An Engineer's Journey from NJIT Undergrad to Board Member and Mentor

It has been close to 50 years since Bob Medina ’75 graduated from NJIT as an engineer, and when he looks back at his journey, he marvels at how NJIT gave him the tools to excel. In fact, he still has the slide rule he used in class, in the days before calculators were allowed and laptops existed.

“I was the first in my family to attend college, and many of our students, 50 years later, are still first-generation students at NJIT,” said Medina. “And what that does is it allows somebody like me, first in their family to attend university, to be able to find a career. My father emigrated from Cuba; my mother came from Puerto Rico. They both worked so that their children could get a good education in the United States.” 

After graduation, Medina began work as a civil engineer, eventually starting his own firm, Medina Consultants, PC, in 1989, which he grew over 20 years to become the largest Hispanic-owned engineering company in New Jersey, and the third-largest in the country. 

Giving back 

Medina also is a proud Highlander, giving back to NJIT in numerous ways. Currently the chair of the Board of Overseers, he is the co-founder and co-chair of the university’s Hispanic and Latinx Leadership Council (HLLC) and chair of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey Innovation Institute, an NJIT corporation. 

“The student body is so diverse. I’m amazed at the representation that we have from the state of New Jersey and the northeast region, not only in Hispanic students, but African American students, Asian students,” he said. “We have probably one of the most diverse campuses in the state, and one of the highest when it comes to SAT scores and GPAs. So, the quality of our students is extraordinary.”

Medina believes that STEM, in one way or another, will impact every career in the future. 

“Our population growth is driven by diversity, not only in New Jersey, but throughout the United States. And so, we need those diverse students, engineers and architects to go into the STEM professions to keep the United States at the cutting edge,” he added. “This growth is driving careers. It’s driving the economy.”

Networking 

With the HLLC, Medina has helped develop programs to bring alumni and other prominent business people on campus to meet with students. He describes the group as providing “an atmosphere that says, ‘Hey, you’re here on campus, and we’re here to help you.’ ”

Education is a very important part of Hispanic culture, as Medina experienced with his own parents. “To see a student who has fulfilled the dreams of the family, to get a university education, and particularly in the arena of STEM, it’s inspirational. And we are graduating students not to just go out and get a job, not to just go and work for somebody, but to go out and get a career … to do something that is transformational and innovative.”