NJIT Showcases the Most Impactful Research and Innovation from Students

Stuti Mohan, a senior biomedical engineering student, was the winner of the top Dr. James F. Stevenson Innovation Award at the 2023 Undergraduate Summer Research and Innovation (URI) Symposium at NJIT.

Her project sought to identify a non-invasive yet precise method to diagnose the tapping foot of a subject. Mohan’s research area in the Sensorimotor Quantification and Rehabilitation Lab (SQRL) is the ongoing pursuit of improving concussion management. 

“Concussion management can be a pretty subjective process. We are leveraging objective approaches like sensorimotor quantification and rehabilitation,” Mohan said. The Albert Dorman Honors College scholar has been involved in research since entering NJIT, and has participated in multiple URI programs. During the summers, Mohan works with clinicians to understand the patterns they are observing in their concussed patient population.

Her research has yielded diagnostic tools and methods that are actually used in clinics today, and the research environment has had a significant impact on her academic and professional journey.

“The URI Symposium serves as a dynamic platform where aspiring researchers from diverse backgrounds showcase their findings and exchange ideas,” Mohan said. “It has enabled me to refine my communication skills, distilling complex research concepts into accessible narratives that engage both experts and lay audiences.”

Mohan, who was advised by Chang Yaramothu, assistant professor of engineering technology and director of SQRL, earned $1,000 in the contest. She was one of more than 150 students presenting more than 100 projects in five different areas: bioscience and bioengineering, the environment and sustainability, material science and engineering, data science and management, and robotics and machine intelligence. The symposium offers a chance for different research programs and scholarship recipients to come together and present. 

Peggy McHale has been on the URI board for 12 years, and this was her first time judging the student researchers. “This is a terrific opportunity. Everybody who participates is a winner because the experience that they get working under the guidance of a professor to do primary research like this is outstanding, and it's something invaluable to put on their resumes for their future careers.”

Each of the student researchers gave a strictly-enforced three-minute talk about their innovations, exercising the non-technical, but increasingly important marketable skills of communication and articulation of ideas.

Environmental Sustainability

Melisa Bilgili, whose summer research was funded by the PSEG Fellowship, won second place for her work in addressing the demanding global challenges of renewable energy and environmental damages caused by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. 

Bilgili, under the guidance of Joshua Young, professor in NJIT’s Chemical & Materials Engineering department and principal investigator in his Computational Materials and Surface Chemistry Group, researched methods for converting CO2 into usable hydrocarbons. Specifically her objective was to research the performance of a particular catalyst to drive the CO2 reduction reaction forward, as the greenhouse gas is already quite stable.

Utilizing NJIT’s high performance computer environment “Lochness,” Bilgili concluded that on her researched catalyst, carbon monoxide, formic acid and methanol can be efficiently produced, and that these reactions proceed better under acidic conditions.

“This project stimulated my individual mindset and reminded me how I love learning and challenging myself,” Bilgili said. “I am now passionate about getting my Ph.D. I have realized my curious nature craves the need to discover more about the planet and universe we coincide in, add to the total sum of human knowledge on this planet, and pass my knowledge on to others.”

Robotics in Healthcare

Electrical and computer engineering student Rituja Bhattacharya is getting her bachelor’s at Heritage Institute of Technology in India, and was able to conduct summer research at NJIT. The third-place winner’s research is based around modeling and replicating human hand motion in robotics, and was advised by Dr. Cong Wang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. 

“Our work holds the potential to significantly benefit and change the lives of individuals facing such challenges,” Bhattacharya said. “The motivation behind this research is not just to provide a solution for people with physical disabilities, but also to improve the lives of the aging population, people with temporary mobility impairments and in general applications in the industry.”

Robotics have come a long way, but the current generation of robotic hands lack the finesse, precision and contextual comprehension crucial for delicate tasks. “Our project directly confronts this challenge head-on.”

A Critical Experience

In a keynote speech, Dereje Agonafer, presidential distinguished professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at University of Texas Arlington, shared his experiences and pointed out opportunities within the research community, including those provided by the CHIPS and Science Act.

The CHIPS Act aims to bolster U.S. semiconductor capacity, catalyze research and development and create regional high-tech hubs and a bigger, more inclusive STEM workforce through $280 billion investment over 10 years.

“The CHIPS Act is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Eleven billion is allocated for advanced packaging,” Agonafer said. He described the limitations in chip manufacturing and design, and where the industry is heading — heterogeneous design. 

Advanced packing breaks up the expensive system-on-a-chip design and enables a modular structure of “chiplets” where the sum of the parts are stitched together. This reduces manufacturing costs, without sacrificing performance.

“Packaging is where the action is going to be. There’s architecture, there’s mechanical, there’s thermal [opportunities],” he said.

Atam P. Dhawan, senior vice provost for research and the founder of URI, noted the impactful experience and popularity of the program.

“Believe me that whatever you are going to pursue next year and the coming years, this particular experience will be an asset for you. If you are going to be graduating in a year or so, this will be on your bio, either you go for higher education or you go for the job. Make sure that this part of experiential learning and learning the power skills of communication, you mention that in your statement, you mention that during your interview, and leverage this experience for your future endeavors.”

NJIT President Teik C. Lim praised the participants in the program, which he describes as “one of the crown jewels of this campus.” He also pointed to the importance and impact of an inspirational mentor.

“The best professors in your classroom are the ones that bring research into the classroom and talk about how you learned in the classroom by the research. One of the reasons why I came here is because first and foremost, this place I find to be one of the most innovative, most entrepreneurial campuses in America.”