Women’s ingenuity dots the human landscape, from the external fire escape, to the word processor, to the first dishwashing machine to replace scrubbers with water pressure, to Kevlar, the lightweight, but supremely strong fiber used in bulletproof vests.

And yet statistics show that too few of their ideas successfully navigate the journey from concept to product. Indeed, some don’t make it over the early hurdles. Men with doctorates in STEM fields, for example, are nearly twice as likely to hold at least one patent as their female counterparts.

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.

Ayushi Sangoi ’20, a Ph.D. candidate who uses neuroimaging and eye movement-tracking equipment to discover connections between brain injuries and eye disorders was awarded a highly competitive graduate fellowship from Tau Beta Pi, the national engineering honor society. The biomedical engineer is the first NJIT graduate student to receive one.

Sangoi was among 28 awardees, selected from a field of 336 applicants, who were commended for their academic achievements, campus leadership and service, and anticipated contributions to their fields. Fellows receive a $10,000 stipend.

Parth Agrawal, a 2021 biomedical engineering graduate and Albert Dorman Honors scholar, was accepted to the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. But he’s not going – right away, at least. He deferred admission for a two-year fellowship with Venture For America, a nonprofit organization that trains recent college graduates to work in startups in cities across the country.