Undergraduate Research and Innovation on Display at NJIT Symposium
Countless hours of research and preparation were on display at the Undergraduate Summer Research and Innovation (URI) Symposium as 134 students presented 108 projects to a group of peers, NJIT faculty and URI External Advisory Board members. The board selected three top project presentations for the Dr. James F. Stevenson Innovation Awards, named for the late educator and engineer who supported NJIT’s Interdisciplinary Design Studio, TechQuest Innovation and URI programs.
The first prize of $1,000 was awarded to Simone Bishara, a McNair scholar majoring in biochemistry, for her project, “Observing Compressive Strength of Fibrin Hydrogels of Varying Concentrations.” Bishara researched volumetric muscle loss (VML) injuries and the potential for scaffold technology, which contains various types of polymeric biomaterials, to regenerate tissue.
“I was ecstatic and grateful to win, but at the same time very surprised because there were so many amazing and innovative projects that were presented,” said Bishara. “It came as a shock to me that the research in scaffolds for tissue engineering was still very new and that there was not a treatment for victims of volumetric muscle loss injuries that can restore functionality to this day. I wanted to be a part of the solution and to give hope to victims of VML injuries who have lost functionality in their injured site and have not been able to do the things they were once able to.”
The second prize of $750 was awarded to Sreya Sanyal, a URI Provost Summer Research Fellow studying biology and history, for her project, “Opsonization of SARS-CoV-2 to develop a COVID-19 antiviral.” Her research is premised on the necessity of ongoing antiviral development to address newly emerging variants with spike protein mutations that may evade existing antibodies.
The third prize of $500 was awarded to Joseph Schaedler, a URI Provost Summer Research Fellow studying computer science, for his project, “Design of Blockchain-enabled Standardized Testing System.” His project aims to design a blockchain-enabled system for standardized testing that would improve academic integrity and economic efficiency.
“We take pride in putting these two things together: vision and value. Our strategic cluster area in research is focused on research innovation, with vision, and its translation to value,” said Atam Dhawan, Senior Vice Provost for Research in front of a hybrid crowd of undergraduates, many tuning in remotely. “I’m very proud that our students and our faculty enabled this to happen, because they are the researchers. They are the innovators. They are the inventors.”
Added Dhawan, “If you can do all of this in one summer, imagine all you can do in your lives.”
“There are two things we are witnessing: student success and faculty success,” said Fadi Deek, provost and senior executive vice president at NJIT. “That is what has propelled the university to be what it is today.”
Honorable mentions in various fields of study were also awarded, along with $100 each. Nishita Vootukuru, a biochemistry student in the Honors College Summer Research Program received an honorable mention award in bioscience and bioengineering for her project, titled, “Effects of Osteopontin on Cardiomyocytes as Related to Myocardial Infarction.”
Wara Laura, a computer science student in the NSF Research Experience of Undergraduate Program for Computational Data Analytics, received an honorable mention award in data science and management for her project, “Social Media Misinformation in Covid19.”
Jeffrey Luk, a biology student in the URI Provost Summer Research Fellowship Program, received an honorable mention award in the field of environment and sustainability for his project, “Inactivation of MS2 Bacteriophage for Water Disinfection via Microwave Irradiation in the presence of Microwave-Adsorbing Catalysts.”
Christopher Leong, a physics student in the NSF Research Experience of Undergraduate (REU) Program for Optics and Photonics, received honorable mention for his project, “Uncooled Mid-wavelength Infrared Photoconductive Photodetectors Based on Silver Selenide Colloidal Quantum Dot.”
Elizabeth Kowalchuk, an architecture student in the URI Provost Summer Research Fellowship Program, received honorable mention for her project, “Bauhaus Medievalism: Gropius' Medieval Ideals and their Manifestation in Bauhaus Pedagogy.”
Keynote speakers
The symposium featured Daniel Henderson, the inventor of video and picture messaging in cell phones, and who currently serves on the Board of Overseers and the Albert Dorman Honors College Board of Visitors for NJIT. Henderson is an inventor, entrepreneur, and artist. He was Assistant to Kazuo Hashimoto, a prolific Japanese inventor with over 1,000 patents worldwide. He also met and briefly worked with Jack Kilby, inventor of the integrated circuit. Dan's 1993 prototype objects for wireless picture and video messaging were received in the permanent collection by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in 2007. Several of his large-scale stone sculptures can be seen throughout the NJIT campus.
“The sculptures that I created with my inventive efforts are tribute to the giants that stood before us and reminders to the work we have yet to do, and a bit of a clue as to how to do it,” said Henderson in his keynote speech. “As we all stand on the shoulders of those giants, let us remember that a small innovation can have enormous impact on society and can permanently alter the human landscape, not only for good but with negative consequences just as easily.”
Other keynote speakers included:
--Govi Rao has specialty knowledge of chemicals, coatings, building materials, lighting, energy and the rapidly evolving IoT space and is co-founder and managing partner of Carbon Group Global.
--Brian Kiernan is retired vice president and chief scientist of InterDigital Communications, LLC. He has technical expertise in computer and communication standards and systems. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Newark College of Engineering in 1970, and an M.S. in Management Science/Operations Research from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
--Manish Patel is an engineer and founder of TrickyWater, a small business advisory firm, and is currently Director of Brand Innovation at Princeton Partners, a strategic brand marketing firm.
--Peggy McHale is an independent board member for Pariveda Solutions an employee-owned strategy and technology consulting company based in Dallas, Texas and co-author of Black and White Strike Gold: Practical Nuggets to Grow Your Business. She recently co-wrote Lessons Beyond the Obvious: An Entrepreneurs Handbook.
