanding senior of the year. Other seniors recognized for their exceptional academic achievements were Jasmine Faldu*, Biomedical Engineering; Steven Greendyk*, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Kevin Lorenc*, Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering; Luckasz Romaniecki, Engineering Technology; and Joseph Waldinger*, Electrical and Computer Engineering. Kevin Alvernaz and Mateusz Tchorz, Civil and Environmental Engineering, was recognized with the Saul K. Fenster Innovation in Design Award. Folawiyo Campbell*, Electrical and Computer Engineering, received the Madame Mau Outstanding Female Engineering Student Award; and Zhonghui Huang, Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, was honored as the outstanding graduate student and Maxx W. Capece, Chemical, Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, received the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award. *Dorman honors scholars

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Paul Dreyer ’64

Samer Hanini ’99, ’03

Paul Dreyer is a professional engineer and board-certified environmental engineer with more than 40 years of experience in planning and implementing infrastructure programs in the United States, South Caucasus, Central Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Middle East and the Pacific Rim countries. He has served from project manager to regional manager for several international environmental consulting firms and as liaison to many international funding agencies, local governmental agencies, engineering firms and consultants. Dreyer currently is an elected member of the Falmouth Planning Board and Town Meeting Member, and has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod. He received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from NJIT in 1964.

the Hotel Indigo. Formerly the First National Bank, the 108-room Hotel Indigo has been billed as the first boutique hotel in Newark, with Alva Restaurant on the first floor and the only rooftop lounge in the area. The firm’s most notable project to date is the renovation of the former Hahne’s department store, a 500,000-square-foot development that includes 180 residential lofts with Whole Foods and Rutgers University as anchor tenants. Hanini serves as a trustee on the nonprofit Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee, Newark Regional Business Partnership, and has served on NJIT’s School of Management Board of Visitors. He graduated from NJIT in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in architecture and also received a master’s degree in infrastructure planning in 2003. Kiran Gill was recognized for

Samer Hanini oversees business

development and construction management for his development firm, the Hanini Group, which has been deeply involved in the renaissance of Newark’s downtown district. Development projects include the RockPlaza Lofts on Market Street, a multiproperty project that includes nearly 80 rental apartments, convenience and specialty retail: Dinosaur BBQ, Chipotle, Marcato’s Pizzeria and

her many professional achievements in the field of innovative environmental technologies and her leadership in community service organizations that address the social needs of her local Mercer County community. As the president and chief executive officer of Professional Associates in Regulatory Services (PARS) Environmental, Inc., a full-service environmental consulting firm focused on innovative solutions,

Kiran Gill ’07

Robert M. Gogal ’58

Brian A. Nadzan ’85

Steven B. Saperstein ’84

Gill has overseen the company’s growth from five employees to more than 50, and has increased revenue from $500,000 to over $13 million. She began her career at PARS as an intern, and in 2003 she purchased the company from its previous owners. In the past three years, Gill has earned awards including: Top Forty Under 40 Business Leader and Best 50 Women in Business (NJBIZ Magazine); and New Jersey Small Business Person of the Year (U.S. Small Business Administration). The Society of Indo-American Engineers and Architects also honored her in 2013 for her achievements and leadership of a woman- and minority-owned business. She received a bachelor’s degree from New York University and an MBA from NJIT in 2007.

Air Force. In 1971, he attended the Air Force Command and Staff College, becoming base civil engineer commander in Aviano, Italy, in the following year. In 1977, he was promoted to the position of Colonel, and was assigned to the Pentagon and served as chief of the Housing Division, where he directed maintenance and operation of 155,000 Air Force housing units throughout the world, supervised the construction of new housing communities, including improvements and modernization of existing housing, and solar energy applications. A longtime volunteer, Gogal served as a reunion leader for the class of 1958, a member of the Alumni Association Council, and on the President’s Council on Alumni. He received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Newark College of Engineering in 1958.

2009, Nadzan served as a director of development at Lava Trading, where he was responsible for the development and product strategy of its global multi-asset EMS, which delivered market access, order management and analytics to the buy-side community. From 1992 to 2005, Nadzan served as a Managing Director at Bloomberg LP, where he was responsible for all aspects of software development, client support, and product direction for all trading applications. While at Bloomberg, he pioneered development within electronic trading, developed the company’s first order-management system and launched numerous innovative applications for the capital markets financial community. He graduated from NJIT in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in computer and information science and currently serves as a member of NJIT’s College of Computing Sciences Board of Visitors.

served as controller of Prudential Individual Insurance and Prudential Real Estate Investors after spending several years in corporate tax and other finance functions at Prudential Financial. In addition to his corporate accomplishments, Saperstein has been an active alumnus since the 1990s. He is a member of the NJIT Board of Overseers where he serves on the Foundation’s investment committee and is a former president and vice president of the Alumni Association of NJIT, currently serving on the Association’s Board. In 2012, Saperstein received the Edward F. Weston Medal, which is presented to alumni in recognition of outstanding personal, professional and civic achievement and commitment to the development of the university. He also is a member of NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts Board of Visitors and also served on the Board of Visitors for the School of Management, the Editorial Board for NJIT Magazine, and on several search committees to help improve talent at NJIT. He also holds a master of business administration from Rutgers University.

