Spring 2026 Capstone Showcase Continues to Combine Experiential Learning with Real-World Solutions
The Capstone Showcase is one of the final steps to completing a degree program in the Ying Wu College of Computing. It’s required of undergraduates, optional for master’s students, and continues to demonstrate how hands-on, practice-based learning delivers real results that exceed expectations – for competitive industry companies and students themselves, who have an open forum to develop new products, expand creativity, and gain a greater sense of confidence in exploring what’s possible when ingenuity leads to discovery.
Each capstone team may choose to work with a sponsor company or organization, choose the CISCO entrepreneurship track (using CISCO based platforms), or design their own business solution through the entrepreneurial track.
A series of scheduled milestones must be accomplished by student teams during the semester with their assigned companies and fellow campus partners, culminating with final projects being presented to a panel of judges comprised of NJIT alumni and industry professionals. An open showcase follows the judging for friends and family in addition to invited industry guests who have the opportunity to scout potential talent.
Some student entrepreneurs are already on their way to becoming business leaders, as is the case with sophomore Abdul Azeez Shaik and Anthony Caruso ’25, co-founders of Contextral, which specializes in document retrieval and knowledge searches, form automation and workflow processing, and video and visual data processing. The duo is currently contracted with the City of Newark Department of Public Works for a series of projects, and a pending one is serving as the capstone project for their colleague, Thomas Gammer. It involves live security camera tracking to trigger “bad events,” such as illegal dumping or criminal activity and, according to Gammer, uses computer vision, machine learning and AI to make the technology more secure and less expensive.
For students working with a sponsor company, the real-world experience also includes mastering how to work with clients and delivering desired outcomes for employers.
Pharmaceutical giant Merck has worked with the capstone program for several years and praises the dedication, teamwork and problem-solving ability that NJIT students bring to their assigned projects. Likewise, Leslie Nagy, a long-time capstone sponsor who has hired a total of 30 NJIT graduates through the various companies he owns consistently refers to them as “wizards” who turn ideas into “wow” results.
And first-time 2026 partner Wakefern Food Corporation has come away with not only a positive experience but a fully deployed app that is being used for the ProAm sponsorship of the Shop-Rite LPGA Classic being held at Seaview Hotel & Golf Club, May 29-31, in Galloway, NJ.
According to senior Nafisa Ahmed, team #1 project manager for the app, spectators who previously followed the annual women’s professional golf tournament using manual printed materials now have access to an automated event management platform with centralized profiles, a real-time scoreboard and maps of the course and its facilities. Adit Nuwual, team #2 project manager for the admin. side portal, calls it a “one-stop shop” solution.
Wakefern Director of Business Innovation and Transformation Services Karen Friedenbarg said, “The students met every benchmark and milestone, in the end, delivering a production ready app that met our specifications. The sprint process where they demonstrated their progress worked great; starting out with aligning on objectives and scope document, figma mock-up of the app and final application for Web, iOS and Android. We are extremely satisfied with the project outcome.”
“One of the best parts is this event generates over $19 million in economic impact and $1.5 million in donations,” she added.
Ziad Mallah, Wakefern senior programmer, remarked that he was very impressed with the modern principles and professionalism the team brought to the assignment. “They are ready to work in the corporate environment,” he stated.
Spring 2026 Capstone Program Winners:
First Place
- Campus Marketplace – Group A - Panel 1
- Aliya Laliwala
- Alexy Mishin
- Josh Mantilla
- Maryam Mughal
- Mitchell Lipnitsky
- Safety Locator – Group B - Panel 2
- Mark Mina Joseph
- Daniel Mekhail
- Abdullah Malik
- Daniel Nizami
- Tomiwa Babalola
- Cisco Team 9 – Group C – Panel 3
- Lewis A. Macassaet
- Mohsin Shafiq
- Alanor Saleh
- NJ Courts – Group D – Panel 4
- Ali Jamil
- Eru Sujal Raj
- Mohammed Murtuza
- Francisgerard Tan
- Simon Leong
- Wakefern Adit’s Team – Group E – Panel 5
- Adit Nuwal
- Digant Raval
- Ahash Thirukumaran
- Kajus Buikus
- Jeffin Justin
- Merck Submission Dashboard (Jane’s Team) – Group G – Panel 7
- Jane Kalla
- Manan Thakore
- Anthony Washington
- Tevin Hayes
- Dev Nakrani
- UPS Analytics Mithil’s Team – Group H – Panel 8
- Mithil Patel
- Abhinav Karthik Narayanar
- Allie He
- Lizeth Lino
- Eric Renkel
- Student Support & Mentorship – Academy – Group I – Panel 9
- Charles Rogers
- Tina Thai
- Joyce-Sofia Blake
- Eric Gomez
- Marketing Winners
- Allison Gammara
- Jesús Adonis Rosario Vargas
- Jillian Andrea Juat
- Robert Youssef
For information on becoming a capstone sponsor, please contact Dina Anello, executive director of external relations, at dina.m.anello@njit.edu or 973-596-5332.