Senior Spotlight: Ruby Kapoor and Jason Zheng

Like many NJIT students, senior computer science majors Ruby Kapoor and Jason Zheng have made the most of their undergraduate experience.

They were the recipients of an NSF mini-grant to further explore creating successful entrepreneurship startups. The $3,000 award brought them to the Professional Convention Management Association Conference (PCMA) in San Diego to network with market researchers and gather information on their minimal viable idea for building a wireframe to support local event-based businesses and vendors related to student clubs, tourism and many others, through an app that similarly models competitors such as CORQ and Tinder.

The grant is designed to spur critical thinking to investigate the market viability of piloting a new entrepreneurial venture. Kapoor and Zheng were encouraged to apply for the grant by Suresh Kumar, director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Programs at NJIT and president of TIE-NJ, a global non-profit incubator for start up companies.

Part of the experience also entailed attending three virtual sessions with other like-minded students from Princeton, Temple, Rutgers and Rowan Universities.

Both students are currently teaching assistants for two classes each and have conducted research with Assistant Professor Pan Xu on COVID vaccine allocation.

Kapoor, who is a student in the Albert Dorman Honor’s College, has additionally served as a tutor, and participated in a promotional campaign to encourage more students to seek extra help. She came to NJIT with no computer science background but chose it as a major when she saw the immense opportunities to marry technology with creativity to make a better world.

“I made the right decision in attending NJIT. Professors here really want to help you succeed and inspire you to be your best,” she said.

Zheng was the computer science representative for the student senate during the 2023 academic year, in which he worked alongside Professor Vincent Oria, chair of the Department of Computer Science, to help bring student recommendations up to faculty.

He chose NJIT because of its proximity to New York City and the valuable professional opportunities the institution offered, stating, "NJIT has opened up so many doors to me that I never knew even existed, and I have been able to accomplish much more than I thought possible for undergraduates.”

After graduation, Zheng plans on joining Lockheed Martin as a software engineer.