As senior vice president and general manager of the Aviation Division, Infrastructure & Technology Group, Ralph M. Parsons Co., Robert Gogal oversaw the design and construction of hundreds of new airports, airport security systems, passenger terminal designs and construction, and runway, taxi and navigational systems in the U.S. and across the globe. Prior to his work in the private sector, he served in the U.S. military for more than 27 years, most prominently in the U.S.

In a career that has spanned management, technology and marketing, Brian A. Nadzan currently serves as the chief development officer at Trading Screen, Inc., where he has spearheaded development in electronic trading, front office trading systems, position and risk management, compliance, settlements and clearing and has stayed on the forefront of global markets and financial technology. From 2005 to

As the chief operating officer of Prudential Fixed Income, which he joined shortly after receiving a bachelor of science in industrial administration from NJIT in 1984, Steve Saperstein manages the divisions of Operations and Systems, Securities Lending, Finance and Business Management. Before assuming his current duties, he

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CLASS NOTES MAL & FRIENDS NJIT Magazine invites new correspondents to join Mal Simon in sharing news about class members and alumni organizations. Professor emeritus of physical education and athletics, Mal was director of physical education and athletics, and men’s soccer coach, for 30 years. In 1993, he received the Cullimore Medal for his service to the university. If you would like to be a regular correspondent, don’t hesitate to send an e-mail to the editor of NJIT Magazine: crovetto@njit.edu

First, the latest news from Mal – Roy Knutsen ’62, laird of White

Hall Farm in Stillwater, N.J., is shown with his majestic Scottish Highlander steer, Buster, who came to White Hall when he was one week old and weighed 200 pounds. Now 10 years old, Buster weighs 1,000 pounds with horns that are seven feet from tip to tip. Caring for Buster and the farm’s other animals and gardens has kept Roy as slim as when he starred for NCE’s basketball and soccer teams in the early 60s. Roy has maintained an active interest in NJIT’s athletic programs and once again hosted the annual feel and hands golf outing at the Lake Mohawk Golf Club on October 2, 2015.

Buster and Roy Knutsen

Bill Rupp ’78, who started playing golf in 1971, shot his first holein-one at the Santa Barbara Golf Club in California. He made his ace on the 105-yard 13th hole using a 9 iron. As it was early evening, there was a shadow diagonally across the green so he and his partner only saw the ball land on the green, 30

take two short bounces, and head toward the hole. The ball went into the shadow and they lost sight of it. When no ball was seen on the green, Bill figured it rolled off. But his friend looked in the hole and there, to Bill’s surprise and understandable glee, was the ball. Hank Krauss ’54 and his partner, Betty Wallace, who live in Fort Pierce, Florida, were world travelers extraordinaire. Since Hank’s retirement in 1993, they set foot on all seven continents and visited more than 70 countries. Hank and Betty were active square dancers on the local, state, national and international levels, and square danced in New Zealand, Australia, England, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Our nomads have even traveled to Cuba as part of “People to People” programs sponsored by the U.S. Treasury Department. In 2012, they visited the Cuban cities of Havana, Cienfuegos and Trinidad. The following year they visited Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa, finishing with another visit to Havana. They spent many hours visiting senior citizens, school children, fishermen, artists, dancers and many other Cubans, and found them all to be gracious hosts. Their first trip was to Australia and New Zealand in 1994. After landing in Australia, they visited Ayres Rock, a famous landmark in the middle of nowhere in Central Australia. Their trip included

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Melbourne where they saw the Fairy Penguins come ashore. The Fairy Penguins are small penguins about one foot in height who spend the day in the ocean and come ashore in large groups in the evening to nest. Hank and Betty then flew to Christchurch, New Zealand, where they picked up a motor home and toured the North and South Islands of New Zealand before returning to the U.S. via Fiji and Hawaii. In the fall of 1996, Hank and Betty spent a month touring the Scandinavian countries, afterwards meeting up with a square-dance group to visit Ireland and England. They flew to Hamburg, Germany, where they began a motor-home trip that took them into Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In Norway, they traveled from Oslo to Bergen, known as the City of Seven Mountains. They then traveled by ferry back to Denmark and topped off this part of the trip with a stop at an Octoberfest in Lubbock, Germany. From Germany they flew to Dublin to meet a group of Florida square dancers and spend several days square dancing and touring the Irish countryside, which included a visit to the Guinness brewery. From Dublin they flew to England to dance with several local square-dance clubs before returning home. In 1998, Hank and Betty flew to Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a few days there, they flew to Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world where they boarded a cruise ship bound for Antarctica. They enjoyed a number of shore landings via Zodiac boats, rubber craft used for such expeditions, visiting Half Moon Island, Paradise Harbour and the Lemaire Channel. The Lemaire Channel is a strait between the mainland and an island with amazing snow-capped mountains. Prior to entering the channel, a helicopter was sent out to make sure they would not encounter icebergs that can block the channel. At this point, they were about 60 miles from the Antarctic Circle. They returned to Ushuaia and completed their journey with stops in Uruguay and Chile. 1999 found Hank and Betty in China, Tibet, Nepal and Thailand. They started with several days in Hong Kong and enjoyed a side trip

