Chemical biological and pharmaceutical engineering

Gennady Gor is becoming a go-to expert at combining the power of chemistry and computers to protect our bodies.

Gor's specialty is molecular simulation of fluids and their interactions with porous materials. "I am interested in coupling between surface chemistry and mechanics. This is the main focus of my NSF Career Award from 2020," he explained.

Three of NJIT's online graduate programs placed among the top 100 in this year's U.S. News & World Report rankings of American universities, and in the top three for New Jersey institutions.

A research paper on metal carbides and nitrides is paying dividends for NJIT’s Meng-Qiang Zhao — seven years after it was published.

For the third straight year, Zhao, an assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering at NJIT’s Newark College of Engineering, has made Clarivate’s list of Highly Cited Researchers. Why? Chiefly because peers continue to cite the paper, which introduced a faster and safer way to synthesize MXenes, a family of novel 2D transition metal carbides and nitrides, according to Zhao.

NJIT's annual Graduate Student Association Research Day returned to the campus this week, after being cancelled last year because of COVID, with 39 students who are pursuing doctoral and master's degrees showcasing their cutting-edge research on topics such as the pandemic, climate, transportation and cybersecurity.

Facebook, Merck, Brown University, the University of Minnesota, Venture for America and the U.S. Air Force are among the destinations of standouts from the Class of 2021 at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Here’s a closer look at seven graduates. 

Roberto Adamson: Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule 

Xiaoyang Xu, a chemical and materials engineer at NJIT who specializes in nanomedicines, has secured a $1 million award from the Gustavus and Louise Pfeiffer Research Foundation to develop the next generation of messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines.

Xu’s immediate goal is to improve protections against COVID-19. He is designing a nano-sized delivery vehicle for gene-based medications that can be stored much longer and at higher temperatures than the current mRNA shots deployed against the virus, including by freeze-drying.

Society consumes too much energy. Industry takes an especially large slice of the energy pie, and Afrida Kabir, a process engineer and 2016 NJIT chemical engineering graduate, is heading to Finland to study technologies that would curb industry’s energy appetite.

Kabir recently joined the Advanced Energy Solutions master’s program at Aalto University on a full-ride scholarship to study drying processes, methods, and designs to make drying more efficient and sustainable.

Daniela Bushiri, NJIT Class of 2021, has not been in the U.S. for long – about five years. In that time, she graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in chemical engineering, a minor in Applied Mathematics, and is now taking her talents to Columbia University in the fall where she will research alternative energy in pursuit of a Ph.D. She is an Albert Dorman Scholar, a McNair Scholar, a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, and a member of the National Society of Black Engineers.

At NJIT, Sydney Sweet’s success extended beyond the classroom into research labs, cooperative educational experiences, a Goldwater scholarship and the opportunity to study in Australia. 

Remarkably, the chemical engineering major and Albert Dorman Honors College scholar also found time to tutor undergraduates in math and hold leadership roles in chemical engineering honor society Omega Chi Epsilon, the Science and Politics Society and Society of Musical Arts. 

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.