Message from NJIT President Joel S. Bloom

NJIT Community Members,

I hope this communication finds you well as we continue to progress toward a return to normalcy. After an incredibly busy spring semester at NJIT, during which we successfully brought more than 4,000 people to campus each week for in-person learning and work and graduated more than 3,000 students, I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on some significant developments from recent months that give us cause to be both proud of what our university has accomplished and optimistic about its future.

NJIT continues to be recognized in national and international rankings for its success.

The Princeton Review named NJIT among the top 50 Best Value Colleges in the nation this spring. NJIT also was ranked third in New Jersey and in the top 100 nationally in the second annual Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Ranking USA list for 2021.

More than 750 institutions across the country were considered for the ranking. At No. 90, NJIT is joined by Princeton University and Rutgers-New Brunswick as the only New Jersey institutions within the top 100. We earned further global recognition from the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking for the university’s pursuit of and progress toward targets set forth by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), earning No. 90 globally and No. 2 nationally in two areas (Affordable and Clean Energy; Decent Work and Economic Growth).

The accomplishments of our students and faculty brought further positive recognition to NJIT.

Kaylin Wittmeyer ’21 and Joseph Torsiello ’22 earned Fulbright awards this year, bringing our total to five Fulbright in the past three academic years. 

Two NJIT students involved in high-level research on novel therapies for COVID-19 and other diseases were named 2021 Goldwater Scholars this year by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The scholarship is recognized as the country’s most prestigious for STEM undergraduates pursuing research careers, and Sreya Sanyal ’22 and Abdul-Rahman Azizogli ’23 were this year’s recipients. NJIT’s three-year record of securing eight scholarships, including four in 2020 alone, is the best in the State of New Jersey and among the top group nationally.

In intercollegiate athletics, our baseball team made history by earning the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and win in school history. They also became the media darlings of the Fayetteville Regional hosted by the University of Arkansas, and the manner in which they represented NJIT, both on and off the field, drew wide acclaim. In addition, this marks the 25th consecutive semester in which Highlander student athletes have earned a collective grade point average of 3.0 or higher—a streak extending over 12 years. 

Our faculty and administrators garnered major recognitions, such as inclusion on multiple "influencer" lists produced by media outlets and fellowships in prestigous organizations like the American Astronomical Society and the National Academy of Inventors.

Several major strategic initiatives also came to fruition this semester.

We continued to invest in the quality of our academic facilities, with renovations of Weston Lecture Halls 1 and 2 as well as the ongoing renovation of Cullimore Lecture Hall 1.

NJIT partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the New Jersey Office of the Governor, the Department of Defense (DoD), the New Jersey State Police (NJSP), the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management (OEM), and other agencies to open a new COVID Community Vaccination Center on the NJIT campus. The Naimoli Center served as the hub for vaccine activity, and we were exceptionally proud to be part of this effort to help our state’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 221,000 doses of vaccine were administered through our site. This has been critically important for the local community and for our students, faculty, and staff as we prepare for a full return to normal operations this fall.

The 2020 cohort of our Newark Math Success Initiative (MSI) included 33 eleventh-grade students from Newark high schools who completed Math 110 and 111 this year. Of those 33 MSI students, 28 have applied and been accepted to NJIT.    

NJIT also launched two promising international partnerships. We unveiled a collaboration with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) to create a world-class Institute for Future Technologies in New Jersey, and we developed a draft agreement with Tatweer-Misr to begin the process of establishing a new branch campus in Egypt that will enable us to offer undergraduate education and professional training.

Our university's visibility grew substantially, as we attained nearly $500 million in earned media advertising value for the coverage we received from news outlets and media organizations this year. Much of this was driven by expert commentary provided by our faculty.

The future looks bright as well. 

This month we broke ground a new Warren Street Residence Hall, scheduled to open in the fall 2022 semester at the site of a former Newark elementary school. This facility will be instrumental in meeting the demand for affordable housing opportunities as we continue to see enrollment growth. The residence hall will be constructed with a focus on environmentally-friendly methods and materials.

An additional area of focus for physical plant improvements during the coming year will be the renovation of our physics teaching laboratories.

We will welcome 18 new tenure-track faculty to campus in the fall. They are a diverse and talented group, and we are excited about the potential of their teaching and research at NJIT.

NJIT's Ying Wu College of Computing has created a new Department of Data Science. The college has taken significant steps in recent years to position itself as a leader in data science education and research. It already offers an M.S. in Data Science, as well as graduate-level certificate programs in Big Data, Data Visualization and Data Mining. Starting in the Fall 2021 semester, the college will offer a B.S. in Data Science.

NJIT will soon launch two new education and research centers focused on real estate and entrepreneurship, made possible by a historic gift from The Paul V. Profeta Foundation, Inc. The donation, which is the largest in NJIT history, will establish the Paul V. Profeta Foundation, Inc. Real Estate Technology, Design, and Innovation Center and the Paul V. Profeta Foundation, Inc. Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. 

At its June 2021 meeting, the NJIT Board of Trustees approved the establishment of an Innovation Venture Fund that will be used to seed and foster entrepreneurship among NJIT students and faculty, as well as to support the commercialization research.  

For the second straight year, NJIT surpassed its record for first-year student applications with a total of more than 11,250. All five of NJIT’s academic colleges experienced increases in applicants.

I am very pleased to share such positive news about NJIT’s present and its future. None of this could not have been achieved without contributions from countless members of our university community as well as our alumni, friends, and supporters. Your talent, ambition, dedication, and generosity are the fuel for NJIT’s journey, and I thank you for helping us make a positive impact on our students, our community, our region, and our world.

Sincerely,

NJIT President Joel S. Bloom