to Macau, once Portuguese territory and now under Chinese rule. Leaving Macau, they flew to Xian to see the Terra Cotta soldiers, the huge collection of sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. To protect Huang in his afterlife, the sculptures were buried with him in 210 B.C. and were discovered by local farmers in 1974. After a trip to Beijing and the Great Wall, they boarded a riverboat for a trip on the Yangtze River. Their last stop in China was at Chengdu, where a museum and monument are dedicated to the Flying Tigers, a group of U.S. airmen who supported China against Japanese invaders during World War II. From Chengdu they flew to Lhasa, Tibet, where they boarded buses to cross the country at elevations as high as 17,000 feet. They ended their bus journey in Kathmandu, Nepal, and then flew to Bangkok, Thailand, before returning home. In 2002, our travelers flew to Europe to begin a multicountry square-dance and sightseeing tour. They took an overnight ferry from England to Denmark, where they danced and took in the sights. After several days in Denmark, they alternated between ferry trips, dancing and sightseeing in Sweden, Finland, Russia and Estonia, highlighted by two days in St. Petersburg. After this, they traveled across the North Sea back to England, ending their whirlwind tour with more dancing and a visit to Cambridge University. With barely enough time to unpack and repack, Hank and Betty took a trip around Africa on the cruise ship Marco Polo, a voyage that began in Barcelona, Spain. The cruise included a stop at the Atlantic island of St. Helena, where Napoleon had been exiled. Other stops were Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. They encountered a bit of international conflict when an attempt was made to shoot down an Israeli airliner on the day of their arrival in Mombasa, Kenya. This trip concluded with a three-day safari. An unscheduled part of the safari was witnessing a newborn elephant being helped by its mother to stand. Mother and baby proved to be hams as they posed for pictures.

clockwise from top left: Off to a square dance in Denmark; City of Seven Mountains in Bergen, Norway; Catherine the Great’s Palace in Russia; Lunch with a local dancer in Cuba; Lemaire Channel, Antarctica; On board ship in Antarctic waters; Troops of the great underground terracotta army, Xi’an, China; On the back of a yak in Tibet.

In 2014, they visited Holland and Belgium. It was a great trip until the last night in Antwerp, Belgium. They were packed and ready to fly home the next morning when Hank started experiencing severe stomach pains. A trip to the emergency room revealed a blocked intestine that would require surgery. After a surgeon cleared the blockage, Hank spent eight days recovering. Betty stayed at a local hotel and came each day to the hospital to read comic books to Hank until he was healthy enough to return home. Following such an experience, a less hardy pair might not be eager to head out again, but not Hank and Betty. During the Christmas week of 2014, they took a seven-day Golden Isle River Boat cruise from Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island in north Florida to Charleston, South Carolina. Their first stop was Jekyll Island and St. Simons Islands in Georgia, followed by the remote coastal Island of Sapelo in the middle of Georgia’s coastal marshes. There

are only 37 permanent residents on the island, all descendants of slaves. Access to the island is only by boat. It is a weekend retreat for mainland residents and tourists. The next stop was the busy port city of Savannah, where they toured Old Town and visited the home of Juliette Low, founder of the Girl Scouts of America. Moving on, they stopped at Beaufort. This area also has many descendants of slaves who have preserved the Coffin Point Praise House, one of 30 or more such houses of worship where slaves gathered for services melding Christian and African rituals. The trip ended in historic Charleston, where they enjoyed the famous Holiday Festival of Lights. Following are some photographic highlights from several of their trips. Recently, when I asked Hank which trip was their favorite, he said, “The next one.” Trips planned for the future would have taken Hank and Betty to Panama and Cartagena in Colombia, followed by cruises on the Snake and Columbia Rivers in Oregon, on Puget Sound, and to the San Juan Islands. Sadly, however, their travel plans have ended, as Betty passed away on September 13, 2015. One can certainly say that they made the most of their days together.

1962

1965

Ronald L. Panitch (Mechanical Eng.) was named a “Best Lawyer” in the 2016 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, one of the legal profession’s oldest and most respected peer-review publications. Panitch, who is a founding partner of Panitch, Schwarze Belisario & Nadel LLP, was recognized with seven other selected attorneys from his firm for their work in the practice areas of patent litigation, intellectual property litigation, patent law, trademark law and copyright law.

Pierre Ramond (Electrical Eng.),

Virginia C. Sulzberger (Electrical

Eng.), M.S. ’66 (Electrical Eng.), a consultant at Electric Power Systems and a member of NJIT’s Helen and John J. Hartmann Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Industry Advisory Board, was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in October. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.

