Rojas-Cessa, Yaramothu Named Senior Members of National Academy of Inventors

NJIT engineering professors Roberto Rojas-Cessa and Chang Yaramothu are among the newest senior members in the National Academy of Inventors and the only two from New Jersey in their class.

Rojas-Cessa is a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a leader of NJIT’s Hispanic/Latino Employee Resource Group. He joined the university in 2001 and studies energy systems and networking. Yaramothu is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering. He earned his B.S. at NJIT in 2013, stayed here for graduate school and made his career as a Highlander.

“We are very proud of Chang Yaramothu and Roberto Rojas-Cessa,” said NJIT’s Atam Dhawan, senior vice-provost for research. “Their research accomplishments and inventions have enabled NJIT to develop a strong innovation nexus and an ecosystem for translation of technology innovations to applications, addressing unmet global needs of high societal impact. NJIT was well represented at the NAI Annual Conference as a proud sustainability sponsor.”

“Rojas-Cessa’s 20 U.S. patents and contributions in the fields of network measurement, packet switches, network security, smart and digital grids, and outstanding dedication to education qualify him to be named an NAI Senior Member,” said NJIT’s Atam Dhawan, senior vice provost for research and a fellow of the academy since 2015.

“His research has been recognized internationally. His work has been cited a few thousand times by different scientific works around the world. He was invited as a fellow for the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science in 2009, elevated to the rank of IEEE Senior Member in 2011 and is Technical Committee Chair of the flagship conferences of the IEEE Communications Society: Global Communications and IEEE International Conference on Communications. Moreover, he is a frequent panelist for the National Science Foundation,” Dhawan stated. “His commitment to education has been recognized not only by his students but also by NJIT — he is the recipient of the Newark College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award in 2013 and he represents the Communications Switching and Routing Technical Committee in the IEEE International Communications Student Competition.”

Data networking patents from Rojas-Cessa are used today by companies like IBM, Intel, T-Mobile and Toyota. His inventions are even used in bullet trains. “Rojas-Cessa is not only a prolific inventor but an accomplished researcher and educator with a unique track record in academic scholarship and invention,” Dhawan concluded.

Yaramothu, outside of his teaching duties, is known as the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of NJIT startup company OculoMotor Technologies. OculoMotor uses virtual reality to help diagnose and treat people who suffer from eye disorders.

“Homegrown by NJIT, Yaramothu holds B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from NJIT … His innovations in research and development are at the forefront of biomedical technologies and their translation to market have had significant potential and already-realized societal impact, making him a strong and well-deserving candidate for elevation in rank to NAI senior member,” Dhawan stated.

Yaramothu holds joint appointments in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the School of Applied Engineering and Technology. He co-developed OculoMotor’s key patent to treat a disease called convergence insufficiency, or CI, in the eyecare field. Symptoms of CI include double vision, eye strain, transient blurred vision, difficulty sustaining near-visual function, abnormal fatigue, headache and abnormal postural adaptation.

Yaramothu also co-invented a related product called Oculomotor Assessment Tool that ensures consistent visual targets during eye exams. There is strong evidence that the tool can be used in sports, or on a military battlefield, to quickly evaluate concussions. Concussions impact 4 million Americans annually, Dhawan said. “A faster, accurate diagnosis with quantitative data can lead to earlier identification of systems that are affected and thus a more rapid convergence to the right course of treatment for a patient.”

The announcement of Rojas-Cessa and Yaramothu follows two other recent academy announcements with NJIT. Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Cohen was recently inducted as a Fellow, as was Omowunmi Sadik, distinguished professor of chemistry and environmental science. Sadik in 2023 also became a fellow of the American Chemical Society.