Two NJIT Students Win Prestigious Fellowships to Grow in their Fields of Study

Two NJIT undergraduates won prestigious fellowships. Olivia Kolakowski ’24 was awarded the Brooke Owens Fellowship, and Milan Patel ’23 has been selected as an Amgen Scholar at Columbia University. 

The Fellowship is designed to serve both as an inspiration and as a career boost to capable young women and other gender minorities who, like Dawn Brooke Owens (1980-2016), aspire to explore the sky and stars, to shake up the aerospace industry, and to help their fellow people here on planet Earth.

The Amgen Scholars Program selects a group of motivated undergraduate students who will benefit from the opportunity of hands-on biology related laboratory research. Students will also participate in the Amgen Scholars National Symposium in California.

“I am thrilled for Milan and Olivia. Their fellowship awards will support them both as they take the next steps in their academic and professional journeys,” said Paul Hoyt-O’Connor, director of honors advising and prestigious fellowships at Albert Dorman Honors College. “As an Amgen Scholar this summer, Milan will complement the research he has already conducted at NJIT and prepare him for doctoral programs in biomedical engineering. As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Olivia will receive invaluable experience and mentorship, empowering her to become a future leader in the aerospace industry.”

Kolakowski, a mechanical engineering major and Dean's Scholar in Newark College of Engineering, is excited for the summer ahead which will include an internship in the aerospace industry at Northrop Grumman.

“I’m looking forward to working on real-world projects within Northrop’s Aeronautics Division, and learning from experienced engineers who are continuously contributing to the development of cutting edge technology. 

“During my internship, I will also be attending the annual three-day Brooke Owens Fellowship Summit in Washington, D.C. Over the course of the summit, I will have the opportunity to tour NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and meet several leaders in the aerospace industry, including astronauts, executives, government officials, and the other 47 fellowship recipients,” she added. “I’m excited to network and learn from these professionals while sharing this once in a lifetime experience with my fellowship classmates.”

Patel, a third-year biomedical engineering major and Albert Dorman Honors Scholar, hopes to make connections with people who could be great mentors and friends for the future. At Columbia, he will be in the Nanotherapeutics and Stem Cell Engineering Lab. 

“The research I will be doing at Columbia will be in the Nanotherapeutics and Stem Cell Engineering Lab at Columbia, run by PI Dr. Kam Leong. There, I’m going to be working on a project involving focused ultrasound (FUS) to help lipid nanoparticle (LNP) drugs cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and access the brain. 

“These LNP drugs eventually hoped to be used to deliver gene editing tools to the brain to help cure neurodegenerative diseases, but figuring out how to get these drugs to the brain is the first obstacle, and is what I will be working on this summer,” he added. 

Considering that the aerospace industry is not prevalent in New Jersey, Kolakowski was unsure if she would ever land a job at a leading commercial spaceflight company. The Newton, New Jersey native will also be paired with an executive mentor and an alumni of the program who will be guiding her this summer and beyond.

“Being able to honor Dawn Brooke Owens’ legacy alongside a network of inspiring women in aerospace who are equally as passionate about space exploration is truly a unique and empowering opportunity that means the world to me,” she said.

After graduating from NJIT, Patel plans to pursue a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering or bioengineering. “I want to explore tissue engineering and its implications in regenerative medicine. The research I do in Dr. Grasman’s Tissue Innervation and Muscle Mimetics Lab on campus has really instilled an interest in scaffolds to help augment the regeneration processes of tissues, and that is something I wish to further explore via a Ph.D. in BME.

“Overall, the goal is to one day conduct my own research – either within industry or academia – on the development of better personalized, regenerative medicine techniques, combining biomaterials, signaling pathways, mechanobiology, and other concepts as well,” said the Hillsborough, New Jersey native.

Kolakowski has always been interested in human factors engineering, and she hopes to one day work alongside astronauts to design interfaces that will enhance the safety and efficiency of space exploration.

She’s grateful for all the opportunities NJIT’s Society of Women Engineers has provided her in the past, which led her to win this fellowship. “I am grateful to NJIT’s Society of Women Engineers chapter for providing me with several opportunities which played a significant role in being awarded this fellowship. 

“From traveling to the national conference in Houston this past fall where I networked with aerospace professionals, to working on the executive board, I hope to continue creating similar opportunities for students on campus,” she concluded.