Virginia C. Sulzberger was recognized by the Helen and John J. Hartmann Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in July. From left: Moshe Kam, dean of NJIT’s Newark College of Engineering, Virginia Sulzberger and Leonid Tsybeskov, chair of the Helen and John J. Hartmann Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

a theoretical physicist and director of the Institute for Fundamental Theory at the University of Florida, has won the 2015 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, one of the highest honors for scientific investigators in that field. In recognizing Ramond, the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Institute of Physics (AIP) cited his “pioneering foundational discoveries in supersymmetry and superstring theory, in particular the dual model of fermions and the theory of the Kalb-Ramond field.”

1970 Kenneth Schifftner (Mechanical

Eng.) has published the Air Pollution Control Equipment Selection Guide, Second Edition (CRC Press Taylor and Francis), which covers the technology and hardware that is currently harnessed in the control of solid and gaseous pollutants. Some of the chapters were contributed by colleagues whom he has met and/or worked with over the last nearly five decades in the industry. After graduating high school in 1966 and getting ready to attend NCE, he needed a summer job so he placed an ad in a local newspaper saying he was pursuing an engineering career and was looking for work; only one firm responded. It turned out that they supplied air pollution control equipment. Initially lacking a car, Schifftner rode a bicycle to their nearby offices. When he graduated from NCE in 1970, the focus on air pollution was in its infancy. The Clean Air Act was new. He had worked summers and holidays during the years 1966-1970 to help pay for his NCE education, and

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luckily a “new” career opportunity was opening for him and others in the pollution control industry. His good fortune was to work with engineers who were helpful and open in the sharing of information. Later in his career, he worked with various air pollution control companies, including the Otto H. York Company. Four patents were granted over the years for pollution control and mass-transfer type application. Over the last four-plus decades, he has designed or been associated with over 3,000 air pollution control projects. He is now semi-retired and provides consulting services.

1976 John Biancamano (Engineer-

ing Science, Electrical Eng. ’51) has been elected chairman of Princeton SCORE. He has over 25 years of business experience as a marketing and sales executive with technology companies, and is president of Inbound Digital LLC. Biancamano has been a member, small business mentor and executive board member of Princeton SCORE since 2014, and is a frequent speaker on digital marketing, branding, leadership and social media.

1978 Kevin Gilman (Actuarial Science)

has been appointed to the Hunterdon Polytech Board of Education. Gilman is president of Belco Technologies, a company specializing in engineered air pollution control systems for various industries. Paul D. Kaltenbach (Electrical

Engineering Technology) recently received his third Emmy Award for excellence in broadcast engineering. He has worked for the past 25 years in field operations at ABC Television, initially in sports coverage then later moving to the 32

network news division. He is also a recipient of the DuPont-Columbia Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the George Foster Peabody Award for his work covering major international stories. Before working in the television industry, he worked in aerospace both domestically and abroad.

1979 Robert Cozzarelli (Architecture)

was recently named by the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects as a regional representative to the organization’s Strategic Council. Cozzarelli will be one of 35 representatives, each of whom will represent different regions across the United States. Previously the AIA-NJ regional director, Cozzarelli will continue his activities as he transitions to the new, similar role of regional representative. Cozzarelli is an award-winning architect and planner with over 30 years of professional experience specializing in educational, recreational, institutional and residential design for federal, state, municipal and private-sector clients. He is a principal of both Rutherford-based Cozzarelli-Cirminiello Architects and Bertone Cozzarelli Healthcare Architects, the latter of which specializes in designing long-term care facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes.

1980 Michael Chrobak (Mechanical Eng.) has been appointed executive vice president of TexasOne. He will be responsible for spearheading research-based lead generation and strategic partnership activities, including business attraction and expansion of jobs, investment and industry development for the state. Chrobak was recently recognized as one of the Top 50 Economic

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Developers in North America by Consultant Connect. Michael Johnstone (Industrial Administration) was sworn in as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer. He has been a foster parent since 1995 and has 10 years of experience working with Foster & Adoptive Family Services (FAFS). He also has adopted two children through the system.

1981 Gary Davenport (Architecture)

has joined Ramtech Building Systems as project architect and design project manager. Davenport was previously vice president of design and construction for Spectrum Building Systems, a builder of prefabricated modular and site built projects primarily in the Southeastern U.S.

1985 Susan C. Gieser (Environmental

Science) has been appointed to SAGE Eldercare’s board of trustees. Gieser is a partner with Waters, McPherson, McNeill, P.C. in Secaucus and concentrates in the area of environmental law.

1988 Ranjit Pradhan (Electrical Eng.) has joined Frequentz Inc. in the new role of chief product officer and global business development, which was created to meet the increased global traceability demand. Before joining Frequentz in 2013, Pradhan was an executive at Abbott Labs, where he held the senior director, diagnostics informatics position. Pradhan has also held senior positions at several Fortune 100 companies including GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare. Clifford M. Samuel (Mechanical

Eng.) has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Access Opera-

tions and Emerging Markets in the Corporate & Medical Affairs organization of Gilead Sciences, Inc. Samuel, who serves on the Albert Dorman Honors College Board of Visitors and received NJIT’s Edward F. Weston Medal for Professional Achievement in 2010, joined Gilead in 1996 as a member of the Vistide sales team. William Wilson (Computer and

Information Science), a partner in the law firm of Mound Cotton Wollan & Greengrass, co-wrote a book entitled New Jersey Insurance Coverage Litigation–2015:A Practitioner’s Guide, which has been published by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, a Division of the New Jersey State Bar Association. Wilson is also the author of NJInsuranceBlog.com.

