Special Reception Brings Donors and Scholarship Winners Together

A marquee event during Inauguration Week was the Scholarship Reception and Networking event, which invites generous benefactors who have created scholarships at the university to engage directly with the student beneficiaries at a celebratory luncheon.

The event humanizes and demonstrates the impact of giving back and removing a financial burden to those who may need it most, as President Teik C. Lim told his own story of how a scholarship changed his, and subsequently his family’s life.

“Being part of the Highlander nation means being part of a support system. And a scholarship is a reminder that someone else cares about your success, and that they are in your corner, rooting for you,” said Lim.

Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not.

Lim stressed NJIT’s commitment to being an engine of opportunity as he said much of the student body is in a situation that was similar to his own, as a first-generation college student without the means to pay for the education.

“Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not,” Lim said. “I cannot say this enough: Thank you to all the benefactors in this room today. You help provide the space and resources for driven, dedicated students to fulfill their promise and achieve their dreams, and turn their intellectual inquiries into real-world discoveries.”

A Rising Star

One such example was the student keynote speaker Maria Pepper. An Albert Dorman Honors College student majoring in biomedical engineering and minoring in philosophy and applied ethics, Pepper embodies the transformational impact a scholarship can provide, and how NJIT is set up to encourage the early development and future success of passionate students.

“Passionate” only scratches the surface of Pepper’s focus. At 13, she was diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis, and was prescribed a back brace to wear overnight. However, her ailment progressed and required her to wear it for 20 hours per day, severely impacting her day-to-day life.

“I perceive illness as a shackle, but unfortunately many medical devices fail to unlock, and sometimes even tighten them,” Pepper said. “Patients are too-often forced to curtail everyday activities and adapt to an all-encompassing treatment regimen.”

Though she characterizes her medical treatment as a success, her experience spawned an interest in pursuing a career in the medical industry, and she did so with alacrity. While still a high school student, Pepper participated in NJIT’s Undergraduate Research and Innovation (URI) summer STEM program, which allowed her to gain valuable laboratory experience with biomaterials and hydrogel drug therapeutics before enrolling in her first college course. This exposure, she noted, is a rare opportunity for undergraduates and helped set her apart from her peers.

“Though I initially discovered my passion for improving health care through my personal experience with a medical device, it was my time as a researcher that solidified my desire to pursue biomedical engineering,” Pepper said.

Her career pursuits flourished right away: four different internships with medical device companies while at NJIT. She was then hired as an engineering technician for Johnson & Johnson’s surgical device division Ethicon, and then later as a product development engineer for UpStart Product Development. In one impressionable internship opportunity, she was able to stand in the operating room and observe a surgery that was using tools she helped develop.

However, it is Pepper’s latest pursuit which is most notable of all, as she launched her own design consulting firm, Sanus Consulting LLC, with the help of UpStart’s president John Crombie ’90, ’00, an alumnus and industry advisor to NJIT’s biomedical engineering department. 

Through Sanus, Pepper offers specialized services like the creation of highly precise 3D models and drawings and guiding clients through use of FDA design controls to generate intellectual property. Among her recent projects, she worked with Centaur Sports Medicine to develop a rehabilitative device for stroke survivors.

“I’ve been a speaker at three professional conferences spanning from New York City to Silicon Valley," said Pepper. "Needless to say, I believe all of these accomplishments can be traced back to my first encounter with NJIT as a high school student.

“Most importantly, it was scholarship support provided by generous donors, like the Podesta family, that allowed me to focus so diligently on my studies and career.”