By Andrew McMains and Tracey Regan
Two New Jersey Institute of Technology students who earned Fulbright awards this year will continue their studies in Canada on decidedly different paths.
Samantha Swider ’21, fresh from the experience of earning a bachelor’s in chemical engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology — which included three cooperative education roles, co-founding NJIT Green and running track, all as a member of Albert Dorman Honors College — is off to Merck, where she’ll work as an operations specialist. The Brick, N.J. native feels exceedingly well prepared, given some shrewd advice her advisor offered all the way back in year one.
Among the honorees at this year’s College of Science and Liberal Arts Awards at NJIT were seven members of the Class of 2021 who earned the Outstanding Undergraduate Award. We caught up with four of them, who reflected on their unique experiences and accomplishments over the past four years and shared their bright future plans.
Bhoomi Davé, Forensic Science B.S. and Biology B.A.
A virtual museum of robot design is now open that curates the work of faculty, staff and students from Hillier College of Architecture and Design, Newark College of Engineering and Ying Wu College of Computing.
A student who majored in digital design at New Jersey Institute of Technology has earned an award from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program to hone her animation and storytelling skills at one of the best animation programs in the world.
New Jersey Institute of Technology formally graduated more than 3,000 students today, in a hybrid in-person and virtual ceremony due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
Kimberly Bryant, founder and CEO of Black Girls Code, delivered this year’s commencement address. Black Girls Code is a non-profit organization teaching computer science skills to Black females ages 7-11 and emphasizing entrepreneurship. Bryant studied electrical engineering at Vanderbilt University.
Two biology students involved in high-level research on novel therapies for COVID-19 and other diseases were named 2021 Goldwater scholars this year by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The scholarship is recognized as the country’s most prestigious for STEM undergraduates pursuing research careers.
After four years at NJIT, career prospects for Jaime Felice ’21 are about to take off, and the sky is the limit — literally.
Felice has definitely taken a path less traveled at NJIT, joining four other cadets this year in the graduating class of NJIT’s decorated Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (AFROTC) Detachment 490. In just a few weeks after Commencement, she’ll be commissioning as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, and has been selected to become a pilot.
With the spring semester nearly in the rearview, standout students, faculty, staff and alumni of NJIT’s College of Science and Liberal Arts (CSLA) gathered virtually for a night of due recognition and positive reflection at the college’s annual year-end celebration, the 2021 CSLA Awards.
Engineering professor Chang Yaramothu ’13H, ’14, ’17, Abigail Varughese ’22, Rita Vought ’21 and FEMA’s Marc K. Raoul ’09 are some of the NJIT students, past and present, contributing engineering, emergency management and healthcare skills to the massive effort.
When a frail, elderly woman refused help at the FEMA-run vaccination site in NJIT’s Naimoli Center, Rita Vought ’21 knew just what to do. She sidled over, struck up a conversation, and subtly navigated her through the process, from registration to departure.