1989 Eugene DeStefano (Civil Eng.) has joined Gannett Fleming to help deliver innovative solutions to Gannett Fleming’s water clients throughout New Jersey and the Northeastern U.S. As the manager of water resources based in South Plainfield, he is responsible for project management, business development and strategic planning in support of Gannett Fleming’s expanding water resources business line. DeStefano is a professional engineer in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and a board certified environmental engineer in water supply/wastewater from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists™. Robbin Dolan (Environmen-

tal Eng.), legal administrator at Laddey, Clark & Ryan, has been named president of the New Jersey Association of Legal Administrators (NJALA), a statewide professional organization of legal administrators dedicated to the

continued improvement of law office management. Dolan is one of only seven certified legal managers in the state and has served as legal administrator for Laddey, Clark & Ryan since 2001. She has served NJALA as secretary and vice president of education, as well as on numerous committees, including workshop, equipment survey and salary survey committees. She is currently co-editor of the Jer-ZJournal, the NJALA’s award- winning quarterly newsletter, in which she has published many humanresource and legal-management related articles. Joseph G. Pulicare (Civil Eng.)

has been named chief operating officer of the U.S. transportation sector of Parsons Brinckerhoff. In his new position, Pulicare is responsible for a diverse range of activities that support the overall positioning of the company and contribute to achieving annual sales, overhead and profit goals. His operational responsibilities include developing and implementing strategic plans, developing new client relationships, oversight of market/pursuit intelligence gathering, resource deployment and regional profit and loss analysis and management. He will also serve as a principal on major pursuits and projects. Paresh Shah (Mechanical Eng.)

has been appointed operations manager of Schafer Gear Works’ Gear Unit in South Bend, Indiana. Shah came to Schafer Gear Works in 1993 as a gear engineer. In 1995, he was promoted to engineering manager where he managed the engineering group in South Bend and also served as a liaison between both domestic and overseas vendors. Before joining Schafer Gear Works, Shah was senior process engineer for International Gear Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio.

1990 Mark W. Kataryniak (Civil Eng.)

has been appointed director of planning and engineering of Edison Township. Kataryniak has been senior vice president of French & Parrello Associates in Wall Township since 2010. He was the director of transportation engineering at Medina Consultants in Hackettstown from 2007 to 2010, and a vice president at the Birdsall Services Group, an engineering consulting firm in Eatontown, where he began working in 1997.

1993 Christopher Menchin (Architecture) has been promoted to principal at SOSH Architects. Menchin joined SOSH Architects’ Atlantic City office in 1998 as staff architect and has led the firm’s design team on several highprofile projects including Resorts World Bimini in the Bahamas, Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California, and Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. Menchin is a registered architect in the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Nevada, and is a LEED accredited professional. Tibor Menyhert (Electrical Eng.,

Minor in STS) has joined STV as vice president and chief information officer. He brings over 21 years of experience in information technology (IT) leadership and support. Before joining STV, Menyhert was the vice president and chief information officer for the Power Group division of a multibillion-dollar engineering, construction contracting and power equipment company. There, he was responsible for the management of the IT group, aligning its strategy to meet the firm’s worldwide business requirements. He also directed the planning,

acquisition, development and operation of the firm’s computer, telecommunication and information systems. Justin Mihalik (Architecture) will serve as president-elect of the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ (AIA-NJ). A principal at Essex Fells-based J.A. Mihalik Architect LLC, Mihalik has been a member of AIA-NJ for over 15 years and an active board member for the last 10 years. Most recently, Mihalik served as first vice president, and he previously served as AIA-NJ’s second vice president and membership chairperson. He is also a member of AIA-NJ’s Legislative and Government Affairs Committee, which monitors regulatory issues that affect the practice of architecture for the organization and serves as vice chair of the New Jersey Architects Political Action Committee (NJAPAC), an affiliate organization that helps inform AIA-NJ architects how New Jersey legislation affects them and their profession.

His most recent appointment has been to the ArchiPAC Steering Committee, the political action committee of the American Institute of Architects. Mihalik is a member of the Newark and Suburban Architects, one of AIANJ’s six local sections, for which he has served in several positions, including president, treasurer and membership chair.

through Entrepreneurship LLC (M.A.D.E), an adjunct instructor in NJIT’s School of Management, spent the summer teaching a marketing course at the University of Electronic Science Technology of China (UESTC) through the G-MEO Study Abroad Program. “The experience was unforgettable academically, culturally and personally,” Scott reported. “I dream nightly about being there.”

1994 Rich Calbi (Civil Eng., Environ-

mental Eng. ’00) has been hired as director of operations of the Village of Ridgewood. Calbi began his career working for the Army Corps of Engineers, specifically on the Passaic River Flood Tunnel project, which never came to fruition. He spent five-and-a-half years in the private sector doing flood abatement, stormwater management and system design before going to work for local governments. He started in the public sector in Clifton as the assistant township engineer before becoming the engineer in Maplewood Township in Essex County. Most recently, Calbi was the township engineer in Livingston, where he was also in charge of the Division of Public Works and Water Utility.

1995

Sandip Mohapatra (Computer and Information Science) has been named chief technology officer at PaySpan, an Atlanta-based health care payment automation provider. He is a member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society board of trustees. Michele Scott (Management), founder of WeEmpower Partnerships LLC and Making A Difference

Kimberly Bunn (Architecture) was installed as 2015 president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Owner and principal of Moorestownbased Bunn Architecture, a fullservice architectural firm specializing in residential projects with a focus on historic renovations and incorporating environmental principles, Bunn has been a member of AIA for more than 16 years and has served in a leadership capacity for more than a decade.

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Katherine Chernishov (Management) has been named vice president of strategic planning and customer analytics at PLM Trailer Leasing. In this role, Chernishov will serve as a key member of the corporate leadership team, spearheading PLM’s customer focused and fleet management analytical efforts, strategic and financial planning, as well as optimizing core business support processes. Chernishov has over 20 years of experience in financial and strategic planning, market segmentation and customer analytics at companies such as Natural Markets Food Group, Benjamin Moore & Co., Unilever and Altria. George Olmo (Architecture) was

named to director of construction at Rose Associates, the New Yorkbased real estate firm. Olmo joined Rose’s construction management division in 2005, and was named senior project manager in 2009. Since joining Rose, he has worked on dozens of construction projects. Olmo’s notable assignments to date include overseeing all aspects of construction during the development of Chelsea Landmark located at 55 West 25th Street and managing the extensive renovation of The Sheffield at 322 West 57th Street. He also led the construction of The Larstrand, a recent development of Friedland Properties on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Before joining Rose, Olmo served as a project manager at Scarsdale, New York-based Kreisler Borg Florman. Rob Walton (Mechanical Eng.),

who has a part-time post as a Hunterdon County Freeholder, is part of the Jersey Central Power & Light external affairs team. He is an area manager for portions of Essex, Morris, Somerset and Union counties and is based in Summit. Before joining JCP&L, Walton was

most recently regional sales manager for Waltron, Bull and Roberts, an industrial manufacturer.

1996 David J. Mairo (Environmental

Science) has joined Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC as a member. Mairo has experience in counseling clients on issues of compliance, applicability and adequacy of remediation concerning the Site Remediation Reform Act and the Industrial Site Recovery Act, as well as a variety of other environmental regulatory and enforcement matters. He represents clients in negotiations with the NJDEP, permitting, oversight of investigations and cleanups pursuant to the NJDEP Technical Requirements for Site Remediation. He also advises clients on Natural Resource Damage assessments and the implications of environmental due diligence associated with the purchase and sale of real estate, with a particular emphasis on Brownfields Redevelopment.

1997 Maria Krupin (Management) has

been appointed vice president of finance at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.

1999 Shawn Straka (Management) has

joined Cushman & Wakefield’s Morristown office as senior director. A corporate tenant representation specialist, he has more than 15 years of experience and expertise in the New Jersey market, and has completed over 6 million square feet in regional transactions. Straka held additional past industry positions with Coldwell Banker Commercial and Citibank Global Asset Management, and he has been recognized multiple

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times with in-house and brokerage industry awards from organizations such as CoStar Group and Real Estate New Jersey.

2000 Beth Welmaker (Environmental

Science) has joined The WorkingBuildings Group of companies as the Compliance Director EH&S. She brings over 20 years of experience in the safety and compliance industry to WorkingBuildings. Welmaker will work closely with laboratory owners and operators to ensure safety and compliance with regulating authorities. She will also work to optimize laboratory operations and provide guidance on construction and expansion projects from a compliance perspective.

2001 Art Caruso (Management) has been appointed senior vice president of business development at Metro Exhibits, LLC. In this role, Caruso will be primarily responsible for finding new growth channels for the organization through sales and marketing initiatives.

2002 Milan Patel (Computer Science) has joined K2 Intelligence, an industry-leading investigative, compliance and cyber defense services firm, as managing director. Most recently Patel served as the FBI’s Cyber Division chief technology officer. Eric Post (Applied Chemistry) has been appointed to the position of K-FLEX business director, Americas at Emerald Kalama Chemical, a business group of Emerald Performance Materials. Post will be responsible for the optimization and growth of the K-FLEX line of low-VOC, non-phthalate plasticizers and

coalescents in the Americas region, including planning and implementing strategic business plans, building relationships with customers and identifying new market opportunities. Post has more than 20 years of experience in the specialty chemicals industry, serving in technical, sales management and business development roles.

2004 Steve Sharmokh (Architecture) has been appointed house principal at Santa Monica High School by the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD). Sharmokh comes to SMMUSD from Green Dot Public Schools in Los Angeles where he served as a district math curriculum specialist since 2012. Previously, he was a math teacher and head teacher at Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City from 2006-2012. Brian Strout (Engineering

Management) has joined HNTB Corporation as New York City office operations manager and vice president. His more than 28 years of experience includes all facets of transportation operations management, including program management, construction management, financial reporting and staffing for rail and transit infrastructure projects. At HNTB, Strout manages the firm’s programs in the New York metropolitan region, including operations processes and budgets, project management systems, project reviews, work plans and staffing.

2005 William Bannister (Architecture) has been promoted to associate at Parette Somjen Architects. Bannister has worked with the company for the last 10 years, starting out as an architectural intern and quickly moving up. In his continued role

A LEGACY OF ACCOMPLISHMENT, SOCIAL CONCERN AND THOUGHTFUL REFLECTION

with PSA, Bannister leads a studio of approximately 17 employees whose clients are within the educational and municipal market sector. He mentors fellow colleagues to develop their expertise, explores new technologies and advocates for strong designs to improve the company’s capabilities. Jian Chen (Structural Engineering)

has been named associate principal at NK Architects. He is a licensed professional engineer in New Jersey and Michigan and is an active member of ACI and AISC. His expertise includes advanced design software, complicated building detailing, field problem-solving and team management/leadership.

2009 Cindy Celi (Architecture) has

been awarded a Woodrow Wilson New Jersey Teaching Fellowship. The highly competitive program recruits both recent graduates and career changers with strong backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and math—the STEM fields—and prepares them specifically to teach in high-need secondary schools. Daniel Lepek (Chemical Eng.), an

associate professor of chemical engineering at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and conduct research at Graz University of Technology in Austria during the 2015-2016 academic year. Lepek is also the recipient of the 2015 Ray W. Fahien Award, sponsored by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Chemical Engineering Division. The award, which is based on outstanding teaching effectiveness and educational scholarship, is given annually to an educator who has shown evidence of vision and contribution to chemical engineering education. Lepek received this award in June at

Recently, the NJIT community was deeply saddened by the death of Edward Cruz ’63, ’13 HON, president and chief executive officer of E.E. Cruz & Company, one of the region’s largest engineering and construction firms, which he co-founded with his cousin Evaristo. A fouryear soccer star and 1995 Athletics Hall of Fame honoree, Cruz was on the team that went on to become national NAIA champions under Coach Mal Simon. In 1983, he received the NJIT Outstanding Alumnus Award, and in 2013 the university awarded him a Doctor of Science, honoris causa, in recognition of his outstanding success as a businessman and highly respected community leader.

IN MEMORIAM Ralph Pollara ’34 William H. (Bill) Hassall, Jr. ’40 Gilbert Glass ’41 Irwin Richard Schneider ’43 Robert Francis McCarthy ’44, ’54 Jerome Potash ’46, ’51 John Stevenson ’49 Joseph N. Sanzo ’50 Walter M. Sherwood ’50 N. Wells Gow Jr. ’52, ’59 George Keller ’55 Elmo Guelph ’58 James E. Hoffmann ’58, ’65 Charles Moskov ’58 James A. Lipuma ’59 Edward W. Sapp ’60 Wallace E. Potts ’61

the Chemical Engineering Division Banquet of the 2015 ASEE Annual Conference in Seattle. Donna M. Miller (Architecture), a project architect with Cornerstone Architectural Group, LLC in South Plainfield, has successfully completed all sections of the rigorous Architectural Registration Examination administered by the New Jersey State Board of Architects and NCARB. As a newly Registered Architect in the State of New Jersey, Miller now assumes all of the professional responsibilities of a licensed design professional.

Cruz was exceptional in his dedication to the well-being of NJIT’s students, who benefited from his generous scholarship support, the excellence of the university’s academic programs, and the rising national profile of Highlander athletics. He also shared his concern and talents in many other areas — including helping students at Lafayette Street School and the parishioners of St. John’s Church in his hometown of Newark, working to improve the health of people in Florida and Portugal, supporting the arts, and participating in the political life of his community. Prior to his passing, Cruz published his memoir, A Bold Journey, in which he described the path that took him from his boyhood in Portugal to becoming an NJIT soccer star, successful businessman and highly respected community leader. Proceeds from sales of the book will benefit St. John’s Soup Kitchen. A donation of $40 (or any additional amount) payable to St. John’s Feed The Hungry can be sent either to P.O. Box 200147, Newark, N.J. 07102, Attn: Father Neil; or to Ryan Finnen, Hop Brook Properties, P.O. Box 365, Holmdel, N.J. 07733, for forwarding. For online donations, visit njsoupkitchen.org/donate.htm.

John K. Roth ’62 Edward Cruz ’63, ’13 HON Lt. Col. Joseph Quinn ’63 John Shafto Jr. ’63 Robert James Vandergrift ’63, ’69 Fred Kulhawy ’64, ’66 Michael Kuzmiak Jr. ’64 David George Meyers ’64 Edward G. Gruters ’65 Christopher William Boschen ’66 Richard Carl Loew ’66 J. Tad Seaman ’66 Paul Skiba III ’66 Eugene L. Kachele ’67 Richard C. Knight ’67 Robert Nedwick ’67 Daniel Bandura ’68 Emil M. Liloia ’68 Leo Dioguardi ’70

Warren Dougherty ’70 Eric Simone ’70, ’71 James R. Schleck ’71 Thomas Craig Mercadante ’73 Kenneth Schlask ’73 George McCaughey III ’74 Stanley Puciul ’78 John F. Bera ’79, ’87 Robert F. Peters ’81 Dale Serventi ’81 Frank Walter Drobot ’83 Joseph S. Lubertowicz ’85 Joseph Petruzziello ’90 Jeffrey L. Shirtz ’93 Kevin C. Flanagan ’94, ’11 Theodore Johnson ’94 Efrain Antonio Grajeda ’97 Vincent DiFrancia ’01 Jeffrey Huze ’05

She has made many very positive contributions in the management of significant design projects over the past five years, including design projects for SHI International Corp., Chelsea Senior Living, Springfield Township, PTC Therapeutics, Foley Inc. and Environ.

from Salvona Technologies, where he was a senior technology specialist responsible for personal care sales, project management and providing formulation expertise.

2011 Peter Muller (Biology) was appointed to Croda’s personal care sales team, where he will focus on providing expert service and support to customers in the eastern United States. Muller joins Croda

2014 Amr Mohamed (Architecture)

has joined HAP Investments LLC as a project manager for residential projects. Ketty Paulino (Civil Eng.) is

a civil engineer at the New York City Department of Design and Construction. N J I T M A G A Z I N E | FA L L 2 0 1 5

CALENDAR OF EVENTS S AV E T H E D AT E !

CORPORATE CLUBS NJIT’s Corporate Clubs provide valuable networking opportunities for alumni in the workplace while also assisting NJIT students and faculty. Current Corporate Clubs include Hatch Mott MacDonald, PSE&G, Schering-Plough, Turner Construction and United Parcel Service. For more information:

with The Alumni Association of NJIT!

njit.edu/alumni/clubs

REGIONAL CLUBS NJIT Regional Clubs are planning events across the country. For more information:

WINTER ALUMNI EVENT SERIES Florida Gulf Coast Holiday Reception Friday, January 15, 2016 Florida Gulf Coast Tampa Bay Downs Saturday, January 16, 2016

Kennedy Space Center Tour and Lunch Sunday, January 17, 2016 Alumni Council Meeting Saturday, January 30, 2016

ALUMNI WEEKEND 2016 May 20–22, 2016 Official registration materials will be sent in early spring. If you would like to volunteer for a reunion committee today, email alumni@njit.edu. We’d love your help and input! njit.edu/alumni

njit.edu/alumni/clubs

YOUNG ALUMNI CLUB The Young Alumni Club organizes social, networking, and educational events for alumni and their families. For more information: njit.edu/alumni/clubs

For the most current information about Alumni Association activities, visit njit.edu/alumni

C O N N E C T

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B E N E F I T

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E N G A G E

Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Go to njit.edu/alumni/community

CONCLUSION IN

ARCHITECTURAL ACCOLADE

An architectural design of the National Museum of Memory in Bogota, Colombia (above), created by College of Architecture and Design associate professor Maria Hurtado de Mendoza, recently won an international competition launched by the National Centre for Historical Memory in association with the Colombian Society of Architects.

The project, a joint venture between Hurtado de Mendozaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Madrid-based practice estudio.entresitio and the Colombian firm MGP, was selected from among 72 entries worldwide and is part of a government effort to honor the victims of the Colombian conflict and their path toward peace. Construction is slated to begin August 2016. design.njit.edu

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iii

NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID LANCASTER, PA PERMIT NO. 299

New Jersey Institute of Technology University Heights Newark, NJ 07102-1982 njit.edu

THANK YOU, NJIT SUPPORTERS!

GOALS:

1. DAVID VERSUS GOLIATH WIN: NJIT BEATS MICHIGAN

2. RANK AS TOP NATIONAL PUBLIC POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

3. CURE CANCER

4. SECURE $50 MILLION GRANT TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE IN N.J.

5. RANK IN TOPS FOR RETURN ON INVESTMENT AND ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

6. ACHIEVE 2020 VISION: A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR NJIT

7. REACH $150 MILLION CAMPAIGN GOAL TWO YEARS EARLY WHAT’S NEXT? On June 30, 2015, NJIT surpassed its campaign goal by raising $153,700, 251, which President Joel S. Bloom called a “tremendous success” that “sustains and advances NJIT’s leadership in education, research and economic development.”

Congratulations on this victory and thank you to the more than 19,000 donors (including alumni, faculty, staff, students, friends, foundations and corporations) who contributed gifts up to and including multimillion dollar donations.

Among other achievements, this support has created 125 new student scholarships, helped recruit more than 67 new faculty and significantly added to the development of NJIT’s next-generation campus. To make your donation, visit: njit-connect.njit.edu/givenow